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Darth Vader (2017) 3: The Chosen One: Part 3

What is it ? : On the planet Al'doleem, Kirak Infil'a is meditating, levitating and assembling 4 Padawan traps at the same time, when his droid Arex attacks and they spar. But then Kirak senses a dark presence approaching and he launches the traps at Darth Vaders Starship above.
The ship is damaged and crash lands, where Vader and Kirak face off, Kirak tells Vader that he sensed the deaths of the Jedi and asks if he was responsible, to which Vader says yes. So Kirak tells him that the mountain is a test, and if he can reach the top they will fight, and he orders Arex to release the sluice gates, flooding the valley where Vader is standing.
After struggling for a few moments, Vader pushes the water away from himself with the Force and begins following the path higher, where he reaches a bridge and large bird-like animals swoop down to attack. Kirak and Arex analyse Vader, trying to work out if he is a Sith, Arex saying that Sith usually use Red Bladed Lightsabers, which Vader does not have. Intrigued, Kirak orders that the other defences be opened so Vader can get to the top of the mountain.
As Vader reaches the top of the mountain, Arex attacks and Vader smashes him, taking his weapon from him and fighting Kirak with it. Kirak realises Vader is here for his lightsaber, but judges Vader to have been too weak to have destroyed the Jedi, wondering if there is a master, and he hits Vader with a force push, causing him to plummet down the mountain back into a valley as he tells him that he will hunt down and kill Vaders master, and restore light to the galaxy. . . .

High Points : It's interesting the trap the writers have set themselves in this portion of the story, by making this all about Vader getting his lightsaber. He picked one up on Brighthome, and instantly discarded it, and uses the stun baton that Arex uses for sparring with Kirak. But for much of the story, Vader doesn't just hack things with his saber, he's using the force to push opponents, to throttle them, and to give him bursts of speed to engage them. At this stage though, he's not the powerful Vader we've seen who doesn't even need to use his lightsaber, he's more desperate, more Anakin in a black suit that the force of nature that he will become.

Low Points : So, after spending much time getting Vader to acquire his new starship, this issue it gets wrecked, and looking ahead it doesn't really feature again. And it was a cool ship, black and shiny like Vaders armour, but on the whole reminiscent of Mauls starship the Scimitar. Makes sense for Palpatine to have a design of ship he likes for his apprentices. Likewise, Vader was given a droid, which worked for him, allowing Vader to be the silent brooding presence that makes him so cool, but have someone doing a lot of the exposition and talking for him, but it gets taken out this issue, and looking ahead doesn't really seem to feature again.
They spent time building up a support structure for this tale, a ship Vader would use, a droid that would accompany him, but here we are 3 issues in and they're abandoning all that, making their introduction and the time spent on it kind of pointless.

So what do you really think ? : It's done well enough, but once again nothing really happens. Vader arrives, and he and Kirak fight, there's nothing else really here. They present Vader as not at the peak of his power, which potentially makes this series interesting if it's all about how he goes from being a critically wounded Anakin in a suit, to being the force of nature that is Darth Vader as we know him. We're only 3 issues in, but it just doesn't seem to be showing any clear direction so far, but time will tell.

Final Words : Kirak and Arex have been in series I've reviewed before, and it's kind of nice to see them introduced properly. Especially Arex who played such a large part in the later Vader series, where we see him reprogrammed and loyal to Vader.
It's also interesting to see Kirak Infil'a, who we've seen back in the Shadows of Starlight series in the High Republic Era, mentioned in the Vader (2020) series, and in a flashback in Legacy of Vader. He's been all over the stuff I've covered before, but this is his big appearance. Interesting to have encountered the character this way, makes all the comics feel pretty cohesive.

Score : 7.5/10

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