Darth Vader (2017) 15: Burning Seas: Part 3
What is it ? : As he sinks into the Great Ungeness Trench, Vader ignites his lightsaber as his suit warns him about low oxygen levels and that the suit is reaching it's pressure tolerance. But suddenly an octopus-like creature knocks the saber from his hand and he uses a force push to keep the creature distant before he dominates it's mind and get it to return his saber from the seabed.
It carries him upwards to lower pressure, and he passes dead stormtroopers and wrecked imperial equipment still sinking from the tsunami, and he begins to pick up communications from the Inquisitors looking for him. They recover him in a submersible, and he questions whether they have captured or killed King Lee-Char, but they say they focused on rescuing him. To which Vader tells them that he never needs rescuing, he tells them that unless Lee-Char was killed he will be warning the rogue Jedi on Mon-Cala that they are here for him, so they must move quickly.
Lee-Char is recovered by a Quarren submersible, and Ackbar leads an attack on an Imperial Aerial Landing Platform that they are now using as a staging group in the attack. His forces fire missiles from directly beneath the platform overwhelming its shields and destroying it as he hears about the King being found.
The King awakens are realises that the Jedi must be warned, and contacts him immediately, as in orbit above Tarkin orders the officer responsible for the destruction of the Landing Platform to be issued Stormtrooper armour and sent to the battlefront, as he plans escalation of the battle and the three Star Destroyers begin to move into position. . . .
High Points : So the Mon Calamari are doing well in resisting the Imperial invasion, something we know they'll fail at, but seeing them use tactics which are based around denial of access to the planet. Having destroyed the surface settlements, and now destroying the floating platforms the Empire is using is excellent stuff.
Low Points : But too much of the issue is wasted on Vader mind controlling an octupus, there's no real threat to him. And I have to ask why Vader is becoming Iron Man? We've seen in previous issues him picking up the data chip from Jocasta Nu and the information in the chip appearing on the lenses of his helmet. And now he's got a voice telling him his oxygen levels, and the pressure levels which are a danger to his suit. It's all a bit Jarvis for me. We've never seen Vader have this level of technology, it's very 2000's in it's design, in Star Wars which was very 1970's in it's concept. Vader didn't have AI voices, and heads up display in his helmet, he had big chunky plastic buttons and indicator lights.
And while I suppose that the number of missiles could overwhelm shields, but missiles themselves have been shown in Star Wars to be less effective against shielding, so the way the comic presents that missiles are this great technology to defeat shields seems a little odd as well.
So what do you really think ? : The story is moving at a good pace once we get past Vader's Deep Sea Adventure, Vader and the Inquisitors are having to move quickly to catch the Jedi and his forces, and Lee-Char must warn the Jedi of this fact. It's all exciting, and while we know how it will all work out in the end, it's interesting to see exactly how that will come to pass.
Final Words : I've spent so long reading stories of Thrawn and his ilk, where they treat officers with respect and teach failures as learning moments, it's refreshing to see Tarkin be so old-school Empire, when his officer fails him, leading to the destruction of the Aerial Platform, Tarkin just sends him off to the frontlines to be cannon fodder in the battle. It's so wasteful, it's so shortsighted, it's so ignorant of his own failings, but it's so Galactic Empire, it's fun to read.
Score : 7.5/10
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