- Camuncoli really was the absolute perfect choice for this series, I'm convinced. While I think other artists are better at drawing faces (Checchetto's artwork is absolutely stunning on Obi-Wan & Anakin, for example) Camuncoli does action and motion and scenery so brilliantly that the comic was visually gorgeous. Every single scene with Vader's mental landscape in the Force were some of the best art Star Wars has ever produced, they're beautiful and they convey exactly what the story needs.
Even the moments of silence, the death's head mask that hides everything we're so used to seeing written all over Anakin's face, are beautifully used. When he's silent, I feel it and everything that seethes and roils underneath it.
- I know Vader is meant to be badass, but mostly I just feel SAD for him.
I really think this is what we're meant to feel when we look at Vader. George Lucas has described him as a "pathetic old man" in the OT and I think so much of what we think we're supposed to feel (awe at how badass he is) comes down to that people want him to be this hypermasculine power fantasy, this badass that they fantasize about being, instead of how we should be looking at him and being so incredibly sad for all the potential that was there, the heights Anakin could have reached, instead of the lows he fell to.
He's terrifying because he has all this power and because he understands so little about himself, because he can lift a walker right up off himself, because he was strong enough that he could have stayed on Mortis and almost been a god, but then you get a glimpse of the wreckage behind the mask and, well. Nothing good would hide itself away like that.
I think it's easy to become inured to the level of violence Anakin executes, but it shouldn't. It's horrible. He is destroying people *on his own side*. I think it speaks to the level of anger and fury in him.
The hallway scene in Rogue One shows that his level of violence can still affect us, but it's so easy to slip from remembering how pathetic and awful this person is, to thinking HOLY SHIT THAT'S SO BADASS. Because it very much is Darth Vader just wrecking shit, terrifying because he's an unstoppable nightmare, and it's one of my favorite scenes for him! But it must come with scenes of the comic exploring how pathetic he is, how deluded he is, because this is a man who murders innocent children and no matter how badass he is, we should never forget that we do not want to be him.
- It's been, like, a week since he's become a Sith? And he's already I DO NOT EXPECT QUESTIONS, I EXPECT TO BE OBEYED. This was such a subtle, genius way to do exposition. The droid doesn't care if it gets more information or not! It can recite names for months on end! It's Vader's choice to talk or to listen! Vader's exasperation was a treat. :D
This is such a great observation! I have nothing to add, because it's perfect exactly as it is! It really is a perfect way to illustrate that he's trying so hard to be terrifying and commanding, but he wastes it on all the wrong moments. That's still Anakin in there, always trying to be a badass in moments when it doesn't actually do him any good, because he's never been great at reading a room.
You've said this before but this comic really highlights it: Vader is "badass" because he's got nothing to lose. His life is meaningless to him and he has nothing but rage to fuel him. It's what makes him so terrifying and pathetic. ;___;
And it's all the wors because he can't even admit it to himself, he can't even admit within his own head that he wants to die and that none of this was worth it. But he can still feel it and yet he can never just give up, he's too special, he's too destined for this, he's too angry to let go yet. All that fueling himself with rage just highlights that he used to be fueled with love and rage in equal measure, the absence of it here only brings home all the harder how there was good in him once upon a time, how he could be kind just as much as he could be monstrous, and it really aches for all of that.
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carisma_sensei
Re: why don't i have a star wars icon
Date: 2019-01-02 03:11 am (UTC)Even the moments of silence, the death's head mask that hides everything we're so used to seeing written all over Anakin's face, are beautifully used. When he's silent, I feel it and everything that seethes and roils underneath it.
- I know Vader is meant to be badass, but mostly I just feel SAD for him.
I really think this is what we're meant to feel when we look at Vader. George Lucas has described him as a "pathetic old man" in the OT and I think so much of what we think we're supposed to feel (awe at how badass he is) comes down to that people want him to be this hypermasculine power fantasy, this badass that they fantasize about being, instead of how we should be looking at him and being so incredibly sad for all the potential that was there, the heights Anakin could have reached, instead of the lows he fell to.
He's terrifying because he has all this power and because he understands so little about himself, because he can lift a walker right up off himself, because he was strong enough that he could have stayed on Mortis and almost been a god, but then you get a glimpse of the wreckage behind the mask and, well. Nothing good would hide itself away like that.
I think it's easy to become inured to the level of violence Anakin executes, but it shouldn't. It's horrible. He is destroying people *on his own side*. I think it speaks to the level of anger and fury in him.
The hallway scene in Rogue One shows that his level of violence can still affect us, but it's so easy to slip from remembering how pathetic and awful this person is, to thinking HOLY SHIT THAT'S SO BADASS. Because it very much is Darth Vader just wrecking shit, terrifying because he's an unstoppable nightmare, and it's one of my favorite scenes for him! But it must come with scenes of the comic exploring how pathetic he is, how deluded he is, because this is a man who murders innocent children and no matter how badass he is, we should never forget that we do not want to be him.
- It's been, like, a week since he's become a Sith? And he's already I DO NOT EXPECT QUESTIONS, I EXPECT TO BE OBEYED. This was such a subtle, genius way to do exposition. The droid doesn't care if it gets more information or not! It can recite names for months on end! It's Vader's choice to talk or to listen! Vader's exasperation was a treat. :D
This is such a great observation! I have nothing to add, because it's perfect exactly as it is! It really is a perfect way to illustrate that he's trying so hard to be terrifying and commanding, but he wastes it on all the wrong moments. That's still Anakin in there, always trying to be a badass in moments when it doesn't actually do him any good, because he's never been great at reading a room.
You've said this before but this comic really highlights it: Vader is "badass" because he's got nothing to lose. His life is meaningless to him and he has nothing but rage to fuel him. It's what makes him so terrifying and pathetic. ;___;
And it's all the wors because he can't even admit it to himself, he can't even admit within his own head that he wants to die and that none of this was worth it. But he can still feel it and yet he can never just give up, he's too special, he's too destined for this, he's too angry to let go yet. All that fueling himself with rage just highlights that he used to be fueled with love and rage in equal measure, the absence of it here only brings home all the harder how there was good in him once upon a time, how he could be kind just as much as he could be monstrous, and it really aches for all of that.