STAR
WARS- DARTH VADER VOL. 1: VADER (Marvel, First Printing, 2015;
Softcover)
Collects
Darth Vader #1-6 (cover dates April- August, 2015)
Writer:
Kieron Gillen
Artist:
Salvador Larocca
Colorist:
Edgar Delgado
My
9 year old son checked this out of the library and asked me to read
it with him. I was pleasantly surprised at how good this was. This
takes places between Episodes IV and V and deals with Darth Vader
being taken to task by The Emperor for his failure with the
destruction of the Death Star. Lots of Easter eggs, such as Vader
hiring Boba Fett to track down Luke Skywalker, etc. The Emperor ends
up making Vader seem too human. It was really strange to have Darth
Vader be the “hero” of the story, with readers being forced to
sympathize with him. I normally dislike it when the villain is
humanized, as sympathy for the bad guy is something that I do not
like. I prefer straight up good versus bad guy, white hats versus
black hats stuff. Real life is not so black and white though, so I
have come to terms with moral ambiguity and things being various
shades of gray instead. To quote the kids, it is what it is.
I
liked how events from the prequels were brought in and inserted into
the original trilogy. I really enjoyed Triple Zero (0-0-0), a
sadistic protocol droid. I found his behavior hilarious when compared
to C-3P0's benign nature. Aphra was annoying in a way, but she worked
as far as furthering the plot. I found her dialogue to be mostly
unlikable, as the character herself was fine.
My
son's take: It was good. I liked the fact that it was centered
around Darth Vader. How Darth Vader framed someone. He liked the
writing and artwork. We both enjoyed reading it together.
Kieron
Gillen's writing is solid. He has a solid grasp on the Star Wars
universe. Salvador Larocca's artwork is great, as it always has been.
This is solid stuff that would please any Star Wars fan, old
or new.
Junk
Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.
The
OCD zone-
Paper
stock: Good weight glossy coated stock.
Binding:
Perfect bound trade paperback.
Cardstock
cover notes:
Laminated cardstock cover.
I bought this a while back and I'm looking forward to reading it. I like the idea of Darth Vader having a supporting cast that's sort of bizarrely inverted from that of the franchise's heroes. There's a lot of potential for that sort of thing to go wrong, but if pulled off well there's also a lot of opportunity for intelligent self-parody.
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