SPOILER Marvel's Star Wars Darth Vader #8

Hey guys! Running a little behind today so the review will not be finished until later this morning or afternoon (PST). A lot to discuss in this issue with bounty hunter heists, double crossing, and a new league of Imperial investigators we never knew about. In short, pick this issue up and hopefully we can all put our heads together to speculate what this all could mean

Look for my review in the next couple of hours.

Thanks fo your patience!

 

Well, let's get started. Apologies for the delay.

I've had some time to think about this issue. There are some strange things going on here, but I like it.

First off, for those of you hoping you would get to see a team of bounty hunters conduct a heist on an Imperial ship look no further than the opening pages of this issue. Doctor Aphra, her trusty droids, and a group of familiar bounty hunters are in the midst of a raid on an Imperial ship.



The ship is a depository for "Credit Ingots", what I'm guessing is the primary form of currency since that's all these bounty hunters seem to be concerned with.



The heist goes off without a hitch, the bounty hunters collect their loot. We meet our first sinister Wookie named Santy, who ends up not being quite so bad, as he was in league with Doctor Aphra the whole time to double-cross the other bounty hunters collect the lion's share of the spoils.



Turns out the Wookie doesn't know who he is actually working for...Darth Vader.

This issue then takes a pretty sharp turn back to Imperial affairs. Several Imperial installations have fallen victim to similar raids by a criminal organization called "The Plasma Devils". This is never clearly spelled out, but "The Plasma Devils" seem to be the group of bounty hunters and the heist we saw is the final straw for Grand Admiral Tagge.



Tagge dispatches the various cyborg assassins from issues #5-6. We can see they don't all get along very well and their disdain for Vader is only rivaled by the one he reciprocates. As soon as they are all off, Tagge introduces Vader to a new Imperial officer...Inspector Thanoth.



Inspector Thanoth is a monocled fellow who looks like a nod to Sherlock Holmes. He is not at all intimidated by Darth Vader and we see his intellect is sharper than the Dark Lord has expected. Yes, Thanoth has a pretty good idea Vader of the trouble Vader is trying to stir up in the galaxy, and the issue ends before we find out what is to become of these strange bedfellows.

It should also be noted Vader has put finding Luke Skywalker as his priority. This side-business with Doctor Aphra and her thugs is a necessary distraction his methodical game to rule the galaxy, but finding Skywalker is a task he throws himself in front of at every mention in this issue.



This story is a little more scattered than the previous arc, but I've no complaints. I think this is going to be just as well told in the same hands of writer Kieron Gillen and artist Salvador Larroca. The first Star Wars Anthology film has some rumors swirling around it at the moment that made my eyebrows raise a bit more after reading this issue. I'm not going there yet and I can hear your collective SIGHS at this mention, but there could be something...

Thank you all for your patience today with the delayed post. If you have been following the Darth Vader series, this is certainly worth your time. If you have not then you should get yourself caught up because they aren't slowing down and explaining things to anyone.

 

I stand corrected. Thank you for catching that. Sometimes my Head gets fuzzy week to week with each arc.

--- Double Post Merged, Aug 6, 2015, Original Post Date: Aug 6, 2015 ---

I like your thinking and I hope you are right. If this is canon then we need more Luke development. I imagine if this Vader arc will cross over with the next Star Wars arc. Should be fun to watch it unfold!

 

My thoughts exactly. I was nervous about bringing this up because I often go looking for these connections. I think it is not outside the realm of possibility. I expect some character confirmations as soon as the MI Rogue Nation embargo is lifted or around D23

 

Strange. I got my copy through comiXology. I subsribe to all the SW series that way they just automatically download onto my iOS app and I can access them while at work through my iPhone. Sometimes they aren't available until later in the morning. Of course the day I was running behind this one downloaded the second I got out of bed (5am PST).

At this point, @jrosche , you should contact the administrator. Must be a technical error.

 

I caught that, too! I'm all for a Goonies shoutout!