19 November 2007

Sith Lord Smackdown: Vader vs. Maul



C'mon! Who is the fan who didn't want to see this duel? You lie, sir, if you raised your hand. It's a fight that only the comics can bring. It's Darth "Iron Lung" Vader vs. Darth "my voice was dubbed by Sean's mate in the movie Sean of the Dead*" Maul.

Star Wars comics mostly suck. A few others blow. They take themselves way too seriously, is the problem. The only ones that are okay are the old Marvel Star Wars comics (which were so bad the dial went around and ended up in 'Good') and the anthology based Star Wars Tales. It was in the latter title that this fight occurred.

The plot: Darth Vader is on the hunt for the rebels who stole the plans to the Death Star. The trail leads him to the volcanic planet of Kalakar VI. While searching for the rebels and the plans, however, Vader discovers that it was all a ruse to lure him onto the planet by a trio of Dark Side fanboys who think Vader shouldn't be the no. 2 guy in the galaxy. They want Maul to take over. They brought him back from the dead so he can kill Vader and once again be Palpatine's apprentice.

With that out of the way, let's see some lightsaber action!


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Maul easily subdues Vader who is after all just a paraplegic in a cool black costume with a cape. Choke an Admiral long distance and he's a tough guy. Put him one on one with a tattooed psycho with thorns on his head and he's crying for his mommy. But Vader has one desperate move up his robotic sleeve, though.

(again, click and drag mouse to enlarge)



Hey, didn't Yoshimitsu use the same trick move in Tekken 2? And Vader, we learn, has so much self-loathing that he has no problems stabbing himself in the gut just to win a fight. Issues? The man has plenty.


From Star Wars Tales vol. 3

*Pete Serafinovich who was also in the brilliant sitcom Spaced as Simon Pegg's rival.

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