Max Nocerino 
Can Star Wars: Legacy of Vader #2 provide the adventure Kylo Ren deserves? Join Max as he explores this comic book gem.
I’m a little late to the party, as I did not read Star Wars: Legacy of Vader #1, but the story is self-explanatory and one of the best Star Wars comics I’ve read so far in Canon.
Our story begins with Kylo Ren (the now Supreme Leader of the First Order) taking a detour and visiting the homeworld of his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker. Alongside him is Vanee, his grandfather’s old attendant who worked at Darth Vader’s castle. He was presumed killed in one of the other comics. Still, the dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities, some consider unnatural, and he has been “resuscitated” as a head in a jar full of some yellow liquid solution, grafted onto a clunky and bulbous droid body.
DRAGONBALL INSPIRATION
I get major Dr. Wheelo Dragonball Z vibes from his body’s design. I am also reminded of a Star Wars Legends character, Iaco Stark, who got decapitated in a factory and had a similar set-up. Vanee is as simpering and creepy as ever, referring to Kylo as Prince. He has taken Kylo to Tatooine for important learning reasons, and the dude knows almost everything there is to know about his former boss’s former life.
It’s rare to see any minor character know so much of the Chosen One’s intimate life, as many details of Vader’s past were hidden in the shadows and never public. Still, we soon learn that Vanee knows all this because he accessed Palpatine’s files, and the Emperor kept meticulous records of everything. Seeing Palpatine so organized is NOT a shock, as the man was always prepared and one step ahead of everyone (well, not at the very end), and I wonder what else Vanee learned by reading his data.
BEN SOLO
What makes this comic so great is that we see yet another sliver of goodness radiating from Ben Solo. Vanee mentions how Anakin was raised in brutal conditions as a child and fed his eventual conversion to the dark side. Vanee assumes the same for Kylo, but Ben flashes back to his childhood, and they are full of wholesome and loving memories, akin to the Legends dynamic Han and Leia had with Luke and Lando and their families. Ben is even seen playfully painting the chassis of R2-D2 and C-3P0 as a little boy. It’s so shocking.
Why did Ben go sour, then? How could he have fallen so far if raised with such love? As I continued to read, these questions buzzed in my head, and the fact that we don’t get an answer yet is excellent suspense and expert plot building.
Kylo learns that his grandfather was once a slave, and while Watto may not be around anymore (at least on Tatooine), Anakin’s first owner is still alive and well and a character very familiar to die-hard fans. Gardulla the Hutt! She is a female Hutt who received a brief cameo in The Phantom Menace, standing behind Jabba in his viewing box during the Boonta Eve Classic. The race that Gardulla’s former slave won! I wonder how she felt about that watching.
GARDULLA THE HUTT
Gardulla has rarely been fleshed out in the new Canon. I was very excited to see that she would be a part of this story. Kylo, in all his mentally unhinged psychosis, has decided to take his “revenge” on Gardulla and travels to her palace on Tatooine to kill her. It may seem like a random shoe-horned in plot point, but it shows an essential part of Ben’s fractured psyche. Ben never knew Anakin. While he idolizes the dark shadow he became, we can see that Ben has some warped attachment to anything to do with his family and feels he must write a wrong (even though he’s doing it with another wrong).
I want to compliment the artist for Gardulla’s palace design. It is hauntingly beautiful, like the lair of a witch living in the woods, with a gnarled tree-bark-like covering obscuring most of the bottom of the structure. Gardulla has one-upped Jabba and had two mounted rancors guarding her palace, which Kylo makes short work of. He expects this to be an easy kill, which will take a few minutes at most. Yet, Gardulla is far wiser than Jabba and has taken precautions for this encounter. I was legitimately shocked at the “surprise” Gardulla had for Kylo Ren. I am so intrigued and excited to see where this will go next.
This is Star Wars at its finest. I have no complaints whatsoever.
Star Wars: Legacy of Vader #2 is published by Marvel Comics and is available from all good comic book stores now.
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!
