Star Wars: Darth Vader is a Star Wars comic book series written by Kieron Gillen, with art by Salvador Larroca. Marvel Comics began publishing the comics on February 11, 2015,[1] and the series concluded with its twenty-fifth issue in October 2016.[6] The story centers on the character Darth Vader between the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope and Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back.[1]
Development[]
Around 2014,[8] Marvel Comics editor Jordan D. White offered Kieron Gillen a chance to write a Star Wars comic. Feeling apprehensive, Gillen almost turned it down, but decided to accept it, even dropping out of writing Iron Man to take the assignment.[9] Gillen acknowledged out of Marvel's current stable of writers, he was the most experienced in exploring the nature of evil and villainy, and therefore a suitable choice for Darth Vader,[1] even though he initially had concerns on whether he would be the most suitable option for the job or if he should let someone with better grasp at Star Wars should write it like how he turned down a chance interview William Gibson due to not reading some of his latest books at that time.[8]
Furthermore, the 1980 film Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back was the first film he saw in the cinema,[1] and now "I get to do the story of Darth Vader from the end of the first Star Wars film to the start of The Empire Strikes Back! It's a big story too. It's not just that I want to write Darth Vader. It's that I get to write this story of Darth Vader and it's all in canon. As far as Lucasfilm is concerned, this is what happened."[5] The comic was one of the first Star Wars comics written following the Expanded Universe's rebranding into the Star Wars Legends continuity, and while he didn't consider such decision absolutely negative for the fandom due to not all Star Wars exploring the galaxy beyond the films, Gillen still got the help of the newly-formed Lucasfilm Story Group to assist him in what could happen between the first two installments of the Star Wars original trilogy and what could not, such as if Boba Fett's meeting with Darth Vader in the first issue could be their first canonical encounter to not contradict the one they had in The Empire Strikes Back, a process Gillen found interesting due to being the opposite to how he wrote for the Marvel Universe.[8] On Gillen's behalf, Story Group's Pablo Hidalgo told him that he could use Cassio Tagge after checking which Imperial generals from the original film could have plausibly survived when Gillen decided to give Vader an Imperial adversary.[10]
In preparation for his writing duties, Gillen rewatched the films and it was while rewatching them that Gillen noted small details he found pivotal, like the fact viewers do not see Vader discovering he has a son and that the Emperor lied to him, or that he begins The Empire Strikes Back in a stronger position despite being partly responsible for the destruction of the Death Star due to foolishly losing the plans in the original film.[1] Gillen felt his job was to add depth and shape, hence why he opted to explore Vader finding out his parentage with Luke of his own or the realization that he had been lied by Darth Sidious all that time since the 2005 film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. In regards to the Star Wars prequel trilogy, in spite of his dislike for them, Gillen felt it served as a background that underlined everything in terms of psychology, emotions and motivations within the characters.[8]
Gillen cited inspiration from Martin Lisemore's TV series I, Claudius,[11] Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 film The Godfather,[12] and the television adaptations of Michael Dobbs' 1989 novel House of Cards[1] (both the British adaptation and its Netflix American remake)[8] in portraying the internal machinations of the Empire.[1] Another House of Cards comparition comes from the influence of Francis Urquhart/Frank Underwood on Vader, due to both works depicting a man in power resorting to tactics never used by them against those who force him into living in their shadows as their "lapdog."[8] It was the need of a military opponent for Vader that led Gillen to bring Cassio Tage back as a Grand Admiral.[10] If Jason Aaron's concurrent Star Wars comic depicts Vader on "a Tuesday," then Gillen's series shows the relatively mundane politics he must grapple with during the rest of the week. He mentioned Vader's antagonists include the military officials who do not believe in the Force.[1]
To overcome having a potentially monochromatic comic set in the Empire's corridors of power, Gillen has decided to emphasize the galaxy's underworld, explaining Vader's summoning of the bounty hunters in The Empire Strikes Back demonstrated the character is a "micro-manager" who knows these individuals personally.[1] He thus wrote Vader finding his way into one of the galaxy's seedier places by associating himself with bounty hunters to explain his knowledge on them in Episode V, hence why he warns Boba Fett to not disintegrate the rebel targets, but in a way that doesn't diminish or strips Vader from his "grandeur."[8]
Gillen explained writing Vader was challenging because giving him an internal monologue would undermine his "looming, threatening monolith[ic]" presence, but the comic was also about his emotional journey, so it had to be "[sold] visually."[13] He likened writing Vader to writing a The Punisher comic, where there can be humor with a terrifying protagonist as the straight man.[14] Something Gillen didn't find challenging was writing characters whose involvements should be accounted for in the movies, dismissing that potential problem with the conclusion that any characters written by him could be in other parts of the vast galaxy during the original trilogy, choosing to use instead minor characters from the original films.[8]
Gillen also wanted to remind the reader that Vader was adept at building droids in the prequel trilogy, thereby showing "the passion of Anakin shining through."[15] He acknowledged both Salvador Larroca and Adi Granov are Iron Man veterans, explaining "They're both people who really know their hardware. They both come from a photo realist tradition, but at the same time they're entirely capable of drawing convincing machines. Those are useful talents when you're doing a book that is A) cinematic and B) technical."[5] Larroca, in particular, is a Star Wars fan whom Gillen dragged into the project due to his availability and good record in finishing his drawing duties on time, à la Jack Kirby.[8]
Media[]
| Color code key: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Collected (TPB) issue | Released issue | Future issue | Story arc |
Sources[]
Notes and references[]
External links[]
SDCC 2014: Darth Vader on Marvel Comics' official website (content obsolete and backup link not available)- Join the Dark Side with an Exclusive First Look at Darth Vader on Marvel Comics' official website (content obsolete and backup link not available)
- Open Salvador Larroca's Darth Vader Sketchbook on Marvel Comics' official website (content obsolete and backup link not available)
