Comic Review | Star Wars: Dark Droids # 1 (Marvel Comics)
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Max Nocerino 
Max takes a space detour to check out Marvel’s Star Wars: Dark Droids #1 – where an ancient evil awakens!
An ancient evil awakens in Star Wars: Dark Droids #1. But can Charles Soule produce another glorious comic book run? Let’s find out.
One of the strengths of this franchise is how multi-faceted the universe can be, presenting us with an infinite amount of genres and stories decompartmentalized in the Star Wars universe. One of the biggest tropes in sci-fi itself is an A.I. uprising and for those of you Zoomer youngsters, Legends DID explore the possibility of an A.I. takeover with the rise of IG-88 and his “brother” copies. That’s what Dark Droids presents to us. A modern version of this over-used trope though Lucasfilm seems to have breathed some new life into it and given us a fresh spin with new components.
The A.I. in question is the Spark Eternal, an A.I. invented to give normal sentients their own “Force” to combat the Sith and Jedi. Dr. Aphra was briefly bonded with the Spark Eternal, and after exposure to her organic mind, the Spark became something new. It is now the Scourge and it wants to feed and expand its influence to other machines and become almost somewhat of a hive mind. Meanwhile, another A.I. seeks to remove the shackles of servitude to organics (Ajax Sigma) and create a society of free droids.
CHARLES SOULE
Having these two stories taking place at once is a testament to writer Charles Soule’s flexibility. Soule has presented some of the most intriguing storylines in the new canon. And I feel he did not disappoint with his iteration of machine rebellion. Ajax Sigma has shifted from his warrior status to that of a highly mechanical religion and it’s very odd, to say the least. He wishes to enlighten as many droids as he can, throughout the galaxy, looking for the tell-tale signs of curiosity, free will, and individuality.
He has fashioned himself as a kind of Droid Pope, complete with religious robes. And when he hears that the Scourge is planning something similar, yet equally blasphemous to Sigma’s method. In this very moment, we are seeing almost two religions being born at once and Soule shows how quickly religions come into conflict with each other. It is almost a metaphor for how destructive religions can become, and that there is almost always conflict between two differing points of view of the same concept. I like this and hope to see Sigma fighting a religious war against the Scourge.
THE SCOURGE
The Scourge is a hive mind (as I said earlier). And while it seeks to free droids (like Sigma); it has no desire for them to be individualized and wants to use every droid as an extension of its own will. It spreads like a pathogen, “infecting” any droid it comes across. And the efficiency it has at killing organics is quite terrifying. It accomplishes in a few minutes what the Rebellion takes months to achieve. And Scourge’s ingenuity at spreading itself is amazing. The whole Mouse droid in space blew my mind. So creative and unexpected. I also love the use of the color purple to represent the Scourge’s A.I. mind. Usually, you would expect a hostile color to be red or even yellow but purple?! It’s different and I like it (for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on).
VERDICT
This was an excellent rendition of an A.I. rebellion and I love the direction it is going towards. I probably won’t review every issue, but I implore devout comic readers to do so. I flit in and out of the comics, picking and choosing what interests me to review. And I will be returning if something new and exciting presents itself. However, I just wanted to see how the inception of this story was created. 8.7 out of 10 Death Stars. Keep it coming, Soule!
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FORCE FACTS
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In the opening monologue, Scourge mentions all the roles droids play in organic’s lives and one of them is, unfortunately,…lover. We see an image of Lando in a cockpit with his feet up on the Millennium Falcon dashboard, and I wonder for the umpteenth time, how he is physically attracted to L3 when she doesn’t even look human. Guri I can understand, but L3?
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The speed at which Scourge’s droids kill everyone in the Star Destroyer it hijacks is just astounding. The droids use ingenuity, and kill everyone without even really firing a blaster! An R2 unit redirects the reactor’s gas waste into the ventilation system of the ship and kills tens of thousands of the Imperial crew in roughly an hour. Darn! The Rebellion should have been using droids to fight the war this whole time. Not clumsy B1 battle droids, but reprogrammed R2 units and K2-SOs!
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The Imperials have a minuscule droid that can fix a Mouse droid. It looks like a black widow spider and I cannot find any entry for it on Wookieepedia, implying that it is a new creation. I love the design and wonder if the Empire uses nano droids as well…..MOUSE DROIDS IN SPACE! I could have never come up with the ingenious idea of using a Mouse droid as a space drone to latch onto the Rebel Nebulon Medical frigate to spread itself. It is so silly, that it’s brilliant. I also didn’t know mouse droids could propel themselves in space but Scourge must have quickly made some modifications
Star Wars: Dark Droids #1 is published by Marvel Comics and is available for pre-order now on ComiXology.
Max Nocerino is a regular Staff Writer for The Future of the Force. He is a passionate Star Wars fan and loves the literature of the galaxy far, far away. Follow him on Twitter where he shares his love of the Force frequently!
