Greg Pak, writer
Raffaele Ienco, art
Carlos Lopez, colors
VC’s Joe Caramagna, letters
Recap
In this issue, Sabe convinces Darth Vader to investigate a small colony due to allegations that the governor of the planet is inflicting undue suffering on the former refugees. Sabe uses her knowledge of Anakin’s promise to his mother back on Tatooine to gain his support. Together they confirm Sabe’s allegation and move to confront the governor. Vader’s choice to support Sabe potentially puts him at odds with Crimson Dawn, a criminal organization once led by Darth Maul. The Crimson Reign series takes place after the war of the bounty hunters and focuses on the current workings of Crimson Dawn in the Empire.
This is an intimate story and the writer does a nice job narrowing the lens to aid the reader in understanding why Vader would ally himself in direct conflict, or so it would seem, with Crimson Dawn. The story is complex and takes a bit of knowledge of Crimson Dawn and its relationship with the Empire to be appreciated. However, readers can enjoy this book simply by watching the Phantom Menace or knowing that Anakin made a promise to his mother to free her from slavery. Although Anakin never achieved this goal we know that his mother’s death was a key moment in turning Skywalker to the dark side. Sabe leverages Vader’s soft spot for his mother to aid her in freeing the colonists who were at one time, former slaves.
My favorite panel appears on page 12 and depicts in a full panel spread a replica pod racer like the ones Anakin raced on Tatooine. The pod was built by the leader of the colony, Kister Banai, and a robot to look just like the one Anakin drove. The large engines with an elegant seats sitting atop them are really cool. Another panel that caught my eye depicts the face of Darth Vader considering the sight of the replica pod. It isn’t stated but it can almost certainly be assumed that he was thinking of his mother.
This is a very interesting, slice-of-life, Star Wars story with enough tie-ins to the Star Wars universe to allow casual readers to pick up a copy and jump on board. Fans who want to scratch their Star Wars itch and are interested in the time period between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi will love this book Overall = 8.5/10