Marvel’s Legacy of Vader issue 3 released today and folks, we’re cooking with gas. Following Ren’s imprisonment at the hands of Gardulla the Hutt at the end of issue two, we take a bit of a detour from Vader memory lane to address the situation at hand. It’s splashy, angsty and violent. All characteristics we’ve come to know and love in our emotionally unstable villain-turned-eventual hero, Kylo Ren.

 

This detour isn’t wholly unproductive for Ren, however, as he leaves with a definitive lesson learned. Vaneé continues to pull strings in the shadows and the narrative is pushed forward to the next destination on this rather fraught journey. So far Vaneé’s involvement with Ren is somewhat reminiscent of the way the Emperor toyed with Vader, continually testing for loyalty, strength and resolve. As with Vader, I was surprised to see Ren simply put up with this, but perhaps that will all come to a head later on. For now, we have a Hutt to handle.

 

Spoilers ahead…

 

 

 

We kick off the issue with a very angry Ren, in chains and being tortured by Gardulla who electrocutes and taunts him via a remote device from the comfort of her home. The torture leads to a brief flashback of Ren speaking with Rey, seamlessly intertwined with Gardulla’s own words. Aside from a brief inclusion in one of the flashback splash panels in issue 1, this is the first time we see him think of Rey. It’s telling that his own derisive words are served up so quickly to him. He doesn’t believe he’s nothing and he never truly believed that of Rey either.

 

 

Ross and Woodard do a phenomenal job of making the torture panels hard to ignore. They’re frenzied and intrusive on the page and the effect is distracting and challenging for the reader, pulling you into the raw pain of it and forcing you to reorient yourself in the narrative.

 

 

Conveniently for us, Gardulla’s torture machine also includes a dream function? It strains the ropes of narrative convenience, but we soldier on. And anyway, it’s an interesting dream. Ren suddenly finds himself witness to one of Vader’s massacres. This one looks like it could be Vader boarding the Tantive IV at the beginning of A New Hope with rebel crewmembers wiped out in sweeps of Vader’s lightsaber. Death commands space here with all else taking a backseat. What dialogue occurs is minimal, yet significant. While at first Ren appears to be appalled by Vader’s actions, this horror quickly transforms into gross, sycophantic worship. Even the language feels icky and out of place with the use of “magnificent” to describe the cruelty of his grandfather. A word choice that I assume was very intentional by Soule.

 

Dream Vader abandons Ren, telling him all of his “magnificence” he achieved alone. This is the harsh reality of life as a Sith Lord. Abandon all connections of love and support, and latch, parasitically, onto a false master who offers you the illusion of power, but very real pain. Still, it’s a useful lesson for Ren to learn. There is no real power, imagined or otherwise, in Vader’s legacy. He must forge his own path.

 

 

Here, the panels start to move the narrative so quickly I felt lost at times and frequently had to go back and check to ensure I hadn’t accidentally skipped a page. I guess Vader’s message sunk in, because Ren calls on the Force and destroys his torture chamber, is apparently unscathed, promptly kills some desert megafauna, skins it, puts on the hide like a poncho, kills some traders, contacts the First Order and calls in a strike on Gardulla. Easy peezy!

 

Ren’s “no” against the backdrop of destruction is his final response to Gardulla’s repeated attempts to get him to “obey.”

 

Back on the ship, he contacts Vaneé and they seem pretty chummy, so clearly Ren is either not clued in to his own manipulation or doesn’t care. Either way, the journey continues. Next stop, Naboo. This will be very interesting. How much does Ren know of Anakin’s relationship with Padmé and Vader’s pining and grief? Will this be another portion of his family history that he feels the need to erase or will it insert a modicum of humanity back into him? How much will Vaneé share?

 

We’ll find out in issue 4, releasing May 21.

 

Rating: 10/10

 

 

 


When she isn’t watching her friends and family’s eyes glaze over at the mention of The Clone Wars, she’s at the park with her dog, Melvin, or on the couch with a book in one hand and a drink in the other. Physically, she lives in Ohio; spiritually, she lives in Naboo.