How Will Vader End This Mission?
Darth Vader has been sent to find Moff Tarkin's son, has been seeing visions of Padme, been betrayed and finally captured. But this is Darth Vader we're talking about so you have an idea what he's going to do.
The Good
The entire series has dealt with this version of Darth Vader that we haven't seen before. He may be Vader now but he's not the one we know. He's also no longer Anakin Skywalker either. We're seeing him in his transformed state but he hasn't quite achieved the level of being the badass we know him for. That's what has been great. This Darth Vader isn't perfect. He will also get in there and get his hands dirty rather than just sit back and force choke everyone.
There are quite a few interesting scenes in this issue. Seeing how Vader deals with them is what sets this apart from other Star Wars comics we've seen. The scenes with Padme offers some insight into his transformation from Anakin to Vader. It's not something that should simply happen overnight just because he's wearing black armor now. It's felt weird seeing him take a beating but since we're talking about Vader, you know he won't just sit back and take it.
As a fan of Rick Leonardi, I've enjoyed seeing his pencils on the series. I'll admit there have been a couple scenes that didn't quite work for me but he draws a great battered Vader and there is one person that came out pretty dang creepy.
The Bad
Overall, I thought the mission was just okay. I've enjoyed the series but I got really excited over the idea of a young Vader commanding a squad of troopers and getting his hands dirty. We got some of that but the...adversary he went up against and how easily he was betrayed left me wanting more. I would love to see more of this Vader facing more challenging foes.
And maybe I need to brush up on my Vader armor knowledge but I thought he needed to keep the helmet on. I thought it helped him breathe. The scene in Empire Strikes Back, I recall reading that he had to concentrate and use the Force to be able to breathe without it. He was practicing to see how long he could go. Regardless, in this series, he's running around too much without the helmet. He needs it to look cooler.
The Verdict
Darth Vader and the Lost Command gave us a look at the Vader between Anakin and the one from the original movies. This Vader isn't perfect. At the same time, he will still get in there and do the job with his bare hands rather than sit back and rely on the Force. Haden Blackman gave us a great story showing us what's going on in his mind. He hasn't completely given up his past life and is still dealing with his transformation. The mission he is on left me wanting more. I had hoped to see more action but there were some nice scenes of Vader jumping into the thick of things. Rick Leonardi's pencils are always great to see but there were moments that some scenes felt a little off. He did do some really nice scenes dealing with Vader coping with who he is and who he will become. Overall it was a good series. I hope we'll see more of Vader during this time period, before he fully becomes the Dark Lord of the Sith.