Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca are back with the next installment in the Darth Vader as the book takes its turn as a political maneuvering story. Or rather, it’s a story with political maneuvering and a wrench called Vader in the middle. Despite his history with Shu-Torun and Queen Trios, Vader doesn’t really care about the planet and its unique political system. He’s more concerned with making sure it remains loyal to the Empire and that he gets the job done. Everyone is working around him towards their own goals with varying levels of success.

Vader #17 is a relatively quieter issue despite still having its moments of action. It feels like set up for what will likely happen in an issue or two and that’s fine. It just means there’s less to really talk about. This does, however, give me a chance to talk about how Gillen has been killing it with the ladies in this book… which also means he’ll probably be killing the ladies at some point because this is Kieron Gillen and he always kills my favorites. I’m interested to see how far Queen Trios can be pushed by both Vader and her own rebelling barons before she snaps in one direction or another. She’s remaining relatively calm and going along with Vader for now but something tells me that she’ll make her move one way or another before this arc’s end.

Aiolin Astarte, one of the twins trained by Cylo to replace Vader, distinguished herself for this first time in this issue. Her attempt to align herself with Vader is unsuccessful but smart nonetheless. She understands how this game is played (to an extent) and it will be interesting to see where this does because I don’t think for a moment that this was a throwaway moment for her.

And that’s not even touching on Doctor Aphra who is still in some trouble and has a retrieval bounty on her head. SO.

The worst thing about this book is when it ends and I have to wait a month for the next issue. At least we get the next Mark Brooks cover as a consolation prize.