Darth Vader Reunites With An Old Friend From ‘The Phantom Menace’
There's little that can tug at my heartstrings more than Darth Vader facing his past. Since the reveal of the iconic villain's true identity in The Empire Strikes Back, Anakin Skywalker has been a torturously yet brilliantly tragic character throughout his entire story. From The Phantom Menace to Revenge of the Sith and beyond, Anakin shows how the lure of the dark side and a selfish hunger for power can turn a hero with no fear into the most feared monster in the galaxy. What's even more devastating is seeing Vader confront the people he used to see as friends and allies.
The most prominent examples of this that come to mind are the aforementioned reveal in The Empire Strikes Back, Vader's duel against his former apprentice Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars Rebels, and the Sith Lord's most recent encounter with his old mentor in Part III of Obi-Wan Kenobi. The latest issue of Greg Pak's Darth Vader comic series was able to create a similar feeling with an unexpected character.
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In Darth Vader 23, we see Vader having to make a difficult decision. For the past few issues, he has been working with Sabé, Padmé's former handmaiden and decoy, to root out and destroy the crime syndicate Crimson Dawn. The previous issue ended with the reveal that Sabé has deduced that Vader is Anakin Skywalker. This issue shows Sabé using this knowledge to her advantage. In the issue, she informs Vader that after he was unable to free his mother Shmi Skywalker from Tatooine, Sabé, in Shmi's honor, teamed up with fellow bodyguard Tonra to free refugees from the desert world and relocate them to a colony on Gabredor III. Sabé also tells Vader that the refugees are being exploited by an Imperial governor in league with Crimson Dawn. With that, Sabé offers Vader a deal; if he helps her free the Tatooine refugees, she'll help him destroy the Crimson Dawn cell. Vader begrudgingly agrees and they arrive on the planet and are met by the refugees from Vader's old home. He also reunites with a couple of familiar faces; his childhood friends Wald and Kitster Banai.
For those who don't remember or haven't seen The Phantom Menace in a while, Kitster and Wald were the children we saw hanging out with Anakin prior to the Boonta Eve Classic and celebrating Anakin's victory once he won the race. Since their first appearances in the film, there has been much speculation throughout the fandom surrounding the fate of Anakin's childhood friends; most especially Kitster who has achieved meme status thanks to his famous line "This is so wizard, Annie!" Seeing Vader be confronted by his old companions from Tatooine is cathartic as well as hard to see, knowing the monster that Anakin has since become. While Vader does treat Kitster and Wald as coldly as he would anyone else, his former friendship does shine through when the refugees are attacked by a pack of clawed beasts and Vader leaps in to save them with his lightsaber before silently walking away to continue on with his mission. We also get to see that Kitster and Wald have been working on a terrestrial vehicle, clearly inspired by the podracers back on Tatooine.
While not a groundbreaking reveal by any means, Kitster and Wald's appearances here still manage to tug at Star Wars fans' nostalgia for little Annie and his old life on Tatooine. It was also nice getting a reference to Sabé and Tonra's secret Tatooine mission in E.K. Jonhston's Queen's Shadow. Plus with Vader having to help a colony of refugees and assisting his old friends, it seems we're starting to see a few glimmers of the person Anakin Skywalker used to be, beginning to set up his eventual return to the light in Return of the Jedi. Overall, another solid issue and a very wizard return for the one and only Kitster Banai.
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