Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Star Wars Purge: The Tyrant's Fist #1 of 2
Dark Horse Comics
Freed, Castiello, Chella & Atiyeh
One of my favorite comic books of all-time was the Purge one-shot where Darth Vader hunts down and kills a nest of seven or eight Jedi post-Order 66. Since then, Dark Horse has published subsequent Purge books and none of them have come close to matching that first book by John Ostrander. This latest effort is a two-issue mini-series and the first issue misses the mark as well unfortunately. I enjoyed the read but just couldn't reconcile the character portrayal or the execution with how I perceive this early Darth Vader time period. This comic is a good but not great read.
Basically, Vader shows up on a planet where the local Imperials are having trouble keeping insurgents down. Vader quickly determines that three Jedi have been helping the rebels and he springs into action.
The book has a lot of ideas that I would normally like. It has action, including Vader with a lightsaber, it has the Emperor, it has an interrogation and it has lots of Clones (Stormtroopers). However, the elements just don't add up to something that I thought was likely for a Darth Vader hunting Jedi story. Vader comes across as a little oaf-ish and not very menacing. One of the stranger parts of the book was when Vader force-throws a Clone into a rock because he's frustrated. Vader also appears to have no strategy or agenda. The Emperor has dialogue that I just couldn't picture any incarnation of the character saying to Darth Vaader. The book was entertaining but frustrating at the same time.
The artwork has some of the same problems that the story has. At times Darth Vader looks amazing, such as when he is speaking to the Emperor and the light is reflecting off his emotionless mask. However, at other times Vader looks small, wide and not very Darth Vader-like. The action is confusing at times, but precise and detail oriented at others. The book is a very mixed bag artistically. I did enjoy the vibrant colors though as I felt it added life to the book.
I'm not sure where this comic book is going but I can guess that Vader is going to kill a lot of people. This first issue sets up a lot of the players for the endgame, but it does so at the expense of telling a self-contained and highly entertaining story. Overall, I found this to be an average to decent read. I hope the second issue captures the magic from the first Purge book.
3 out of 5 Geek Goggles
