Comics Darth Vader #25: End of Games, part 6 (of 6) (Series Finale!)

Now that the whole series is done, what did you guys think over-all?

I looked at the first pages of the first thread about the first Gillen Vader issue from a couple years back and saw that there was a lot of sarcastic comments about how this era of Vader is well-tread and would only be rehash. Has that consensus changed?

When folks were making such comments, was it stories like "Vader's Quest" that people had in mind as far as Dark Horse stuff that already covered this era or is there more Dark Horse stuff that covers between 4 and 5 that I may not have considered?

I personally wish the series would now go to a different era of Vader. Like, I even thought it would have been cool if the next arc (which I know, is not being made) would have still been during Empire Strikes Back but what Vader is doing in the scenes we don't see him, like maybe his actual arrival on Cloud City and his actual initial "deal" with Lando.

I guess I am glad that ending the series prevents them having to rewrite what happens between episodes 5 and 6, easy enough to think of SOTE as part of Schrodinger's Canon in the meantime.

Looking back...was there much or any of the 501st?

One part that I felt was not fully fleshed out was when Vader was looking into Padme's death and pregnanc and burial...I feel like we got a cliffhanger ending out of that arc but not so much the interesting aftermath to that aspect as I thought we were going to get- what do y'all think?

I loved this series, thought it was one of the best Vader stories I've ever read on every level. I hope Marvel will not hesitate to let Gillen do some annuals or one shots or mini-series further exploring his take on Vader. I think I recall someone in this thread saying this series only covered the first of 3 years between episodes 4 and 5? Is that official or at least consensus? Would love to see Gillen come back for a mini-series concurrent with the Star Wars title if/when the Star Wars title gets to the point where it's ramping up to the beginning of Episode 5.

I think Gillen did a good job at his stated mission: showing how Vader went from lone survivor to the Empire's greatest defeat to fully Palpatine's Number Two Dude again. Is there anything in that respect that left anyone unsatisfied or that they want to see more of?

-T

 

The Vader series was great. In my opinion what it did best was that it introduced original characters that could carry the series almost as well as Vader could.

Though I feel like this series has been the best Marvel has come out with so far I at the same time feel like its story is complete and there isn't a huge need to go back and devote another entire series to Vader. We got the major arc of Vader's story told to us (which was how he turned from the person being blamed for the Death Star destruction to being put in charge of the entire Imperial fleet. After that thee isn't as much story to tell. Basically what would be left would be Vader going around chasing down Rebels and continuing to search for his son. Those two things can all be told in the regular Star Wars line that is still going.

 

Yeah that makes sense, we'll continue to see Vader in the other series.

It is also my favorite of the Star Wars that Marvel has done!

-T

 

I loved this series, with the only thing I didn't like being the artwork. But, the story I thought was great and I definitely would like to see more of Cylo and his creations. I'd be down for a story with Cylo taking place during Vader's transformation on Coruscant. He's the one that made his suit afterall.

 

As it happens, I just posted this quick, series review elsewhere:

Star Wars: Darth Vader OHC1-2

Having very recently obtained OHC2, I decided to re-read the first OHC and then go straight into the second. It was an excellent plan and proved to be very fun.

The Vader Down event actually does live up to its billing - the Rebel Alliance decides to throw everything at Darth Vader. It's probably an unintentional parallel but, by the end, Vader and the Rebels resembled the Saint of Killers and Herr Starr and the Grail in Preacher's War In The Sun arc. No matter what the Rebels use - troops, bombs, fighters, tanks - it all fails. Hell, they only got Vader on the ground due to Luke ramming his TIE with an X-Wing!

The arc after the event has Vader dealing with a planetary rebellion and it's an interesting interlude and scene-setter for the final arc with the Executor. That arc ties everything up very neatly, involves another mountain of corpses and a quite deliciously evil Emperor. Oh, you didn't think Vader could become a worse bastard than you knew? Think again.

There's only one real weakness in the entire book and that's Aphra and, to a lesser degree, the Murderbots. They both start off as interesting, blackly comic creations, but over time, that reduces. Aphra, in particular, is a character I fail to see the appeal of, yet somehow she has quite the fanbase.

These are minor flaws overall, for taken as a whole, the Vader book is the high point of Marvel's entire line. It also managed to sustain itself well,over the course of just under thirty issues. I'm sceptical that it'll be equaled, never mind surpassed, any time soon.

 

Great story, terrible art. I think it would have benefited greatly from changing artist every arc like they did with the main series. Larroca was good in the first issues but then its quality dived drastically imo.

 

Jedi Ben are you not going to bother with the Aphra titles when they eventually get released in TPB form then? She's not really the comic relief character in her own series that she was in the Vader series so she does take on a slightly different persona.

 

Well, Aphra's first trade is out July.

As to comic relief, that would suggest the bigger problem is with how she was used in Vader, it's not - I don't like the character so, I can't see myself buying an OHC.

Generally, I can't see myself buying Star Wars OHC2 either given the variable reception the Rebel Jail and Harbinger arcs got.

 

Larroca gets a lot of crap, but people would have been howling long and hard if the issues had been delayed - you can't actually get a long run, on time, by the same writer and artist, without something else having to give.

 

I definitively wouldn't have complained if him or any artist has to be given more time to produce better art. Same thing for games, take your time to produce a good game, don't rush things .

 

You don't have to go far to find posts wailing over a week delay, while also wanting absolute writer-artist continuity combined with 2 issues a month, month in, month out.

A large reason of why Marvel rotate artists now is because no, they can't keep up with the rate, nor is that, contrary to what many think, a new thing.

 

Same here - I'd take high quality art over bad art any day. Even if that means getting an issue every 2-3 months. I can understand why some might be frustrated with that though.

 

I just read the last TPB and think it was well done throughout, the art, the story. Each arc was done well. Man, all I can say is kudos to that team.

 

Same here. I wouldn't have minded waiting longer if that meant less tracing and no occasional legless Vader.

 

Larroca is the best at drawing Vader’s mask and making it feel like he is emoting which is always the most difficult thing to pull off with this character.

 

Have loved Larocca since his X-Men days, he didn't disappoint me at all.

I just finished Vader & The Lost Command for the first time and while it was a cool adventure, it didn't take us under the helmet and into the man the way I think the Larocca/Gillen struff did. In fact, the only Dark Horse Vader stuff, off the top of my head, that does approach that kind of in-depth Vader-as-a-person perspective was Vader's Quest and Dark Times- what say you all? Any recommendations?

-T

 

I'm in the process of rereading the series (chronologically with the main series) and I'm having a blast.

Regarding the art, I think it's good, but sometimes I feel there's a couple of panels missing (for example Vader slicing and dicing fools), and I find myself trying to understand what just happened.

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I am wanting to go through this series and the Main Star Wars series in chronological order too, but I am unsure what to read when. Is there any list for issue by issue?

 

Here you go (I'm using it myself):

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_canon_comics

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This is my own chronological list of Marvel's three ongoing comics between ANH and TESB, I'm using abbreviations: SW for the main Star Wars series, DV for Darth Vader and DA for Doctor Aphra. This list includes all released issues as well as not-yet-released, but announced issues.

SW #1 - Skywalker strikes, Part 1
SW #2 - Skywalker strikes, Part 2
SW #3 - Skywalker strikes, Part 3
DV #1 - Vader, Part 1
SW #4 - Skywalker strikes, Part 4
DV #2 - Vader, Part 2
DV #3 - Vader, Part 3
DV #4 - Vader, Part 4
SW #5 - Skywalker strikes, Part 5
DV #5 - Vader, Part 5
SW #6 - Skywalker strikes, Part 6
DV #6 - Vader, Part 6
SW #8 - Showdown on the Smugglers Moon, Part 1
SW #9 - Showdown on the Smugglers Moon, Part 2
SW #10 - Showdown on the Smugglers Moon, Part 3
SW #11 - Showdown on the Smugglers Moon, Part 4
SW #12 - Showdown on the Smugglers Moon, Part 5
Star Wars Annual #1
DV #7 - Shadows and Secrets, Part 1
Darth Vader Annual #1
DV #8 - Shadows and Secrets, Part 2
DV #9 - Shadows and Secrets, Part 3
DV #10 - Shadows and Secrets, Part 4
DV #11 - Shadows and Secrets, Part 5
DV #12 - Shadows and Secrets, Part 6
Star Wars: Vader Down, Part 1
DV #13 - Vader Down, Part 2
SW #13 - Vader Down, Part 3
DV #14 - Vader Down, Part 4
SW #14 - Vader Down, Part 5
DV #15 - Vader Down, Part 6
SW #16 - Rebel Jail, Part 1
SW #17 - Rebel Jail, Part 2
SW #18 - Rebel Jail, Part 3
SW #19 - Rebel Jail, Part 4
DV #16 - The Shu-Torun War, Part 1
DV #17 - The Shu-Torun War, Part 2
DV #18 - The Shu-Torun War, Part 3
DV #19 - The Shu-Torun War, Part 4
DV #20 - End of Games, Part 1
DV #21 - End of Games, Part 2
DV #22 - End of Games, Part 3
DV #23 - End of Games, Part 4
DV #24 - End of Games, Part 5
DV #25 - End of Games, Part 6
Star Wars Annual #2
SW #21 - The Last Flight of the Harbinger, Part 1
SW #22 - The Last Flight of the Harbinger, Part 2
SW #23 - The Last Flight of the Harbinger, Part 3
SW #24 - The Last Flight of the Harbinger, Part 4
SW #25 - The Last Flight of the Harbinger, Part 5
SW #26 - Yoda's Secret War, Part 1
SW #27 - Yoda's Secret War, Part 2
SW #28 - Yoda's Secret War, Part 3
SW #29 - Yoda's Secret War, Part 4
SW #30 - Yoda's Secret War, Part 5
DA #1 - Aphra, Part 1
DA #2 - Aphra, Part 2
DA #3 - Aphra, Part 3
DA #4 - Aphra, Part 4
DA #5 - Aphra, Part 5
DA #6 - Aphra, Part 6
Star Wars: Screaming Citadel, Part 1
SW #31: Screaming Citadel, Part 2
DA #7 - Screaming Citadel, Part 3
SW #32: Screaming Citadel, Part 4
DA #8 - Screaming Citadel, Part 5

I didn't include the Obi-Wan issues from Star Wars #7, #15 and #20 because they are between ROTS and ANH. But I included the Yoda arc because that one is at least partially set in the ANH-TESB period. I'm also not quite sure about the chronological placement of the second Star Wars Annual.

I could expand the list and add the various miniseries from the ANH-TESB to it, if anyone wants.

 

There aren't many comics that delve too deep into Vader. Darth Vader by Marvel, DV and the Lost Command and Dark Times did a really good job with that imo. I'd add DV and the Ghost Prison to the list.

 

Darth_SHOT

Totally agree about not being able to follow Vader's action specifically at times in the Gillen book.


spicer

Agree about those. Haven't read Ghost Prison yet but am planning on getting all the "Darth Vader and the..." stories. I have Lost Command reprinted in the Marvel Dark Horse reprint compilation "Empire" and I believe the 3rd of that compilation series is going to have the next two Ghost Prison and 9th Assassin. I assume Cry of Shadows will be in one soon after.

-T