STAR WARS: DARTH VADER – BLACK, WHITE & RED #2: Merciless

Hard Shutdown Part 2:

It’s a bad thing to underestimate your opponent. But when your opponent is Darth Vader, underestimating him has violent and deadly consequences. This is the focus and lesson of Aaron and Kirk’s second chapter of Hard Shutdown. Vader has been physically incapacitated and captured by the son of one of the scientists involved in the creation of Vader himself. But as his captors soon learn, he is far, far, far from helpless. Vader doesn’t say a single line of dialogue, but Kirk takes Aaron’s script and brings the violence and havoc Vader can wreak with his mind and the dark side of the force to bear across four of the six pages of the story. It’s a bloody reminder that even when Vader is down, he is NOT out. Fajardo uses red smartly to amplify that chaos by shifting his use between foreground, background, and single details, which works well with Kirk’s clean-lined solid style.

The Endless Mercy:

A truly ironic name for the story as Dave Pepose and Alessandro Vitti brings us a tale of a confrontation with Darth Vader; some stormtroopers face horrific and deadly creatures on a starship called the Endless Mercy. The story is ironic because Vader shows no mercy for the animals he confronts, even after learning their true nature. Pepose’s Vader is ruthless and unstoppable even in the face of a horrible injury, proving just how ruthless he can be. The ending is absolutely over-the-top, don’t think about it too hard, a moment of badassery from Vader that ties back to one of the first things Vader says in the story perfectly: The Perfect Killing Machine Already Exists. Vitti is absolutely superb on art as he brings this story that’s very much in the vein of the Alien franchise to life. He has a hefty line and is even heavier on the black, which works remarkably well for the story being told. It’s violent action from start to finish, and Fajardo goes hard on the deep red to accentuate the violence and horror aspect of the imagery. It’s superb all around.

Power:

This story shifts the perspective dramatically from the previous two stories. Victoria Ying chooses not to make Vader the story’s center but changes the focus to a young child on an outer rim world under the Empire’s rule. The story is disturbing because it shows how someone who has suffered at the hands of another can be drawn to power as a means of revenge. Vader serves merely to be the catalyst for this as the central character sees the fear that Vader’s power will strike into someone who has caused our main character considerable harm and trouble in the past. It’s a great use of Vader seen from another’s perspective and the influence of power or the perception of it on the abused. Marika Cresta’s art does an amazing job of expressing the central characters’ journey through their facial expressions from start to finish. Overall, the art in this one takes a much softer, more subtle approach to the script but does an excellent job carrying the central premise forward.

On a separate note. Romula Fajardo’s contribution to the mood of each and every story in the issue cannot be overstated enough, and Adam Kubert’s Cover is superb. VC’s Joe Caramagna is absolutely outstanding on lettering across all three stories, but especially in The Endless Mercy, where he gets to cut loose with over-the-top sound effects.,