REVIEW: Star Wars: Darth Vader #3

STORY BY:Â Kieron Gillen
ART BY:Â Salvador Larroca
COLORS BY:Â Edgar Delgado
COVER BY:Â Adi Granov, Salvador Larroca
PUBLISHER:Â Marvel Comics
COVER PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE DATE:Mar 25th, 2015

Reading this book, I had two burning questions.

One – Just who is Aphra talking to in the first Â few pages.

Two – Am I the only person humming the Indiana Jones theme during the same page sequence?

We join the good doctor in the midst of an “archaeological dig”. Putting the aforementioned, and annoying, monologue to one side, the story by Kieron Gillen, is somewhat lazy. Â The Indy Jones reference is obvious from the get go. Â One of the things I liked about some of Dark Horse’s Star Wars books is that they managed to humanize the Dark Lord. Here, the attempt with either the vicious protocol droid (a potential reminder of his own droid creation) or the Genosis reference come across as heavy handed.

The art is supplied by veteran Salvador Larroca and in places looks great, especially Aphra, and the backgrounds are sumptuous, creating the lived in universe feel that the Star Wars films evoke. There are times that Vader, however, looks a tad flat and a little out of perspective. The introduction of the Dark Side version of C-3POÂ and R2-D2 is an addition that shouldn’t work but in some weird way, it does. Â As does some of the interaction between Vader and Aphra towards the end of the book.

I am reminded about a quote, from an actor, stating that villains never see themselves as evil. Â With Darth that is totally believable. Remember, that the Rebels are actually the “bad guys”, fighting against the legitimate government and he is all about protecting the government.

Marvel are putting a lot of work into their new Wars books. My worry, evidenced here, is the rehashed set pieces which will eventually lead to boredom, if it hasn’t already.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network