"Darth Vader #5: Dark Heart of the Sith, Part V" by Greg Pak

 "Darth Vader #5: Dark Heart of the Sith, Part V" written by Greg Pak, illustrated by Raffaele Ienco and Neeraj Menon

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Okay, so not as ground breaking as the previous issues in this arc, but issue #5 still hit all the right marks and had some absolutely incredible imagery!! I can't even begin to explain the noises I kept making. Vader goes from Padme's final resting place on Naboo to the location of her death on Polis Massa and finds out some earth-shattering news along the way. Is this the beginning of his turn toward the light? Because as is evidenced in his reaction to the news, Padme's effect on Vader, even from the grave, is simply profound. And the cover art for this issue is spectacular, showing exactly what Vader is enduring as he follows in his wife's footsteps (InHyuk Lee is the artist).

We start in Padme's tomb on Naboo with Vader about to remove the stone covering of the coffin to see what might be revealed within. But he stops, he second guesses his instincts to boulder ahead and gets ZED-6-7 to do a scan instead. The droid discovers a med implant stamped with Padme's place of death...Polis Massa. So he heads off to a new destination, insistent on discovering more about his son. And oddly enough, he welcomes the Amidalans to follow in his path (see below), but don't for one second think it's out of the goodness of his own heart.

Once at Polis Massa, Vader and ZED-6-7 encounter "A former Rebel base. Discovered years ago and bombarded by Imperial troops." The whole place is an utter disaster. I would SO like to know more about Polis Massa's existence as a Rebel base!!! But as hinted at in the first few panels of the asteroid, Padme's Chroon-Tan B-Machine midwifery droid is still on site. She may be damaged, but Vader's a master at technology. So, after handily putting the Amidalans in their place, the dark lord accesses the hologram files in the midwifery droid and is able to see Padme as she's speaking to Obi-Wan!! She says Obi-Wan's name of course and poor, dumb ZED-6-7 says, "That name again! He must have been very important to her!" in response to which Vader finally puts an end to his chatty forensics droid (see below). I was honestly wondering when Vader was going to do away with ZED-6-7, the droid couldn't seem to be quiet, especially at the most inopportune times. It was Vader flashing back to that fateful day on Mustafar that led to the last straw. These flashbacks to the confrontation between Padme and Anakin and Obi-Wan seamlessly fit in with the current story being told as they reveal to us that Vader has not completely forgotten who he once was. Two of my favorite panels are below.

So what did he find on the hologram except for Padme saying, "Obi-Wan"? Well, he didn't get to witness the births from what we are shown so it would be my understanding that he still doesn't know about his daughter Leia. Man he keeps skating so close to the full truth but keeps getting sideswiped. Lucky for Leia!! Not so lucky for Luke or Vader. But he does hear and see Padme saying one thing that seems to break him to his core...and I'm not going to reveal it here! But I will relay the panels that followed Padme's revelation which speak greatly to Vader' mindset in response: Vader falling down a shaft, Padawan Anakin falling down a shaft, little Ani falling down a shaft. As I said, the news breaks him.

This was a fitting ending to an arc which took us down memory lane from a unique point of view. I have to admit that I'm sad this part of the story is already over. I could have kept reading such a prequel/Vader mashup for issue after issue for a long time. But I understand that it's time for the story to move on. Next week we have Palpatine punishing Vader for wallowing in grief...will Vader's mind and heart be reverted full force back to evil? Or will he inch ever closer toward the light?