Elstree 1976 Written by Jon Spira Directed by Jon Spira UK, 2016 There has never been a better time for a behind the scenes look at A New Hope. The Force Awakens revived the franchise to new heights, Rogue One is just around the corner, and the 40th anniversary takes place in 2017. Now, this …
Star Wars: Darth Vader #19 Written by Kieron Gillen Art by Salvador Larroca Colors by Edgar Delgodo Letters by Joe Caramagna Published by Marvel Comics It’s been noted before that many of the supporting cast introduced by Kieron Gillen in Darth Vader are in many respects dark mirrors of the principle cast of heroes from the films. Vader is counterpart to Luke, …
Reuniting the creative team of DC Comics’ acclaimed Starman series for the first time in decades, and sold with the promise of revealing the story behind Threepio’s one red arm in The Force Awakens, this issue was delayed numerous times (it was originally intended to be published shortly before the film’s release, not months after) due to a long script approval process from LucasFilm (according to Harris, he and Robinson didn’t receive final approval until about a week before the issue’s first solicited release date). As a result, expectations for this issue grew to possible unreasonable proportions: no story could possibly live up to the hype generated just by virtue of its constant rescheduling.
Star Wars: Darth Vader #19 Written by Kieron Gillen Art by Salvador Larroca Colors by Edgar Delgodo Letters by Joe Caramagna Published by Marvel Comics WARNING: SPOILERS “Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” -Yoda, The Phantom Menace A major plot point in the previous issue of Kieron Gillen’s …
The oft-tumultuous publication history of this series ends with this issue, the series’ final. Originally announced as six issue miniseries, it was promoted to ongoing before the first issue went on sale. Then, when issue #12 was solicited last December, it became the first casualty of Marvel’s new Star Wars line (sort of, because again, it technically was conceived as finite series to begin with). At any rate, it’s not really a surprise; despite strong sales relative to many other mainstream Marvel and DC series, the back half of the series were some of the lowest-selling issues of any of Star Wars books, and quality-wise, the book always seemed to land thoroughly in the middle of the pack, rarely awful but just as rarely never excellent, either.
It was just the other day while browsing a Wal-Mart toy section that a friend and I remarked upon how easy it is to find an action figure of Constable Zuvio, a character entirely cut from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Meanwhile, plastic representations of Rey, the main character of the film, are considerably harder to …
Like Darth Vader #16, this issue picks up on threads left over from “Vader Down”, helping make that crossover feel more like a part of the overall narrative and not just a one-off stunt. It also features Sana Starros, the character introduced as Han’s wife in the series’ second story arc, which also helps add to the impression that these issues are part of a larger whole, and not just a series of self-contained stories.
“Smugglers… I hate smugglers.” Such are the words of Dr. Aphra regarding Sana Starros after the mercenary declines good credits to jailbreak Vader’s former ally from an allegedly unassailable Alliance supermax
Darth Vader #16 Written by Kieron Gillen Art by Salvador Larocca Colors by Edgar Delgado Letters by Joe Caramanga Published by Marvel Comics Like the annuals of yesteryears, Darth Vader Annual #1 was seemingly a one-off story, self-contained and never to be revisited again. But it stood as arguably the best issue of the series’ first years, so the fact …
January 2016 marked the one year anniversary of Marvel’s new Star Wars line, launched in the wake of Disney’s acquisition of LucasFilm and the transfer of the comic book license to Disney’s in-house comic book company. In that year, Marvel has churned out comics on a level that is somehow both restrained and filled with gusto, in that, they released a ton of Star Wars comics in that first year, but at the same time, it would have surprised nobody if they’d released a whole lot more. The quality level of those comics, in three ongoing series (Star Wars, Darth Vader and Kanan: The Last Padawan) and five limited series (Princess Leia, Lando, Shattered Empire, Chewbacca, and one issue of Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker) has remained remarkably consistent, maintaining a level of above average quality alongside some top notch issues and a (surprisingly) few out-and-out stinkers. Looking back over that first year, here are the ten best moments from across the line, the moments that made reading Star Wars comics this last year worthwhile.
Obi-Wan and Anakin #2 Written by Charles Soule Art by Marco Checchetto Colors by Andres Mossa Letters by Joe Caramanga Published by marvel Comics The arbitrary binary is a common trope in science-fiction. Two peoples have hated one another for so long that they have forgotten what caused their discord in the first place. All that remains are arbitrary distinctions, usually …
With this issue, the “Vader Down” crossover concludes mostly the same as it began and then unfolded: with a series of fun moments in service of an incremental, mostly-incidental plot.
So every year in SWTOR around the festive season, Life Day comes around in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and usually it is jammed packed with lots of fun: new decorations, raving revelers, overheating gift droids, snow ball fights, tinsel bombs, while everything else runs smoothly. Well this year, Life Day broke everything! Okay maybe …
Like most of the “Vader Down” crossover, Star Wars #14 is filled with plenty of epic moments, like BT taking out a squad of stormtroopers with a flamethrower, every time Darth Vader gets a line, or the fact that R2D2 has some kind of poison antidote needle in his chassis. And Jason Aaron makes these moments cohere into some kind of a whole with the shared Obi Wan Force Ghost voice for Luke and Vader. (For all of its fun, the Han and Chewbacca vs. Krrsantan plot is just filler in the larger scheme of things.) Add slightly improved art from Deodato and Martin, and the “Vader Down” finale can’t come soon enough. (It comes out today as well and will be quite the family affair.)
Obi Wan and Anakin #1 boasts some beautiful setting work and planet designs from Marco Checchetto although his faces are inconsistent, especially with Anakin and another padawan, who looks like a more cartoonish version of Mace Windu. Charles Soule gives his lead character distinct voices and a tense kind of camaraderie as they leap and explore this supposed abandoned planet. However, his plot runs out of steam in the last third of the book, which seems like the first few minutes of an away mission in Star Trek. So despite its interesting conversations about ethics and politics, Obi Wan and Anakin #1 ends being a bit of a mixed bag as far as plot and art and definitely has room for improvement.
Oh, you all look cool. Most you get about 4 seconds of screen time though. Naming classic Star Wars characters them brings forth warm, comforting feelings of experiencing classic adventures in a galaxy far, far away. Luke Skywalker, Leia, Han Solo, R2-D2, Bib Fortuna, Malakili, IG-88, Max Rebo, FLO, Notluwiski Papanoida, etc. Wait, what? Who …
Continuing the “Vader Down” crossover, Darth Vader #14 continues the incremental pacing, but does manage to widen the scope of the story as the end draws near. Picking up where the previous highly entertaining chapter left off, with Luke rescued from Vader’s associates by Han, Chewbacca and Artoo while Leia finds herself face-to-face, alone, with Darth Vader, this issue manages to resolve the Leia cliffhanger in a mostly satisfying way, using that widening of the narrative to both resolve the immediate cliffhanger and provide an interesting look at Leia’s character.
Marvel’s Star Wars comic, featuring the continuing adventures of Luke, Han, Leia, etc. in the time following A New Hope and before The Empire Strikes Back, is clearly positioned as the flagship series of the company’s line of Star Wars ongoing, limited and one shot series. Yet for all the top-notch artists that have worked on the series and exciting moments that have unfolded in its pages, it has consistently played second fiddle in terms of pure quality to its sister series, Darth Vader. Comic books starring super-villains are routinely difficult to pull off, but in the fourteen issues released in 2015, Darth Vader has stood head and shoulders above the rest of the line. Here, then, are five reasons it is the best of Marvel’s Star Wars books.
George Lucas had a lot to answer for in 1983. Would audiences ever see Han Solo again? Was there any chance for Leia and the Rebellion to come back from such a crushing defeat? And was Darth Vader really Luke Skywalker’s father? As the third chapter in the original Star Wars trilogy, Return of the …
George Lucas’ beginnings as an experimental filmmaker don’t have any impact on the Star Wars films. Or do they?
Star Wars Tales is a quarterly anthology series published by Dark Horse from 1999 to 2005. Each issue was 64 pages long and contained a variety stories, in both number, length, content, and tone. Most stories were considered non-canonical “Infinities” stories unless canonized elsewhere (though of course, now all such stories are deemed non-canonical “legends”). In the course of its six year run, Star Wars Tales featured stories from dozens of different creators, covering numerous facets of the Star Wars universe, from serious, thoughtful tales to comedic ones to straight-up fan-demanded “what if?” type stories. Here are ten of the best, entertaining in their own right but also representative of the breadth of content available in this series
As the whole world has been reminded of constantly for the past year, a new dawn has been rising for Star Wars fans. Normal people may be counting down the days until Christmas, but Star Wars fans have their own type of Advent calendar (hopefully bounty hunter themed) leading to the release of Star Wars: …
‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ is a welcome return to the franchise’s space opera roots