The book also fills in the gap for a big story beat between Episodes IV and V: Vader hunting for the identities of the people who were responsible for the destruction of the Death Star and his disgrace. Even more rare are the stories that handle that with nuance and make the stakes feel high, despite everyone knowing Vader’s eventual fate, but Gillen manages it masterfully.
He’s a character typically defined by his menace to the heroes, so it’s unusual to have a story where he’s vulnerable and not in control of the situation.
Vader is out of favor with the Emperor and the sharks within the Imperial hierarchy are circling. Gillen starts with Vader in disgrace after the events of A New Hope are seen as something of an unmitigated failure. The first round of Star Wars comics set between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back sometimes struggled to find relevance to make the stories feel worth reading: not so with Vader. Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larocca’s Vader series isn’t just a good place to start: it’s one of the best Star Wars comics from the new lineup and arguably one of the best Vader stories from the comics in either canon.
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