Star Wars: Darth Vader #1

[nate_abril96]

If I had to pick my favorite character in all of a fiction, it would be...



Superman! But if I had to pick my second favorite character it would be Darth Vader. Ever since I was a little kid Darth Vader was always my favorite character in all of Star Wars. I mean do I even need to explain why? He's Darth Vader! So as you can imagine, Star Wars: Darth Vader #1 was a must buy for me. Is it a worthy story for cinema's greatest villain? Let's find out.

The story picks up after the first arc in Marvel's current Star Wars series. Darth Vader is on Tattooine for a meeting with Jaba the Hutt, and also kills two of his guards for daring to ask him questions about what he's doing here. Cause that's just how Vader rolls. Anyways, Jaba notes that Vader is a day early.



Vader tells Jaba this is a personal matter, and that it will end to his personal satisfaction. Jaba tells Vader to not even bother with his Jedi mind tricks, and tries to lure Vader toward his trap door to the Rankor. Fortunately, Vader is no fool. Jaba asks him whether he is "brave or foolish?" Vader's response:

"Are you?"

Jaba then dispatches his guards to take on Vader, but Vader (naturally) makes quick work of them. Jaba ask Vader to not be hasty. Vader then responds that Jaba is a fool for assuming that he uses mind tricks. After all, mind tricks are not of the dark side...



The story then flashbacks to one day earlier, where the Emperor is confronting Vader over the destruction of the weapons factory from Jason Aaron's Star Wars. The Emperor notes that he is disappointed in his failure, and brings up the destruction of the Death Star. He states that without the Senate to maintain order, and the Death Star to force it, the Empire is drawing closer to anarchy. As punishment, the Emperor places Vader under the orders of Tagge (the man Vader force chocked in A New Hope), and gives him his orders to visit Jaba the Hutt for a partnership. As they enter Palpatine's office, Vader notes a mysterious man...



Vader then recalls the events of A New Hope and his confrontation with Luke Skywalker, specifically that Obi-Wan gave him Vader's lightsaber. Vader tells his master, "Nothing to trouble yourself with..."
The story picks back up in the deserts of Tattooine, where Vader is having a meeting with Jaba's best bounty hunter...



Vader then orders Fett's "Chewbacca" (named Black Krrsantan) to hunt down the Emperor's new partner. He wants to speak with him. Vader then orders them to start immediately, as he has been delayed on this planet long enough, with the next page revealing that he has murdered an entire tribe of Tusken Raiders.

The overall story is okay for the most part, but I feel like it's covering old ground. I was not too familiar with Dark Horse's Star Wars, so can someone explain to me if there was ever a story of Vader seeking Luke after the events of A New Hope? Besides that there were parts I enjoyed. I particularly liked Vader force choking Jaba, and noting that mind tricks are useless to him as he prefers "force." I also liked the scene of Vader punishing the commander from the first story arc of Aaron's Star Wars, with the Emperor not impressed as they're bad guys who do this on a daily basis. What I was not happy to see was Bobba Fett. Bobba Fett, to me, is the most overrated Star Wars character. Although I did like that he has his own "Chewbacca." I was also not a fan of the art. I will admit that there are parts where it looks decent and straight out of the movie, but the action scenes are where it suffers the most. It feels too stilted and staged, and does not feel very dynamic. Overall I still prefer Aaron's Star Wars, and its presentation of Vader (even if his voice is off sometimes). It gives him better scenes of him being evil. I'm starting to get the feeling that Vader only works if he's the villain of the story, instead of the central focus. I don't know that's just me. Who knows? Maybe my opinion would change over time. I hope so.

Comments

[q99]

Rebellion-era stories around the main characters tend to run together in my head after awhile.

This is why I was disappoint that SW moved to Marvel- it looks fine, but the same type of thing I've seen a fair amount of.

[obsidianwolf]

There have been loads and loads of stories about how Vader found out about Luke over the years but I guess since the old EU is no longer considered canon. This is the new official version unless they do a movie or TV Series covering this period.

[icon_uk]

I loved Darth Vader in the original trilogy, he was everything a villain should be, and I hate to say it, but 1-3 did NOT do a good job of building up the backstory of the incredibly scary guy in 4 through 6.

Regrettably, I now can't look at Vader (even with James Earl Jones magnificent voice) without seeing the whiny, petulant git that Anakin was in 2 and 3 especially (and I have to lay a lot blame at that for Hadyn Christiansen's performance... yes, it's clunky dialogue that probably not even Olivier could make work, but even so, his acting pretty much defines "wooden". (I'm sure he's a lovely bloke and and but...))

In fairness, 6's ending was not too great either, since I never felt that his heel-turn and decision to kill the Emperor was, however noble, enough to wipe the slate clean of all his other atrocities, and they were MANY.

If I can read this and just pretend that the prequel trilogy never happened, I'll be happy.

[nyadnar17]

Fett is one of the few non-Force using badasses in the entire Star Wars universe. If for nothing else I would love him for balancing out the tendency of Star Wars to make all non-force users second class citizens.

[reveen]

Ah yes, one of many post-prequel "Darth Vader is still way cool guys. You don't even know" comics. God knows Dark Horse couldn't get enough of those.

[sagrada]

Original Poster, you do not even want to KNOW how long-running and vast the Star Wars comic line's "Darth Vader hunts Luke Skywalker" plot line was. It spanned fleets, armies, hilariously silly intrigue, the destruction of several planets, dozens of Jedi and like five trips to Tatooine.

I exagerrate, but yes, there has been a LOT of ink spilled over how much Darth Vader wanted to catch Luke Skywalker in the comics.

[night4345]

We prefer force.
Except the whole point of Palpatine and the Sith's deception was because force was repeatedly shown not to work.