We’ve met Doctor Aphra, Triple-Zero, and BT and now they have their mission to further Darth Vader’s need for a secret personal force. In Darth Vader #4 by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca, the “team” is off to Geonosis… a place that Vader knows well.

Interestingly enough, the star of the issue, in my eyes, is Triple Zero. While he’s obviously an inversion of Threepio, it works surprisingly well and doesn’t come off as an evil parody. He’s still got the fussiness of a protocol droid but Triple Zero is also definitely fine with both murder and torture. It’s a great way to take the premise and build off of it in a way that doesn’t feel boring.

On a similar vein of character moving past their concepts, Doctor Aphra continues to be a fantastic addition to the Star Wars universe. She’s a smart and capable woman of color who may babble when she’s nervous but doesn’t have any illusions about how this galaxy works. This is a galaxy that needs more realists and I definitely look forward to seeing how the working relationship between her and Vader evolves.

This is definitely a great book for some good old-fashioned Vader violence. Larroca draws a great Vader and he definitely has fun with all the action sequences. Edgar Delgado’s colors compliment his line work nicely. It’s also a testament to the work of both the artist and writer that the art of Vader still manages to be expressive and tell a story with his body language even though you can’t see his face.

Speaking of Vader, I haven’t discussed him much yet in a review of his starring book. This is definitely a great read for those who love the character. I find that Gillen’s allusions to Anakin are certainly obvious but they don’t feel out of place for the situation. It’s nice to see that despite Vader’s efforts, Anakin isn’t completely gone.

Oh. And that last page cliffhanger? I can’t wait until next month’s issue. It has the potential to be fantastic.

Darth Vader #4 gets another 4/5 from me this week.