A Much Needed Shot In The Arm: Reviewing ‘Darth Vader’ #46

Though no series cancellation or creative team departures have been announced, there’s a sense of impending finality to Darth Vader #46. The beginning of a new arc, it sees the return of long absent characters and settings to the series, while moving forward the most recent Schism Imperial plotline. That, combined with the return of Raffele Ienco on pencils (and the looming promise of a fiftieth issue) makes it seem like the series is building to something once again. Instead of spinning plot threads, it’s pulling them together. The result is one of the better issues of the series in a long while. 

Picking up where the Darth Vader portion of the Free Comic Book day Star Wars issue left off, Darth Vader #46 opens with the return of Sabé. At one point, Sabé was the de facto lead of this series, receiving several arcs dedicated to her partnership with Vader and probing the limits of her devotion to him and her “the ends justify the means” rationalizations for using him to better the galaxy. Then, the series seemed to forget about her. But she’s back, and on a mission to find Luke Skywalker.

In doing so, her plotline is being pulled together with another of the series’ long running arcs, Vader’s relationship with his son and the question of whether he will hand him over to the Emperor or use Luke as a weapon against Vader’s master. Singlehandedly, Sabé’s presence in this issue makes the series feel like it’s moving forward again. More importantly, it sets the stage for a massive Skywalker family reunion/confrontation, between (dark, twisted) father, mother (or, rather, her stand-in bodyguard duplicate), and son (aka the nominal protagonist of this entire era of stories), which should generate some fascinating material for all concerned. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the issue moves the Schism Imperial plotline forward, but does so in a way that also ties back to the series’ history. In taking the fight to the Sith Eternal, not only does Darth Vader #46 feature the next step in Vader’s plot to overthrow the Emperor following his acquisition of a droid army in the previous arc, but it returns the series to Exegol.

This was the site of the book’s first direct showdown between the Emperor and Vader, the first time it suggested an overt conflict between master and apprentice as a running narrative throughout the series. Returning to it here — including a return visit from a summa-verminoth, the Lovecraftian, kaiju-esque space tentacle vagina monster that hangs out guarding the “road” to Exegol — also adds to the sense of the series getting back to the business of telling its overarching story. It also helps that all the Sith Eternal cultists Vader battles look like they could be clones of the Emperor (which, for all we know, they are).

More importantly, the visit to Exegol is an opportunity to showcase how Vader has grown as a character since his last visit. As one of the Sith Eternal declare, he’s learned to deceive. Issue after issue, Vader has bulldozed his way through his conflicts, falling back on his massive Force abilities and raw determination to push his way to success. In Darth Vader #46, he finally manages to zag instead of zig, using a decoy to draw the attention of the Sith Eternal while he gets closer to capture their power for himself. It’s not a terribly intricate ruse, but for Vader, it’s downright Palpatinian. It shows some level of growth for the character.

The return of Raffele Ienco, who has been with this volume of the series (barring the occasional fill-in issue or arc) since issue #1, also adds to the sense of the book getting back to business. As fun and comic book-y as the Gorham/Fry art team could be in the previous arc, Ienco’s return brings a sense of the cinematic back to the series. His work still remains a little stiff, however, struggling at times with storytelling. It’s not entirely clear on the page what, exactly, is happening in the final moments of the issue, particularly in terms of the geography, which character is where and the scale of the various locations surrounding them.

There’s also, as always, limitations to just how far Pak can push the development of Vader’s character and his conflict with the Emperor, given that ultimately the series needs to leave the characters in a place where the events of Return of the Jedi can believably pick their arcs back up. But for now, Darth Vader #46 is a welcome shot in the arm for the series. The last few consecutive arcs all seemed to spin out more narrative threads and stall Vader’s development in terms of the central conflict at the heart of the series. Here, the returns of Sabé and Raffele Ienco, the conflict on Exegol, and the mechanics of Vader’s plan of attack all combine to create a sense that the series is back on track.