A highly anticipated new Star Wars comic is coming soon, and the more we hear about it, the more excited I get for it.
The first issue of The Legacy of Vader, written by veteran Star Wars author Charles Soule, will release on February 5, beginning to tell the story of Supreme Leader Kylo Ren in the period in-between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. The series will explore Kylo wrestling with his family legacy, will apparently reveal Watto’s fate, show Kylo hunting an Order 66 survivor, and more. But perhaps the most interesting tidbit that’s been released ahead of its debut comes from the official preview pages, showing what we believe to be some of the earliest pages in this story.
The images show Kylo Ren arriving back on board his flagship, the Finalizer, after the Battle of Crait. A portion of the First Order forces are gathered in the hangar, awaiting the arrival of their new Supreme Leader, who strolls to the stage and joins General Hux. Though Hux offers to introduce him, Kylo insists on doing it himself – and uses the Force to open two crates that are on the stage, revealing the two halves of Supreme Leader Snoke’s corpse. Kylo lifts Snoke’s corpse up in the air above the stormtroopers in the hangar, telling them to behold what the Resistance did to their Supreme Leader. Kylo takes the mantle himself, throwing Snoke’s corpse out the hanger and into space, saying that this is both an end and a beginning, and that he will be the one to bring them to glory.
It’s a brutal and unhinged moment, in the very best of ways. Kylo wants to prove himself, especially after his embarrassment at the hands of Luke Skywalker, so he makes a dramatic show in front of his followers – much like we can imagine his grandfather would have. We, of course, know that the truth of the matter is Kylo killed Snoke, but even in The Last Jedi it was clear he was blaming it on the Resistance to the rest of the First Order. He can use this to assume power for himself, all while rallying their forces together against the common enemy.
But maybe the biggest reason why I love this moment in the story is because it feels like we’re finally beginning to dive in to legitimate, important stories in the sequel trilogy era. We’ve had a number of stories set in this time period, but by and large they’ve felt unimportant. They don’t really add in the gaps of the trilogy, nor do they really flesh out the growth and happenings of the main characters. This comic feels like it could be the beginning of a different approach to this era, one that is sorely needed and that has been lacking. It was the further telling of stories that helped the prequel trilogy cohere better in the minds of many fans, and I’m excited for how that can happen with the sequel trilogy. I can’t wait for this series to begin doing that.
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