Awesome / Star Wars: Darth Vader

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• While Cylo's cyborg agents were never going to be in Vader's league, despite what he and they thought, his genius is rather impressive in the innovations he presents in each of them:
  • The Astarte twins, while not in Vader's league, have been trained in lightsaber combat and cybernetically augmented to such an extent that they can engage him in a duel on relatively even terms. In the short term, anyway.
  • The Cyber-Animate is a sort of A.I. program that can be implanted into any number of fierce beings, from Trandoshans to rancors. The result is not only a lieutenant whose combat experience is retained after the death of the host, but one who can block out their own pain receptors to power through grievous wounds.
  • Tulon Voidgazer, as one of the Death Star's architects, is a genius unto herself. Cylo's cybernetic augmentations allow her to control a complex network of battle drones to attack from various angles. Said drones come with a varied arsenal, including lasers, shield emitters, and a self-destruct option.
  • Commander Kabrin. As bizarre as it might seem to see a Mon Calamari's head sticking out of the suit, the fact remains that Cylo successfully replicated the cyborg chassis of General Grievous for the wounded general to inhabit, complete with his own set of lightsabers. Furthermore, it's subtly implied that Cylo even improved on the design.
• Vader's reaction to Boba Fett's only info on the Rebel pilot who destroyed the Death Star: Skywalker. The Dark Lord of the Sith's first response is eerie silence that causes the bounty hunter to leave his presence; then he flashes back to the events of Revenge of the Sith, reliving the moment of Padmé announcing her pregnancy and later the news of her death. He clenches his fist in fury as he puts the dots together, which causes the Star Destroyer window he's looking at to crack. Then later he demands an audience with the Emperor to reaffirm his loyalty and dedication to him and the Empire, all while holding back at his newfound anger and hatred for his master's deception as well as his resolve to overthrow him. Afterwards, he declares that he has a son and swears to claim both him and the galaxy for his own. The final shot reveals the window to be at near breaking point with the reflection of several Star Destroyers ready to receive Vader's orders.
• Briefly, for Inspector Thanoth, the Imperial officer assigned to watch Vader at the end of issue 8. He performs a Sherlock Scan on Vader, which could possibly lead to getting Vader in trouble with the Emperor, and shows he's not the least bit intimidated by him.
• Vader strips the blasters from his downed TIE fighter and reassembles them a mile off as a turret gun, blasting the Rebel ship that finds him.
  • Vader Down overall is this for Vader, given the stakes against him in the story and the fact we know he makes it out alive.
• Vader cuts through the guards of the King of Shu-Torun, survives several assassination attempts, and kills the whole royal family through trickery. He then crowns a new Puppet Queen for the planet and presents her with a chunk of Alderaan to remind her of who she serves.
• Vader visits Palpatine in his office and dumps the remains of Commander Karbin on his floor.
  • This is worth elaborating on. At the very beginning, Palpatine made it very clear that Cylo's agents and Vader were not to kill one another - or, at least, to make sure HE didn't find out about them doing it. By handing over Karbin's corpse, lightsaber wounds and all, Vader is daring the Emperor to punish him for violating these terms...and the Emperor doesn't, or perhaps can't, because none of the other agents are worthy replacements for Vader himself.
• Voidgazer destroys a rebellious ore-baron's facility by using her drones to destroy the cavern ceiling above, creating a magmafall that buries the mobile fortress beneath a torrent of molten rock and ore.
• Vader, Aiolin, and Morit sink the Lava Leviathan, a warship meant to travel through magma. But how, when they have no explosives? Vader demonstrates with his lightsaber, cutting a hole in the hull and letting the lava pour in.
• Give it up for Inspector Thanoth, who provides a master-class example of how to Face Death with Dignity. Thanoth knows that Vader will kill him for knowing too much, but nonetheless tells Vader everything because he feels Vader needs to know that many in the Empire would prefer him over Palpatine as Emperor.
• Issue 25 is this in the form of how Vader finally took down Cylo. Cylo kept boasting of his immortality, due to his near-infinite supply of clones in his base, which was built out of a cybernetically-augmented Space Whale. Vader uses the oldest Jedi trick in the book to make said space whale fly itself into the sun. With this, Vader forever cemented that the reputation he had in The Empire Strikes Back was earned. With this, we are reminded that Vader is a true Dark Lord of the Sith.
  • Dr. Aphra's back-up plan. She was well aware that Vader would never follow through on killing her with his lightsaber, so she plans for him to have her Thrown Out the Airlock. Since he would believe her dead, she's free from his service to do whatever she wants.
• After being forced to obey an Imperial governor who quickly starts to abuse his authority over Vader, Vader is tasked with what seems like a Suicide Mission- go into a quarantined area of space and kill the greatest threat there. Vader finds the intended target, a large crustacean space monster, but turns around and returns to the ship. Vader tells the governor that he is the greatest threat by going into a restricted area, and when ordered to kneel, does so, allowing the monster to kill the governor.

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