Darth Vader (2020) 23

Darth Vader 23 is the twenty-third issue of the 2020 canon comic book series Star Wars: Darth Vader. The issue was written by Greg Pak, illustrated by Raffaele Ienco and Carlos Lopez, and published by Marvel Comics on June 1, 2022.
==Publisher's summary==
"THE SHADOW'S SHADOW'S SHADOW" An epic new story begins as DARTH VADER embarks upon a new mission in partnership with a sworn enemy – but who's leading whom to doom? And what happens when the QUEEN'S SHADOW learns the deepest secret of the Dark Lord of the Sith? Plus: the shocking return of a face from Vader's most distant past!
==Plot summary==
===Sabé's mission===
Darth Vader denies that he is Anakin Skywalker, claiming that he is dead. However, Sabé doesn't believe him, countering that Vader appeared after Skywalker vanished. Sabé says that Skywalker talked about order while Vader is obsessed with order. While Skywalker loved Padmé Amidala, Sabé reminds Vader that he nearly ripped open her grave to find out how she died. Despite having many chances, Vader has not killed her. Sabé tells Vader that she has traveled to Polis Massa, where she heard Amidala's last words about there still being good in Vader. 
Vader draws his lightsaber and asks what does she want. If Vader truly wants order, Sabé offers to help. She explains that Skywalker's mother Shmi Skywalker Lars was a slave on Tatooine whom he swore to free. Amidala shared his sentiments. Following Amidala's death, Sabé returned to Tatooine with the Royal Guard Tonra and worked to free hundreds of enslaved people and smuggle them offworld. However, a colony of those liberated former slaves is being threatened by a corrupt Governor, who is using the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate to consolidate her power. If Vader helps her to save these refugees, he would get a chance to eliminate a Crimson Dawn cell. In return, Sabé says that she will get a chance to prove that Amidala was right about him.
Vader deactivates his lightsaber and agrees to help Sabé but warns her that she alone is responsible for the path that they take. The two depart in an Imperial Lambda-class shuttle without waiting for the Sith Master Assassin Ochi and his associates including the Trandoshan Tanka and the Voridsec Chilla Zin. When Tanka asks Beilert Valance if they are still in Vader's service, Valance responds that nobody leaves Vader's service unless he releases them or kills them. Zin asks what they should do now. Valance says he will organize a pickup with the Executor and wait for their next mission. Unwilling to wait, Ochi steals a TIE fighter and vows to get back on the job before the Handmaiden sets them up for destruction.
===Familiar faces===
Vader and Sabé travel to Gabredor III, which is being orbited by the Governor's Imperial Star Destroyer. After ZED-6-7 confirms that the Star Destroyer has not detected them, Vader orders the SP-4 ISC droid to take them down to the planet. Sabé is surprised that Vader has not summoned his own Star Destroyer. Vader insists on visiting the refugee colony to ascertain that she is telling the truth.
As the Imperial shuttle descends, the refugees led by Kitster Banai prepare to confront the Imperials with arms, vowing not to let the Governor conscript any more workers. Wald tries to calm Kitster down. The two are shocked to see their friend Sabé exiting the shuttle with Lord Vader, whom they are not familiar with. ZED-6-7 introduces Vader, explaining that he is carrying out the Emperor's will. 
When ZED requests to meet with the colony's protocol droid, Kitster asks what this is about. Sabé says that they are here to help if he is willing to accept it. Speaking in Rodese, Wald says that their protocol droid broke down a few years ago and instead offers the R-series astromech droid Em-Sevenbee, who is responsible for record keeping. Via ZED-6-7, Sevenbee reveals that the Governor contracted the colony to deliver critical supplies but that the colony has only delivered 37 percent of what was promised over the past three years. The droid also reveals that the Governor forcibly conscripted 33 colonists who have never returned. Wald reveals that the Governor has also been jamming outgoing signals, preventing news from reaching Sabé.
Wald and Kitster introduce a modified podracer they have been working on for the past few decades. Wald says he doesn't have the driving skills to pilot the podracer. Upon questioning, Vader learns that the human man and Rodian are his childhood friends Kitster and Wald but does not reveal his former identity as Anakin Skywalker. When Kitster asks if he can anything for Vader, the Sith Lord declines his offer of help. 
===The Governor's hand===
He then questions Em-Sevenbee and ZED-6-7 about the nearby forest. Sevenbee and a balding man reveal that the planet has been experiencing a drought. The balding man thinks that the clouds should return in a couple weeks, leading to better weather. Vader disagrees, thinking the situation will worsen. The villagers are attacked by a pack of Unidentified six-legged horned creatures, who overwhelm Kitster and Wald. Vader comes to the aid of his old friends, slicing the creatures with his lightsaber. Examining the creatures, Sevenbee and the balding man notice that the creatures are starving and severely dehydrated, explaining their attacks on the villagers and their herds. Sevenbee surmises that the creatures are dying like their planet. 
Sabé believes that the Governor is behind the ecological devastation to the planet and says that it is time to take her out. Wald and Kitster discuss whether Vader will help Sabé. While Sabé is eager to bring the fight to the Governor, Vader thinks that she and her local allies are not ready. When Sabé says that everyone makes their own choices in the end, he replies that they must obey her if she wants them to leave. 
Later that night, a second Imperial shuttle arrives with more stormtroopers and weapons at the request of Vader. Wald fears that they may have gotten Sabé in trouble but Kitster reassures him that Sabé is not the one in trouble. Sabé dons a black Imperial helmet, armor and a blaster.
==Continuity==
In one panel Tauntaza is mistakenly referred to with he pronouns despite multiple other mentions of the governor in the issue using her pronouns.
==Media==
===Cover gallery===
File:DarthVader2020-23-cover.jpg|Final cover by Paul Renaud
File:DarthVader2020-23-solicit-cover.jpg|Solicit cover by Paul Renaud
File:DarthVader2020-23-textless.jpg|Unlettered cover
File:DarthVader2020-23-variant-Okazaki.jpg|Japanese creator variant cover by Takashi Okazaki & Rico Renzi
DV2020-23-JapaneseCreatorVariant-Textless.jpg|Textless Japanese creator variant
File:DarthVader2020-23-variant-Sprouse.jpg|Variant cover by Chris Sprouse
File:50years-BadBatch.png|Textless cover by Chris Sprouse
==Appearances==
==Collections==
*Star Wars: Darth Vader Vol. 5 — The Shadow's Shadow
*Star Wars: Crimson Reign Omnibus
==Sources==
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==Notes and references==
==External links==
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