Darth Vader (2020) 15 Review
Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Raffaele Ienco
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Publisher: Marvel
This month's issue of the Darth Vader series follows Ochi of Bestoon after Vader leaves him behind to uncover the secrets of Bokku the Hutt. Ochi must fight to survive and complete his mission, though how loyal he actually is towards the Dark Lord has yet to be tested.
I've been pretty critical of how this series has tied in with the War of the Bounty Hunters event in previous months but I was pleasantly surprised by this issue. It's very much an Ochi spotlight with a relatively small and self-contained story. Ochi has been the highlight of the series for me for a while, which I never would have expected before he debuted in it. They committed to making him a little goofy and not always that competent without taking it too far, and this issue highlights all of the best qualities that come with that. I'm really interested to see where Ochi ends up going over the course of this series, since we know how his story ends up.
Ochi taking the spotlight also means most of the problems I've had with the series lately aren't on display. There's no overabundance of Vader flashbacks, and the lower decks-type focus on Ochi means there's no anticlimax or rush. All of the action and unique characters work great for Ienco's art style, which is inseparable from this series.
If I had one criticism of this issue, it would probably be that it feels very out of sync with the rest of the event, and even with the series itself. I think it would have worked better an issue or two ago. Even last month's issue of the series feels more relevant to this month's crossover than this one does. That said, that's been true of other issues across the line in the last couple months, and I can't imagine it's easy to plot and coordinate a crossover this big.
I've been going between hot and cold on the series for a little while now but if future issues can be as enjoyable as this one was, I'll be more forgiving to some of the stuff I didn't enjoy as much. Because this ended up feeling like more of a bottle episode, it's hard to say how the rest of this story may go. This series has covered a lot of important events already in fifteen issues, and while I don't think it's always managed to completely stick the landing, I'm still looking forward to seeing what happens next.
Artist: Raffaele Ienco
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Publisher: Marvel
This month's issue of the Darth Vader series follows Ochi of Bestoon after Vader leaves him behind to uncover the secrets of Bokku the Hutt. Ochi must fight to survive and complete his mission, though how loyal he actually is towards the Dark Lord has yet to be tested.
I've been pretty critical of how this series has tied in with the War of the Bounty Hunters event in previous months but I was pleasantly surprised by this issue. It's very much an Ochi spotlight with a relatively small and self-contained story. Ochi has been the highlight of the series for me for a while, which I never would have expected before he debuted in it. They committed to making him a little goofy and not always that competent without taking it too far, and this issue highlights all of the best qualities that come with that. I'm really interested to see where Ochi ends up going over the course of this series, since we know how his story ends up.
Ochi taking the spotlight also means most of the problems I've had with the series lately aren't on display. There's no overabundance of Vader flashbacks, and the lower decks-type focus on Ochi means there's no anticlimax or rush. All of the action and unique characters work great for Ienco's art style, which is inseparable from this series.
If I had one criticism of this issue, it would probably be that it feels very out of sync with the rest of the event, and even with the series itself. I think it would have worked better an issue or two ago. Even last month's issue of the series feels more relevant to this month's crossover than this one does. That said, that's been true of other issues across the line in the last couple months, and I can't imagine it's easy to plot and coordinate a crossover this big.
I've been going between hot and cold on the series for a little while now but if future issues can be as enjoyable as this one was, I'll be more forgiving to some of the stuff I didn't enjoy as much. Because this ended up feeling like more of a bottle episode, it's hard to say how the rest of this story may go. This series has covered a lot of important events already in fifteen issues, and while I don't think it's always managed to completely stick the landing, I'm still looking forward to seeing what happens next.
A Look Inside
