Force Matters: ‘Legacy of Vader’ #9 Is At Its Best When Kylo Couldn’t Care Less
by Austin Gorton
In this week’s Star Wars stories, Kylo Ren gets unwillingly sucked into old work drama in Star Wars: Legacy of Vader #9, and the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novelization gets a fancy new edition for its 20th birthday.
Star Wars: Legacy of Vader #9 by Charles Soule & Stefano Raffaele
Kylo Ren battles Tava Ren, whom he either loves or hates or both.
- Love Kylo Ren’s response when Tava asks if he wants to know why she’s come to his ship (“No, not at all.”)
- Also, Kylo Ren throwing a bunch of Stormtroopers across the room instead of just telling them to stand down is another great example of how he must be the shittiest boss in the world.
- Reylo shippers get a meaty moment when Tava suggests their fight is the most fun he’s had in ages, and he flashes to fighting back-to-back with Rey in Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.
- “Touch the Shadow” is the term the Knights of Ren (or at least Tava) use in lieu of “use the Force” or “the Dark Side.”
Most of this issue is a pretty straightforward fight scene and an infodump of Tava’s backstory, and Luke Ross’ absence is felt. But the moments when Kylo is effing with Tava and it’s not clear to either her or readers where he stands is a great snapshot of what makes this series so much fun.
On The Bookshelf
Outside the world of comics, this week saw the release of an assortment of additional Star Wars material.
Star Wars Insider #234 is a Darth Vader-centric issue that features interviews with Adam Christopher (author of the upcoming Vader-led novel Master of Evil) and Matthew Stover (who wrote the Revenge of the Sith novelization). There’s also a new short story by Landry Walker featuring the Crimson Corsair.
The aforementioned Revenge of the Sith gets its much anticipated (at least by me) 20th anniversary re-release as a special deluxe edition featuring annotations from Stover and a bunch of fancy little touches like red foil edges on the pages and a red-satin ribbon marker. I’m a big fan of Stover’s Star Wars work, and his RotS novelization is probably the best of all the novelization, adding a ton of depth and nuance to the tragedy of the story that helps smooth over some of the rough edges in the film’s script.
Finally, the climax of the comic book High Republic story gets collected into a trade paperback, The High Republic: Fear of the Jedi, by Cavan Scott and Marika Cresta, which collects the five issue miniseries of the same name.
Cover of the Week – Star Wars Insider #234
The direct market variant cover to this issue channels some fun “spooky season” vibes.
Question Of The Week
Which of the novelizations of the various Star Wars films is your favorite? Let me know on socials!