Star Wars: Darth Vader shows the Sith Lord’s disciple confronting Crimson Dawn and learning just how influential the cosmic crime syndicate really is.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers from Star Wars: Darth Vader #15, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
At the end of Solo: A Star Wars Story, it was revealed that Darth Maul was still secretly controlling the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate. However, the events of the film figurehead Dryden Vos dead, and Qi’ra – Dryden’s top lieutenant – was placed in charge. Nevertheless, after Qi’ra took over, Crimson Dawn kind of faded into obscurity. Now, the “War of the Bounty Hunter” comic crossover is showing that Qi’ra and Crimson Dawn must have always had an eye on galactic events while they were in the shadows.
The crossover is detailing the now-arduous journey of Han Solo’s carbonite-frozen body from Bespin to Jabba’s Palace on Tatooine, and it turns out that just about everyone in the galaxy wants a piece of him. With the Crimson Dawn, Qi’ira emerged from the shadows, stole Captain Solo’s body and placed it up for auction. Now, Darth Vader #15 – by Greg Pak, Raffaele Ienco and Jason Keith – shows that Crimson Dawn’s strength might be greater than anyone thought.
In this issue, Vader confronts Bokku the Hutt — who has been a kind of informant for Vader — and finds out about the auction for Han Solo. The dark lord also suspects that Bokku was planning to betray Jabba the Hutt; however, he knows that the wannabe-Hutt-ruler wouldn’t work against Jabba without some major backing. Accordingly, he sends Ochi of Bestoon to find out who is working with the miserable slug.
Ochi confronts two henchmen who are sneaking out of the Bokku’s Palace and quickly learns that Bokku has partnered with Crimson Dawn. Ochi defends himself when reinforcements arrive and kills a few of their ranks, but he eventually invokes the name of Vader. Unfortunately for him, the Crimson Dawn members are not impressed. So, Ochi prepares to fight off the dozen or so members bearing down on him.
Instead of fighting back, the Crimson Dawn makes a proposal. The leader says, “Each of us is weak. But together, we are impossibly strong… No Ochi of Beston. Don’t fight us. Join us.” She makes a sales pitch that says that the organization has millions of members across the galaxy who collectively could be even more powerful than Vader. Even if her numbers are hyperbolic, the point remains that Crimson Dawn is back as a force to be reckoned with. The organization may have not been at the forefront of galactic events since Solo, but under Qi’ra’s leadership, it has clearly been growing and lying in wait.
At this point in time, the Empire was wounded after losing the Death Star, while the Rebel Alliance is only just beginning to have some real strength. Those events have left enough of a power vacuum for crime syndicates to show their strength, and that is clearly the moment Qi’ra has been waiting for. The events of this comic crossover show that Crimson Dawn is on the rise and could be a major player going forward in this Post-Empire Strikes Back and Pre-Return of the Jedi era, an influence that may only grow since the upcoming Crimson Reign series is supposed to connect Crimson Dawn to the Knights of Ren in some way.
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