The Inquisitors hunt for Jedi as Charles Soule opens his nonstop, action-packed installment of DARTH VADER #19 out this week from Marvel Comics. Let’s take a look at FORTRESS VADER!
WRITTEN: Charles Soule
LAYOUTS: Giuseppe Camuncoli
FINISHES: Daniele Orlandini
COLORS: David Curiel
LETTERS: Joe Caramagna
WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
DARTH VADER SPOILERS TOO!
To see what happened the last issue, click on the writer’s name below.
Summary
Darth Vader tracks down Eeth Koth who was a Jedi once upon a time before he went into hiding as a priest. Why? Well, Vader’s mission has been to track down every last Jedi across the galaxy and slaughter them all. However, when the Sith Lord arrives, he finds Koth and his newborn baby girl.
Koth and Vader fight while the baby and its mother tried to flee. As the two make it to their escape vessel, they are met by the Inquisitors who take the baby alive. The issue concludes with Darth Vader impaling Eeth Koth from behind as he notices the Inquisitors have his baby.
Art
Joe Caramagna’s lettering was spot on throughout the issue. The letters during the fight scene with Koth and Vader were big, bold, and colorful. Each smash was lettered so largely and appeared so loud in the context of the panel. Giuseppe Camuncoli and Daniele Orlandini’s art was eye-catching and smooth. Together with David Curiel’s colors and Caramagna’s letters the artistic team made every panel dynamic, intense, and powerful.
In addition, look at Caramagna’s lettering on page 14 and see how it stands out when Vader impales Eeth Koth from behind. Caramagna chooses the perfect letters mixed with the perfect colors by Curiel to make the exact sound of the lightsaber killing Koth. Readers can practically hear it through the words on the page.
Furthermore, during the lightsaber scenes, Curiel chooses the obvious red for Vader’s lightsaber BUT look closely at the Sith Lords helmet. The detail in the colors of Vader’s helmet is fantastic. His helmet is shiny with hints of red mixed in adding so much depth to the page. These little details by Curiel elevate this issue so much more throwing readers deeper into the story.
Ruthless Inquisitors
As a fan of the TV show STAR WARS: REBELS, I enjoyed seeing Soule put the Inquisitors into this issue. They play a pretty significant role throughout, especially in the way they captured Koth’s baby. At first, Soule let readers think the Inquisitor was having a change of heart with the mother, but readers quickly see it was just a demoralizing plan.
The Inquisitor uses the force to steal the baby right out of its mother’s hands from the ship, which painted such an awful exchange of emotions on the page. For any being to be that malicious, twisted, and evil makes me wonder how they got to that point. I want to know more about the creation of the Inquisitors. Hopefully, Soule takes readers on that journey soon.
Star Wars Is In His “Soule”
Soule reintroduced a pretty famous Jedi that survived up to this point. For the readers that are unaware, Eeth Koth was captured by General Grievous during STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS and appeared in the movies STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE as well as STAR WARS: ATTACK OF THE CLONES. So, this wasn’t some throwaway Jedi that Soule dropped into the story. Koth has a deep history in the mythos and Soule understands that, writing him in beautifully.
Readers can see that Soule is a true fan willing to do his research into this universe for something he genuinely loves. The proof is in the reintroduction of characters like Eeth Koth and Soule has been doing this through his entire run so. If readers need more proof, simply go back to the last story arc to see first hand, as well as the Tarkin issue last month.
Should you buy this issue?
Yes! Soule made this issue quick and clean. There was very little dialogue, which made the comic easy to read and fun, while the art team literally draws readers into the issue wonderfully. Soule set up the first issue well and left readers with great questions moving forward. Yes, readers that have been following the series know that Vader is hunting down Jedi but why does he want to keep the babies? Are these future Inquisitors? Why doesn’t the Emperor instill the kill order with the babies?
Should you add this to your pull list?
Definitely! Soule makes this fun and exciting from start to finish. Almost every issue to date continues to be interesting each month. However, for an issue named “ Fortress Vader,” Soule didn’t dive into anything related to a Fortress. The title was a bit confusing with the plot of this issue. Hopefully, Soule can connect the dots between the meaning of the title and the pages in the next issue. Add this to your pull list now because it’s the perfect time to hop on board.
What did you guys think of DARTH VADER #19? Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @dispatchdcu. If you would like to read more of my reviews, click HERE!
