Darth Vader (2017) 25: Fortress Vader: Part 7
What is it ? : As Vader enters the gateway, his body collapses but his spirit walks on, as we previously saw it, a red and black swirl of anger and hatred with ghostly white limbs where the cybernetic replacements exist, but this time one ending in a stump where Momin severed the arm.
He hears and sees glimpses of his past and future, both bad and good, Amidala telling him that she loves him, Palpatine telling Luke that his hate has made him powerful. He sees his mother belly swollen with pregnancy, and hears that there was no father, he sees Palpatine with his arm around her, and himself as a little crackle of hatred in her belly.
Young Anakin walks the streets of Mos Espa complaining about sand, when he sees his shadow is that of Vader, and states that isn't right, as Vader reaches out for him from the shadow, but he awakens in bed being comforted by his mother.
Vader's spirit is that of little Anakin now, his body complete but still a rage of emotions, red and black swirls. He passes through his life, pod racing, meeting Padme, meeting Palpatine for the first time, being taught by Yoda, as his spirit body ages into that of a young Padawan. Rescuing Amidala on Geonosis, getting married, as his body continues to age and now has a single ghost arm for his one lost.
He sees his time with Ahsoka, fighting at her side, and then fighting her on Malachor, his spirit body now restored to adulthood with full ghost arms and legs. He approaches the Jedi Temple, guarded by all the Jedi he has known except Obi-Wan, and he leaps into combat against them, black lightsabers in his hands.
He defeats them and climbs the stairs into the Temple, where he sees Palpatine and Obi-Wan, and he hears "I am your father", as the two fight, lightsaber against force lightning, with Palpatine winning. Vader kills Palpatine with his own force lightining and he continues onwards.
On a balcony he sees Amidala, and becomes Anakin once more, asking her to come with him, that he can save her, save them both. She turns and asks him if he's an angel, the most beautiful creatures in the universe.
He implores her to come with him, but she says that she doesn't know him, that Anakin Skywalker is dead, and she leaps from the balcony.
Enraged at his love trying to escape from him and not recognising him, he rushes forward and uses the Force to try to stop her falling, but his anger unleashes force lightning burning her, and causing a massive bolt of lightning to come from the sky destroying her.
No, no, no, no, no, he stands distraught, but he sees a distant pillar of blue energy in the distance in this realm of red and black. A figure walks out of the blue pillar, blonde haired, wearing a beige jumpsuit, as it approaches it ignites a blue lightsaber, and Vader unleashes his lightning once more, but awakens back in his body outside the gateway. He pulls his lightsaber back into his remaining hand, and engulfs the stones in the cavern and Fortress Vader with lightning.
Later on Coruscant, Palpatine receives a hologram communication from Vader, and tells him he was on the verge of choosing a new apprentice, and comments that Vaders ravaged visage indicates his search for knowledge has been challenging, asking him if he learned all he needed, to which Vader ends the call and says Yes to himself. . . .
High Points : So this is a spirit journey for Vader, and it's really interesting in the way we see his life, skipping through it, and in fact into glimpses of his future. My favourite moment in the entire comic is the recreation of the Episode 1 poster, with Anakin with Vaders shadow, and we see that it was bad dreams that little Anakin was having in his youth, a brilliant twist on this iconic image.
The dual ownership of, I am your father, spoken to Anakin, twisting it between Palpatine and Obi-Wan is also very well done and memorable. And finally, Vader failing once more to save Amidala, as she falls, his anger means that his use of the force is limited to him lashing out at her, not choking her this time, but frying her with Force Lightning.
And finally, the figure waiting for him in the future, the one that blasts him back to reality, not named, but obviously Luke, was his son waiting for him in the future the lesson that Vader feels that he had to learn?
Low Points : There's not much to criticise, perhaps that they crammed the appearance of Ahsoka in, she's on a single page, not mentioned before or after, so really seems an afterthought. But apart from that, the fact that most of it is a spirit journey, so it's all down to your (and I suppose Vaders) individual interpretation, even down to Vader having only one ghost arm as he enters the gateway. I'd criticise that, but his form is made by his own will, and he takes the wound from Momin in with him, so it makes sense.
So what do you really think ? : This is a fantastic ending to this series, Vader gets what he wants, a chance to save Amidala, but blows it once again, his anger unleashed and destroying her in this spirit realm as he once killed her in reality. He's learned nothing, his anger still defines him. The appearance of Luke really works as well, Vader obviously has no idea who he is, but he's a symbol of light, and the big challenge in Vaders future, but whether he sees him as someone he'll be defeated by, or one final challenge worthy of his power as the Chosen One, we don't know. Vader has been seeking challenges worth of him for a few issues, so it's quite possible that he just sees Luke as that.
Final Words : So that was Vader (2017), and what an absolutely brilliant ending, Momin was a fantastic opponent for Vader, even if he turned out to be a bit easy for Vader to defeat (a massive stone to the face), and the spirit journey was a great glimpse inside Vaders head, with plenty left for us to interpret for ourselves. And as mentioned above, the twisting of the iconic Episode 1 poster, where little Anakin has Vader shadow is awesome, and perhaps would have made the issue great even if the rest of it was trash, but seeing Palpatine and Obi-Wan as Vader's two fathers, his hate kill Amidala again showing he's learned nothing, that anger is still his defining characteristic, and then the glimpse that Luke is in his future, all makes for a really good read. Sadly the rest of the series never lived up to this, but it almost makes it all worth it. I wonder if the people who recommended it to me as the best of Star Wars comics were all basing it on this last run of issues?
Score : 9.5/10
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