The owner(s) of the lightsabers on the cover of this issue has been the subject of conversation for weeks and now the time has finally come for all to be revealed.  Darth Vader #5 by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca arrives in comic stores today with the definitive answer to that debate.

Vader has an army.  And two murderous droids.  And the assistance of Doctor Aphra.  And the location of this facility where he suspects Palpatine is training his replacement.  It’s not difficult to predict his next course of action.  But when Vader arrives, lightsaber blazing, not everything is quite what it seems…

Darth Vader #5 has the distinct honor of being the first issue of the new Marvel comics to leave me going “Wait what?” and scratching my head while I try and figure out what’s going on.  Palpatine quietly training a new apprentice definitely seems logical and quite frankly, easy enough to hide in plain sight given that Inquisitors are a part of canon.  Without going into spoilers, the last half dozen pages or so has definitely left me not quite tracking Gillen’s plan here.  That said, this isn’t a black mark against the book.  I have no doubt that more will be revealed in the coming issues and quite frankly if I could predict everything that happens in this book, I’d get bored rather fast.

We don’t get to see as much from Aphra or our murder bots this issue (although Triple Zero does have a few great lines) but given that this a book about Vader, I’m content to see him be the star for an issue.  There’s actually not tons else to say about this latest issue though.  Darth Vader continues to be an enjoyable book with great art by Larroca who’s the perfect fit for this series.  Again, those final few pages left me both on the edge of my seat and scratching my head with confusion.  The next issue’s going to be an interesting for sure!

In the mean time, go pick up a copy of Darth Vader #5 as this book continues to get my stamp of approval!