The Scourge is spreading through the galaxy, and no droid is safe. Your Major Spoilers review of Star Wars: Dark Droids #2 from Marvel Comics awaits!

Previously in Star Wars: Dark Droids: The horror continues as The Scourge begins to execute its grand plan, orchestrating its droid minions across the galaxy. It learns more with every passing moment, grows stronger… and is selecting the next targets on its path to total dominion over all mechanical intelligence!

“I HAVE CONQUERED THE METAL”

After trying to stop the Empire by destroying The Sith, Lady Qi’ra unleashed an ancient evil from The Force itself. Having escaped, the being/entity/program called the scourge has possessed droids one at a time, spreading throughout the galaxy, to the point where it has even infected the Rebel Alliance… and C-3PO. In order to keep its secret, though, it has to move in measured ways, forcing Threepio to jettison his pal R2-D2 into space so that it can keep spreading through the Rebels’ systems. What it can’t seem to figure out is how to possess “meat,” and the attempts to do so, have led only to death… LOTS of death. After another failure, “Threepio” tries to get information out of Luke Skywalker about the nature of The Force, only to backhandedly find a possible answer in his cybernetic hand. If it can possess machinery, and cyborgs are part machinery, then the answer is simply someone who has even MORE “cyb” in their “org.”

Someone like Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, perhaps?

A FAMILIAR FRIEND AS VILLAIN

Seeing our favorite protocol droid as the villain of the piece makes for a harrowing journey through this issue, especially once the horrible medical experiments begin. Soule’s script is clearly channeling the spirit of George Romero, as the parallels to a zombie movie are inescapable, until the point where the monsters are smarter than the victims. Luke Ross makes some really interesting storytelling choices in this issue, but I’m most fascinated by the designs of droid revolutionary Ajax and his fellow sentients. They follow the general rules of robot construction in Star Wars, while innovating things not usually seen. Best of all, they’re all brightly colored, rather than the usual silver, black, and gold of Star Wars mechanicals, making them stand out in all the right ways. The final page splash of Vader sitting in his castle is ominous enough, but the fact that the story has actually created an antagonist that makes me worry for ol’ Anakin is just plain impressive.

BOTTOM LINE: AN UNUSUAL ZOMBIE STORY

After Star Wars’ TV forays into Western motifs, spy thrillers, Game of Thrones-style intrigue, and other genre-busting stuff, Star Wars: Dark Droids #2 gives us a creeping tale of horror in the Galactic Empire, and does so with a cracking script and strong art, pulling together for 4 out of 5 stars overall.

I can’t wait until R2 returns from the void, because there’s gonna be hell to pay!

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