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Darth Vader (2017) 7: The Dying Light: Part 1

What is it ? : Darth Vader is sparring against one of the Inquisitors, the Sixth Brother, and has sliced his arm off, telling him to get up and fight, it's only an arm. The Sixth Brother gives up and drags himself off to the medical bay, while the Grand Inquisitor asks what cutting off his arm will teach the Sixth Brother, and Vader responds that it will teach him a lesson he'll never forget, Loss.
In the medical bay we can see droids patching up all the Inquisitors, who have severed limbs and gut wounds. The Grand Inquisitor objects to Vader using them like this, objecting that they are all skilled warriors, and former Jedi. Vader tells him that they fight like it, defensively, making attacks only when no other option is available, coming from Jedi teachings that tell them that a fight where both opponents walk away is a win.
The Inquisitor points out that although Vader sees them as pathetic, the Emperor has assigned them to him, so their failures will reflect badly on him. Vader agrees that he does see them as pathetic, but believes that all things are possible through the Force, so thinks that they can change.
Vader orders that the Inquisitors will begin hunting down the remains of the Jedi, but the Grand Inquisitor tells him that Palpatine has already given them a list, and one among them is highlighted as being especially dangerous, Jocasta Nu.
Meanwhile on a rocky moon, Jocasta Nu is recording a message into a Holocron, which she adds to a box full of Holocrons, an assistant offers her tea, and she tells him she has more work to do, which will require more tea.
The Grand Inquisitor and Vader enter the Jedi Library, as the Inquisitor tells Vader how he always hated Jocasta Nu, how she looked down on him and refused him access to much of the information he wanted to see, that she looked down on the warriors that put their lives on the line for the order when all she knew was ease and comfort. He says he's going to hunt her down and kill her, and then he's going to read every book in the library. But Vader tells him that his job is to search the library for personal information and family connections which could lead them to the hiding Jedi.
On the moon, Jocasta Nu walks into a hidden cave behind a waterfall, inside is a smaller version of the Jedi Library, she takes her lightsaber, telling her assistant that she must go, because while she has built a school, it still needs students.
We then intercut between Vader meeting with Palpatine, and Jocasta Nu arriving on Coruscant. Vader reports on his aggressive training of the Inquisitors, but questions why Jocasta Nu is their top priority. Jocasta Nu meanwhile has landed in a hangar, leaving her Jedi Starfighter and droid behind. Palpatine explains that the Jedi Order gathered artefacts and information from across the galaxy and sent them all to Jocasta Nu to catalogue, so she has knowledge beyond even the ancient Sith. Jocasta Nu uses the Mind Trick to get past some Clone Troopers who try to stop her. While Palpatine explains that he has not told this to the Inquisitors because there is danger in Jocasta Nu falling into the hands of anyone who isn't Palpatine and Vader. Jocasta Nu enters the Jedi Temple through a hidden entrance, while Palpatine explains that she will make a scheme to change the destiny of the galaxy, when Vader must find her, and save her life. . . .

High Points : Vader has always had a dark sense of humour, but him hacking body parts off inquisitors, and calling it lessons is extremely dark, and the initial fight with the Sixth Brother amused me, with his lines of "It's only an arm!" and "Get up and fight."
Also seeing the other side of the Inquisition, the Grand Inquisitor being sent into the Jedi library to research personal and family connections for the missing Jedi, makes so much sense. We've just seen the Inquisitors in the past as thugs, working on information received, but it makes sense that they should be looking for clues to refine down their search for the missing Jedi.
And finally, Palpatine ensuring that Vader understands that the Inquisitors are useful tools, but they are not Sith, so cannot be trusted. But I wonder if him telling Vader of Jocasta Nu's value won't come back to haunt him later. "Hey Vader, here's this woman who can potentially teach you how to kill a Sith Lord, not that I need to worry with the Rule of Two of that being of value to you especially."

Low Points : I made this point a few issues ago, but we've always seen Holocrons as these ancient relics, valuable and rare. But in this series we've seen Clone Troopers gathering boxes of them, and now Jocasta Nu having created another box of them. Now perhaps their value and rarity increases as time goes on, because they do get gathered up and destroyed. That they were once common enough for a single Jedi in a few months to create a box full, but it just feels wrong, it was always hinted that each contained the teachings of a Jedi Master, and that not every Jedi Master created one. But now they don't seem like the wisdom passed down from a Master to the later generations of Jedi, but more like single lessons "In todays lesson we'll be learning!"

So what do you really think ? : I know we're going into a new story arc, and there's always a certain amount of set up to be done, but by heck there's a lot of talk and exposition in this issue, Vader walks and talks with the Grand Inquisitor, Jocasta Nu walks and talks with her assistant, and then Vader walks and talks with Palpatine. I suppose at least it gets everyone in the right place, as Jocasta Nu and the Grand Inquisitor are both in the Jedi Temple, and it's likely she's heading for the Library, so next issue there's a good chance of us getting straight into the action.

Final Words : We get a bit of action with the sparring with the Inquisitors, and I wonder if they're using this, and the fact that they've suddenly been put down a peg in the order of things by having Vader sprung upon them as a new boss, to make the Inquisitors into rivals for Vader. We know he continues to be in charge of them until Rebels and the Battle of Yavin, but we've got around 20 years in between, so plenty of time for them to work against him before then, which could make things more interesting.

Score : 7/10

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