By Dante' Maddox

Star Wars can get pretty sad, Han Solo frozen in carbonite while his buddies hand gets his hand lopped off by his dad, it doesn’t get much sadder.

That was until I read this recent issue of Dark Times which features some serious action as well as a good deal of sadness. When last we found Bomo Greenbark and the crew of the Uhumele they were the prisoners of Darth Vader and a scholar named Fane Peturri. Things looked bleak as we come to find out that the mysterious cargo that the crew has had since they first appeared in the series is none other than the sarcophagus of Celeste Morne, who has been sleeping in suspended animation for almost 4,000 years.

Celeste was not happy at all to wake up to a seven foot Sith Lord staring her in the face. Her reaction was typical, violence. The fight that ensued was an important one, it clued into the reader the mindset of Darth Vader. We know that Vader wanted revenge against Palpatine just as much as he wanted anything else, and that his vision of the future showed him as the absolute ruler of the universe. With the Muur Talisman at stake that dream was close to becoming a reality, of a sort.

Celeste Morne had a greater dilemma than whether or not to side with a Sith. The Muur Talisman came with just more than control of an army of Rahkghouls. The talismans creator Sith Lord Karness Muur’s spirit was also intrinsically tied to the talisman himself. Whoever won the battle between Vader and Morne would eventually fall victim to Muur himself.

While the fighting is taking place the crew of the Uhumele struggle to free themselves from their bonds in order to make an escape. The crew is running short of time as the plague begins to spread throughout the chamber, turning storm troopers into deadly rahkghouls. One of the crew members, a human female named Crys contracts the disease while the crew makes their getaway. Knowing that she would die without knowing that her son lived was really sad, and made for one of the greater moments in the series, even if it was very tragic.

Its issues like this that make Star Wars books so great, and it’s a little sad that there will be no more Dark Times books until next year. Vector itself will next make its way through Star Wars Rebellion next month, so be there for that. See ya then!

Writer: Mick Harrison
Pencils: Dave Ross and Douglas Wheatley
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
Series Count: Ongoing/ 2009

Crave Online Rating: 8 out of 10