"One Of The Best Star Wars Stories Ever."
Title: Star Wars: Darth Vader (2015)
Author/Artist: Kieron Gillen & Salvador Larroca
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Category: Sci-Fi
Review by Brayden (they/them)
Other Favourite Titles Include:
I’ll start this review with some advice I wish I had recieved from someone back in 2015: If you like Star Wars in any form, you HAVE to read Gillen & Larroca’s Darth Vader comics. I wish I had read this sooner but honestly I’m just glad that I have read it now, because this book is bloody fantastic.
Set straight after the events of the original film, the Marvel Star Wars comics that started from 2015 pick up following all our favourite protaganists and antagonists after the destruction of the Death Star. Running alongside Jason Aaron’s mainline ‘Star Wars‘ comic run, ‘Star Wars: Darth Vader‘ puts the reader right alongside the iconic villain as he works for the emperor and attempts to complete his own agenda right under the nose of the Empire. It absolutely nails the best parts of Star Wars, giving you moments that feel ripped straight from a cinema screen and introducing brand new fan favourite characters to follow across future comics.
Those fan favourites? I am of course talking about Doctor Aphra, rogue archaeologist and all around awesome young woman, and her homicidal companion droids (who bear a striking resemblance to some droids you might already recognise). Not to mention a Mandalorian bounty hunter who presents old mate Vader with some interesting information in honestly one of the most iconic moments of my Star Wars comics reading journey so far. But if I’m mentioning iconic moments nothing goes past the first crossover event between the mainline Jason Aaron ‘Star Wars‘ & Gillen’s ‘Star Wars: Darth Vader‘ as the Rebels seem to get a small win over the Empire… ‘Vader Down‘.
Jason Aaron got to write the iconic line you see in this image from Vader Down and he says it “is still one of [his] favorite things [he’s] written during [his] time at Marvel”. It is one of the most memorable Star Wars moments ever and must be experienced for any fan of the franchise.
This series is a 10/10 and leads into the also incredibly enjoyable ‘Doctor Aphra‘ series also by Kieron Gillen!
