I sort of get the impression that the Emperor lost faith in guys like Tarkin after the first Death Star fiasco, and gave Vader more autonomy.
I agree.
One of the things I liked a lot about the new Marvel comics run is that Vader was on the Emperor’s bad side for surviving the Death Star’s destruction, and so the Emperor put him under the command of Commander Tagge (who you’ll remember as the “Until this battlestation is fully operational, we are vulnerable” guy from the Death Star conference room), who left the Death Star “to be with his precious fleet” before it was destroyed. There’s an interesting dynamic there that I enjoy, where Tagge is very tactical and takes the Rebellion seriously and is a bit arrogant having been proven right about the Rebels and the Death Star, and I like the idea of Vader having to re-earn his way back into the Emperor’s good graces, plus a lot of those characters have been criminally underused and ignored through the years.
That’s interesting, because Luke crossed paths, (and swords) with two other members of the Tagge family in the original Marvel run.
Didn’t the Tagge seen in ANH blow up with the DS?
Also I find it interesting that Marvel is utilising the Tagges again.
PS. You could argue that Luke “crossed paths” with four Tagged, although he didn’t meet either Ulric or Silas Tagge face to face.