Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist(s): Facundo Percio, Dan Parsons
Release Date: 12th February 2014

I’ve made no bones about the fact that Star Wars is one of my favourite titles at the moment, and I was very slightly disappointed with the last issue, as it kicked off a 2-part arc that felt unnecessary.

In this issue, ‘Five Days of The Sith’ continues to focus on Darth Vader and his temporary assistant Ensign Nanda. With Nanda realising just how terrifyingly ruthless Vader can be, she is now starting to fear for her own life come the end of her temporary assignment.

I had my reservations going into this issue, as I didn’t really hold high hopes for how the arc could finish, but the pacing in this issue is brilliant, neatly tying up previous plot threads without it feeling rushed, and one scene in particular that harks back to ‘A New Hope’ will really please a lot of fans.

I would have liked to see Nanda turning up in future issues as a really badass Imperial, but although it is a faint possibility, it looks unlikely. This story was clearly meant to be a standalone tale, and it is essentially a ‘palate-cleanser’ before heading into the next major arc.

I should mention Facundo Percio’s art, but I’m getting tired of saying “Dark Horse’s ‘Star Wars’ books all look the same.” Percio gets the job done just fine, but I have missed Carlos D’anda on the title these last couple of months.

This 2-parter still feels slightly unnecessary, other than a couple of minor loose ends that were tied up in this particular issue. Thankfully, ‘Five Days of The Sith’ finishes up pretty cleanly, and there are scenes in this issue where, as I was reading them, I honestly had thoughts that this may well be the best issue of the series so far. The ending was a slight let-down for me personally, but further development of Darth Vader is never a bad thing, and this arc serves it up in lashings. Issue #14, and the arc as a whole, will still manage to keep you reading.

Rating: 3/5.

The writer of this piece was: Alan Shields aka (Al)
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