In the “Burning Seas” arc of Charles Soule’s Darth Vader comic series, we take a bit of a time jump from the series so far: while issues #1-12 focused on the days immediately following the rise of the Empire, issue #13 opens three years after those events (so, around 16 BBY, for those keeping track). The Empire is consolidated, the military has built up, and the Emperor’s sinister servant, Darth Vader, has come into his own as the regime’s chief enforcer.

Whereas the series so has shown us the internal struggles of becoming Darth Vader, this arc focuses much more on external events – namely, the pacification of Mon Cala, the water world home to some of the future Rebellion’s greatest heroes. Indeed, these issues are full of familiar faces: Not-yet-Grand Moff Tarkin and his capital ship Sovereign (previously seen in the Tarkin novel) are pitted in a battle of wills (and weapons) against King Lee-Char of Mon Cala (who you may remember from The Clone Wars), Admiral Raddus (Rogue One), and then-Commander Gial Ackbar (c’mon, you know him). With such a cast of characters demanding page-time, we actually get less of the titular villain than one would expect; Vader plays the role of antagonist here, rather than the focus of the plot. 

The churning waters of Mon Cala give artist Giuseppe Camuncoli ample opportunity to demonstrate his prowess, as between the Empire’s air-to-sea assaults, the above-sea Mon Cala cities, and the watery depths we see the plot take us through a variety of well-drawn environments (and gives us some brilliantly ominous lighting choices from colorist David Curiel in several panels). Indeed, the scale of the Imperial destruction feels every bit as tangible as it would on-screen, thanks to some well-placed full-page spreads and a variety of battlegrounds.

The story of the arc, on the other hand, feels a bit more uneven. The most fascinating part of this latest Darth Vader run has been the internal thoughts of our antihero, as he deals with the fallout of Order 66 and the death of the Jedi Order. Here, we see a fully-realized Vader, in command of himself and his minions, and so the books take us more through a standard plot of “the Empire is bad, people are resisting, and then Vader shows up and kills people”. Don’t get me wrong – I love a good Vader fight scene, and the story tie-ins to the most recent Star Wars comic arc (“Mutiny on Mon Cala”) make this a fun companion arc. It did feel, though, like we could have gotten more. We get very little of Vader’s thoughts, motivations, or personal growth, and even the newly-introduced Ferren Barr, a survivor of Order 66 and now questionably-moral Jedi, feels like he left some development on the table. Barr is arguably something we haven’t seen before – a former Padawan who has fallen victim to his pride and desire for revenge. It would have been fascinating to delve further into the different ways post-prequel era survivors dealt with their trauma and fought against the pull of the Dark Side, but we get very little of that here.

Still, “Burning Seas” is a fun romp through the new Empire, and contains enough references to the wider Star Wars galaxy to keep more established readers smiling throughout. If you’re less familiar with the non-film Star Wars canon and are looking for a place to dive into the comics (come on, I had to get one water pun in there), you may want to go back to the start of this Darth Vader run rather than starting here, but you’d be doing yourself a favor in doing so, as Soule’s series is absolutely worth reading.

Up next for the series is a one-issue story centering around Vader and Tarkin, followed by an arc enticingly titled “Fortress Vader”; here’s hoping that we get some more of the internal machinations of our favorite villain there.

Darth Vader #13-17: Charles Soule/Writer, Giuseppe Camuncoli/Pencils, Daniele Orlandini/Inks, David Curiel/Colorist, Joe Caramagna/Letterer, Heather Antos/Assistant Editor, Jordan D. White/Editor