Darth Vader #22 marks the twenty-second installment of the canon comic book series, entitled Star Wars: Darth Vader (2017). Charles Soule penned the story, while Giuseppe Camuncoli provided the illustrations. Marvel Comics released it on October 17, 2018.
Darth Vader uses the Force to levitate the mask of Darth Momin from Lieutenant Roggo's lifeless body aboard the Naboo Royal Starship positioned above Mustafar. The helmet is transported to the dark side shrine where Vader demands the identity of the entity within the mask. The entity proclaims to be Darth Momin, causing the helmet to radiate a crimson light. Vader then puts on the mask.
Lord Momin then begins to recount his life story to Lord Vader, telling the Sith Lord he was a child artist who created art pieces from the flesh of living creatures. His first artwork was created from the corpse of his pet rada-cat Flitta, which horrified his mother. As he matured, Momin continued to create his gruesome works of arts, which angered the public and led to his imprisonment. Momin believes that the dark side motivated him to create art.
While incarcerated, Momin became a "sculptor of the mind" who enjoyed killing insects. His reputation attracted the attention of a female Sith called Lady Shaa, who freed him and took him on as her Sith apprentice. Despite learning much about the Force and the dark side, Momin never accepted the idea of being anyone's apprentice. When the time was right, Momin battled and killed Lady Shaa. Taking command of her acolytes, Momin chose to never take on an apprentice since he had no time to teach and there was too much to learn.
While studying dark side lore and visiting Sith sites, Momin came to believe that he had been wasting his time creating work for the masses and that his true audience was the Force itself. He also believed that by building something worth of the grandeur of the dark side, ,he himself might become worthy. In an effort to create a work of art worthy of the dark side, Momin constructed a massive engine and installed it on his starship. As he destroyed the city through orbital bombardment, he planned to use the Force-powered engine to freeze time, trapping the doomed population in suspended animation as a shrine to the dark side.
However, Jedi boarded his ship and engaged his acolytes in combat. The presence of the light side of the Force disrupted Momin's focus, causing him to lose control of the immense energies he was manipulating. This resulted in the failure of Momin's plan, and the Sith Lord was consumed by these energies. The Jedi then took his mask into custody. Through this experience, Momin learned that failure was an important teacher and that the dark side was hungry and needed to always be fed or else it would feed its user. To Momin's dismay, Lord Vader refuses to wear the mask and throws it away.
Later on, four Mustafarians, including Bbbl and Sssp, journey across the lava plains of Mustafar on two lava fleas. They are searching for the mysterious object that landed in the area. This object turns out to be Vader's Naboo Royal Starship. Sssp thinks that the object hit one of the lava flows and dissolved. Bbbl is curious about the lack of debris. He wants to return to Father Kkkt and allay his fears about the omen.
At that moment, the Mustafarians notice Lord Vader and the Mask of Momin watching them from a cliff. The Sith Lord ambushes and attacks the Mustafarians with his Force powers and lightsaber, killing two of them. Lord Vader then levitates Sssp, who tells the last remaining Mustafarian to flee with the two lava fleas. Lord Vader then forces the Mask of Darth Momin on the unwilling Sssp, giving him a new host.
Back at the dark side cave, Lord Momin, now in his Mustafarian host, informs Vader that Mustafar was not always a lava world. However, Lord Vader is only interested in the Force locus nearby and asks about the structure he is working on. Momin explains that the structure is a fortress that will be the key to the dark side. Claiming that Lord Vader's late wife Padmé Amidala lies beyond the door of the dark side, Momin claims that his fortress will tune the energies of the locus so that he can pierce the veil of time to see Amidala again.
Vader is initially skeptical and warns Momin about the consequences of lying. Momin replies that he does not lie but only wants the chance to create and hopes that it could work this time. Vader agrees to use Momin's services as an architect but warns about the consequences of betrayal. Momin claims that he is already suffering since he is trapped in the limbo between life and death. He vows not to throw away the opportunity that Lord Vader has given him and vows that the fortress will be his masterpiece.
According to the writer Charles Soule, the narrative for Darth Vader 22 had been brewing in his mind since 2015, the year he authored the comic book miniseries Star Wars: Lando, which marked the initial appearance of the Mask of Lord Momin.
The cover art created by Giuseppe Camuncoli and Elia Bonetti bears resemblance to the cover of Star Wars Tales 6, designed by Kilian Plunkett.
- UPC 759606086665; October 17 , 2018 ; Marvel Comics [1] 02211; Cover A; Elia Bonetti, Giuseppe Camuncoli 02221; Cover B; Rod Reis