Star Wars

Scribbles in the margins between the first two star wars movies, has lots of antihero antics and decent art. Feels a little constrained by the mold it has to fit into, but it's decent popcorn entertainment.

Fun, but I found myself rolling my eyes in this series (far more pronounced in the second volume I think) as he starts to collect a dark mirror of Luke's companions around him: what I term EBIL C3po and R2D2, and Evil!Chewbacca, Sassy Designated Token Girl, and a Dude Who Shoots First (Boba Fett).

Still, if you are just looking for mindless fun it's a fairly fast read. I got to binge freebies thanks to my local library having an online comic reader with Hoopla, and the fact I didn't have to spend any money makes me feel charitable about giving this four stars even though it's not exactly particularly deep.

First comic I've read on Kindle iOS app. Really good panel navigation. Decent story from the Dark Side.

This series follows Vader shortly after Episode IV. The Death Star has been destroyed and Vader has returned to the Emperor's fold. Unfortunately for Vader, the Emperor is not happy with the way things have happened and punishes him for it. He is forced to take orders from an Imperial Officer named Tagge.

Of course, Vader does have other plans. One of them is to find out who that young pilot was that led the destruction of the Death Star. He enlists Bobba Fett to find those answers while he, in the meantime, builds himself an army.

We meet Aphra, who is a rogue archeologist and is on the hunt for lost weapons. A very evil C-3PO version named Triple Zero, who delights in torture to gain information, and BT-1, who is a destructor droid.

Then there was the cliffhanger that made me wish the whole next episodes in the series went diferently than they had. It would have been a bit more interesting to see what exactly Vader could have done all together to possibly change the direction of Luke and find out about Leia.

This book was extremely page-turning and as a fan of Star Wars, I was thrilled to see Vader have his own comic book and we get a glimpse into what he was doing between episodes IV and V. The most interesting of this series was the fact we saw more of Vader's power than we have seen in the original series itself. He seemed much more powerful than what he was portrayed in the movies.

Still I have to say this was devouring and worth the read. I am quite looking forward to getting my hands on the rest of this series. I enjoyed it. The portrayal of Vader was excellent. So much character development really came through here with him. You see him wanting so much to break away from the Emperor but at the same time there is that part of him that is still chained to the Emperor.

Vader has and will always be my favorite villain of all time. Nothing is ever going to change that.

Some great scenes and lines make this book a fun read, but it feels too rushed to get to the next scene. Gillen needs more time to create the tension needed to make Vader a compelling character. Vader's effectiveness as a villain in the movies comes from the ominous presence created by the cinematography and the time he takes over every action. The comic manages to recreate this feeling of threat, but not consistently.

Still, this is an enjoyable book full of despicable characters.