Darth Vader comic #18: Bad Ground by Charles Soule
"Darth Vader #18: Bad Ground" written by Charles Soule, illustrated by Giuseppe Camuncoli, Daniele Orlandini, and David Curiel
This was one crazy side story! It was enjoyable as I had no idea what exactly was going on until the very end what with Tarkin and a hunting party on the hunt for Vader himself!! Super weird, but all is eventually explained.
We are located in the Outer Rim at Chandar's Folly--this could be a planet or it could be the name of a place on an unknown planet I'm not sure. Wookieepedia attests it is in fact a planet so we'll go with that. It is a dry, desolate place with crystal forests and roiling lightning storms.
The picture below is Vader wearing a Valath-skin cape. Valaths are apparently the apex predator of this planet and Tarkin is impressed by the skill it must have taken to capture and kill such a vicious creature. Cool fact about Valaths, their skin contains chromatophores that allow them to blend in with the surrounding landscape, so Vader is able to use his newly acquired cape as an invisibility cloak of sorts!
What remains of Tarkin's crew includes Yerga and Gil who both appear to be human (with two other unnamed humans), Eighty-One who I presume is the droid, and Sissian and Hardhear who are both Chadra-Fans. The two Chadra-Fans are able to hear Vader's breathing apparatus from far away distances and so are the trackers of the group.
Tarkin makes an interesting statement about Vader, "When he takes life, he comes to life." No doubt that's true!
Tarkin says he was able to determine how far away a person needed to be from Vader before Vader wasn't able to use the Force on that person to kill them. This doesn't sit well with me since Snoke was able to Force-choke Hux by hologram and I don't see Snoke being any stronger in the Force than Vader... Definitely not liking the implication that Vader has a weakness Force-ability-wise.
It shows Tarkin shooting a gun with bullet casings falling out of it...weird...
Well all turns out well in the end...except for the 18 people that died in the process of the hunt. At least Vader and Tarkin both got something out of the experience. Again, this was a very interesting side story showing us some of Vader's darker thought processes and giving us greater insight into the calculating and ingenious mind of Tarkin. Despite the disconnect from any other material, it was a worthy addition to canon.
I'm looking forward to seeing what the next story arc brings us!
We are located in the Outer Rim at Chandar's Folly--this could be a planet or it could be the name of a place on an unknown planet I'm not sure. Wookieepedia attests it is in fact a planet so we'll go with that. It is a dry, desolate place with crystal forests and roiling lightning storms.
The picture below is Vader wearing a Valath-skin cape. Valaths are apparently the apex predator of this planet and Tarkin is impressed by the skill it must have taken to capture and kill such a vicious creature. Cool fact about Valaths, their skin contains chromatophores that allow them to blend in with the surrounding landscape, so Vader is able to use his newly acquired cape as an invisibility cloak of sorts!
What remains of Tarkin's crew includes Yerga and Gil who both appear to be human (with two other unnamed humans), Eighty-One who I presume is the droid, and Sissian and Hardhear who are both Chadra-Fans. The two Chadra-Fans are able to hear Vader's breathing apparatus from far away distances and so are the trackers of the group.
Tarkin makes an interesting statement about Vader, "When he takes life, he comes to life." No doubt that's true!
It shows Tarkin shooting a gun with bullet casings falling out of it...weird...
Well all turns out well in the end...except for the 18 people that died in the process of the hunt. At least Vader and Tarkin both got something out of the experience. Again, this was a very interesting side story showing us some of Vader's darker thought processes and giving us greater insight into the calculating and ingenious mind of Tarkin. Despite the disconnect from any other material, it was a worthy addition to canon.
I'm looking forward to seeing what the next story arc brings us!
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