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David McK (3496 KP) rated Star Wars: Darth Vader, Vol 1: Vader in Books

Jan 28, 2019

Star Wars: Darth Vader, Vol 1: Vader

Kieron Gillen, Salvador Larocca (art) | 2015 | Comics & Graphic Novels, Science Fiction/Fantasy

8.4

(9 Ratings)

Book Rating

The second of the two canon Marvel Star Wars comics I've read recently, this (I felt) is also somewhat unfortunately less impressive than the first ([b: Star Wars, Vol 1: Skywalker Strikes|24718416|Star Wars, Vol. 1 Skywalker Strikes|Jason Aaron|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1433222876s/24718416.jpg|44342503]).

This time around, we're focusing on the titular 'bad guy' of the franchise, showing how he (begins) to move from being (virtually) a sidekick in 'A New Hope' to being the main menace in 'The Empire Strikes Back', and on how he discovers the identity of Luke Skywalker. As a large part of this is concurrent with that other story, we also get the occasional duplicate panel in this as in the earlier entry.

As before, this starts with the opening crawl before we get a panel shot of space, with (again) - all we're lacking is the ominous tones of the Imperial March playing out!

Kudos

David McK (3496 KP) rated Star Wars, Vol. 1: Skywalker Strikes in Books

Jan 28, 2019

Flagship entry in Marvel's take-over of the Star Wars comics, this is set between the events of 'A New Hope' and 'The Empire Strikes Back' and, I have to say, is also a pretty enjoyable read!

It probably helps, of course, that the opening panels start with the iconic crawl, before moving to an expanse of space, with a spaceship then passing overhead - as close, in short, as you can get to the opening of the films in comic form! It also helps that all the main character - Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, C3PO and R2D2 all make a return, all looking pretty much as they did on the screen back then

OK, it's not perfect, with the reveal of Han's secret past (in particular) for me falling a bit flat, and with the story losing it's pace after the somewhat spectacular early pyrotechnics, but if this is anything to go on? We're in good hands.