Darth Vader comic #12: The Rule of Five, Part II by Charles Soule

"Darth Vader #12: The Rule of Five, Part II" written by Charles Soule, illustrated by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Daniele Orlandini, and David Curiel
     In this issue, we find out generally where the death threat...and a new one...are coming from. And the Emperor gives Vader full freedom...except for one caveat...to do what is necessary to stop the threats. I really enjoyed this issue for the interplay between Vader and Palpatine as it develops their relationship further. This issue was definitely more about character and story development than it was about action.
     The cover shows Vader holding his new and familiar lightsaber!! And the scene from the cover is actually in the issue! Whoda thunk it? We do see him building the new hilt but don't get any detailed descriptions of his thought process on what it should look like and include which was kind of a bummer.
     In a show of Palpatine's true intentions and beliefs on being Emperor, he says the following, "If you do your work properly, you will never lack for people who wish you were dead. It is the price of power, and also the joy. Your enemies will be numberless, infinite. And so you will never lack for people to destroy." Man is he twisted with evil.
     Vader realizes that people in the higher echelons of Imperial society--the Imperial Officer Corps itself--have been targeting him because they do not understand how he came to be in so much power from nothing. Of course these people have no clue that he is in fact Anakin Skywalker and therefore came from very much something. Nonetheless, they want him dead so they can understand Palpatine's goals more clearly. In laying out these realizations to Palpatine and proclaiming that he wants the people responsible dead, Palpatine says Vader can take all but Tarkin as Palpatine has need of him! The equality between the positions of Tarkin and Vader is quite evident here.
     Palpatine calls a meeting of the Imperial Officer Corps and pronounces to all that Vader is his voice and his arm in all respects. Officers begin to sweat as Vader calls some of them out.
     One weirdness about this issue were the instances where Vader was shown meditating but his body was all red and black swirls except for his mechanical parts which were bright white. It was all very abstract and quite creepy. His eyes were also glowing red. Very strange with no real connection to what was happening in the story itself. Huh...
     Tarkin's going to be in the next issue!! I can't wait! I love that man!
     At this point I'm truly curious as to what "The Rule of Five" means and am intrigued to keep reading to figure it all out. As of right now, I could see Vader, Tarkin, and Palpatine as the rule of three but who would the other two be? Or perhaps it means something altogether different? We'll have to keep reading to discover the answer!

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