Comics A/V Star Wars Adventures & SWA: Forces of Destiny comics (IDW)

Damn, they should've kept this in the movie. It's hilarious.

 

I love that scene. It has an important message (Jedi chasing windmills), and offers a good Rey/Luke/Chewie/R2 bonding moment.

 

Star Wars Adventures #26

1. Life Lessons
2. Tales from Wild Space: Alone in the Dark

1. Rey learns a valuable life lesson in Life Lessons. Don't lift large rocks as there might be tiny sea serpent eggs underneath them.
2. Tallie Lintra, from TLJ, gets lucky and saves some random person caught in a space cloud

Very lack luster stories. Art is bright and vibrant and better in the 2nd story, compared to the 1st which is really the only positive thing I can say.

 

From SW.com: Behind the Spooky Scenes of IDW's Return to Vader's Castle #1 (out tomorrow!)

"Writer Cavan Scott and artist Megan Levens reveal the spine-tingling secrets of "The Horned Devil!" See Levens' process from layout to final page..."

At the end of the article, Scott teases some bits from future issues:

Spoiler: Return to Vader's Castle series

• Tarkin's Imperial shuttle, which bears a registration number that has a special meaning for the actor who brought the Grand Moff to life.
• A creature design (brilliantly realized by Kelley Jones), which pays tribute to both Hammer Horror and Doctor Who's versions of Frankenstein's Monster.
• The pun-tastic title to issue three.
• My chance to return to Ventress at a slightly more settled period of her life than Dooku: Jedi Lost.
• A scene that was inspired by episode one of the latest season of Stranger Things (and drawn wonderfully by Nick Brokenshire).
• The introduction of a new member of the Desilijic Clan brought to treacherous life by Nicoletta Baldari.
• B'omarr Monks!

Some more variants and finished covers:

Spoiler: Return to Vader's Castle series

(This one should say issue 1 cover B, not issue 2 cover B.)











(My monks! My frightful spider-swarm of B'omarr monks! ~Krennic Oh It's Beautiful Dot Gif~)

And finally, a nostalgic little something from Star Wars Adventures #27:

Spoiler: SWA #27

Happy Halloween Month, Lit!

 

https://www.starwars.com/news/return-to-vaders-castle-2-exclusive-preview

Spoiler

 

The Maul issue was brief but interesting:

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He lured in a bounty/salvage ship with a transmission to come to Lotho Minor , the captain and first mate thought they were the hunters being promised a big bounty but he set everything up and allowed himself to be captured to escape Lotho Minor. His destination was "Mother", and he wanted to be taken to "Mount Gethzerion".

It was almost a successful escape, but it showed he tried getting out've there on his own, and its clear he's driven towards his Mother on Dathomir. So there was something else going on with Maul during TCW rather just Talzin one day deciding to find him, and his loyalties lied not with the Sith anymore so early on but revenge against his master and Kenobi.

 

Rey's usage of the Force is impressive in this issue.

 

What if Rey is the Granddaughter of Palpatine and Talzin? That could explain Rey's use of that Zhaboka-like stick.

 

Rey's stick actually has a secret compartment for an umbrella which would have really helped with those hot days on Jakku, but it's unfortunately that revelation and any other revelations will not be any more satisfying as the Skywalker saga ends.

***

Star Wars Adventures - Return to Vader’s Castle #1
@Vorax explains it pretty well above

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My only initial gripe is if Maul was able to lure some dumb pirates there, how come he didn't try again and again and again until it finally worked? I guess since those random forgettable wanna be pirates got away, they could have maybe spread the word not to trust any transmissions coming from that planet. Also if the planet does have a reputation that no one goes there, maybe other pirates are smart enough to ignore the message. Either way, Maul seemed to have semi lost his mind, but not completely as he was able to put together a plan so I'm guessing this is early on before he really loses it when Savage finds him, right?

 

Yeah, its very possible he made other attempts, but I think several things are at play. For starters the planet is very desolate and toxic, we learn through the characters that "no one goes to Lotho Minor". So very few sane people ventured there to do anything but dump waste and the more insane ones maybe to salvage. Maul was able enough to get some device working to transmit a message, but that device may of been a one shot deal and this was his one big shot and he needed to get back to Dathomir, back to his mother. I think this also mirrors Ventress' exile and rejuvenation story following her betrayal at the hands of the Sith Lords and almost being killed, she has to go back to her lost roots and familial origins.

There seemed to have been rumors of Lotho Minor being haunted in this comic, so the few who ventured there fewer still had made it out alive, especially organics. I suppose most that went to Lotho may of been droids or automated ships. The message Maul sent Captain Spikewheel was a week before the events of this comic. Maul's transmission contained more information than what comic showed when Spikewheel played some if it back to get the destination part - so Maul himself divulged his existence and was self aware of his present state and the existence of his secret lair to orchestrate his escape at this point and fake bounty, it was a very bold and cunning plan, but risky.


In part Maul was there in a imposed exile, the kinda self punishment Jedi are seen to do after a major failure or to save themselves or both. So part of it Maul wanted to remain there for a length of time. I think the risk of him being discovered by either the Jedi or especially Sidious - who clearly had cast him side and this Maul knew - would of been too great a risk for him in this weakened state since he was alone and wounded. Lotho Minor may of seemed a good idea at the time for Maul whether he picked it or not. We learn years later that Luke, Han and Leia initially wanted to base there on Lotho Minor after Yavin for a new home for the Rebel Alliance, but that didnt work out cause of a warlord had already based himself there called Akar Duel and his army of repurposed hostile droids.

The toxicity of the planet and lack of medical aid am sure partook in driving Maul insane as time progressed on, so there was a lot more health deterioration than simply one reason of him descending into madness just cause of the Dark Side . But even Jedi can lose themselves while in exile, like Luke and his personal failure seen in TLJ.

I do think this operation was in part successful . As word eventually did get back to Dathomir and Mother Talzin that was he was alive and somewhere in exile in the Outer Rim. So this series had to taken place shortly before his TCW arc. Maul still had enough sanity left to temper and control his rabid rage and recognize his brother to form semi coherent dialogue like he was doing in this story. But I think this comic's story showed he basically used up a lot of his pulled together strength and mustered sanity and brilliant intellect in this effort and when it went bust that kinda anger at its failure may of sent him off further along the deep end to how we see him on TCW with Savage's rescue mission.

 

https://www.starwars.com/news/return-to-vaders-castle-3-exclusive-preview

Spoiler

 

hmmm

 

Cavan always drops those Legends references in his stories. Jedi Lost is full of them, and there's another one in that Asajj preview. I don't believe it means anything as much as that video hopes.

 

https://www.starwars.com/news/return-to-vaders-castle-4-exclusive

Spoiler

 

Star Wars Adventures - Return to Vader’s Castle #2

Spoiler

In this issue, instead of Vanee telling Hudd a scary story, Hudd recalls a story in his own head while being tortured.

It focuses on Tarkin visiting a random Star Destroyer, part of the Tarkin Initiative, where the commander and crew are performing only as expected. He wants them beating or exceeding expectations. While aboard, a weird creature attacks from a separate shuttle - a combination of multiple creatures in one - claiming Tarkin to be his father / creator. Tarkin oversaw the project and considered it and the creature a failure. I guess the scientists failed at destroying the creature so it attacks the SD that Tarkin happened to be visiting. Tarkin decides to kill two birds - the monster and his under-performing Imperialists by blowing up the Star Destroyer and escaping in his Imperial Shuttle. The creature saves the crew by forcing them all into one escape pod and manually pushing it into space, saving the crew before denotation of the engine, but dying in the process.

The commander of the Star Destroyer joins the Rebellion and that's how Hudd heard the story. The action returns back to Hudd escaping the torture device and hiding from Vanee.

***
The part of this story I liked the most was that the source of the "flashback" story. There are many random forgetful stories in the "Tales from Wild Space" but you rarely learn how the kid knows them all or how he's connected to them if at all, which he isn't because he would have been too young.

Star Wars Adventures - Return to Vader’s Castle #3

Spoiler

Picking up where #2 left off, Hudd is trying to figure out how to escape from Vader's Castle. Thanks to being malnurished while being tortured, that's how he was able to escape the torture device at the end of the last issue. Vanee is chasing after him with an axe and decides to tell him a story about Ventress.

The story involves Ventress playing the part of Bounty Hunter and level 1313 on Coruscant I believe. I don't remember if Coruscant is specfically mentioned, but I assumed when I saw 1313. A crime boss pays her to find out why his men and some police are disappearing before the police start to investage themselves which will throw a wrench in his organized crime dealings. The crime boss has an adopted son who is very interested in Ventress.

Ventress starts to explore and when she's about to solve the case, she gets shot in the back. Before passing out, she's able to identify her attacker - the the crime bosses's son. He was keeping a Sarlacc as a pet that happened to multiple and have babies. The mom then eats the crime boss's son, and Ventress lures the babies onto her own shuttle, escapes, and blows it up. Later when the crime boss refuses to pay her, it just so happens that momma Sarlacc attacks the crime boss, he exclaims for help and Ventress walks away.

The action returns back to Vader's castle where Hudd is able to find a map and secret passage, unfortunately he encounters two training droids with 4 lightsabers each...

***
The best part about this issue was reading it back to back with #2 as it was fresh in my memory of what had happened prior. Of the two, I think Tarkin was the better story and better drawn.

 

https://www.starwars.com/news/return-to-vaders-castle-5-exclusive

Spoiler

https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-adventures-27-exclusive

Spoiler

 

Return to Vader's Castle #4 was great. Cavan continues to pull from Legends to make plenty of neat little references.

Spoiler

Nice to see akk dogs again. Fort Tusken. Porcellus. A Jedi temple on Alaris Prime from Galactic Battlegrounds of all places. The B'omarr monks look as they did in Legends (based on McQuarrie's art). "Cohl's teeth" being said by a Mirialan is clearly an oblique reference to Arwen Cohl from Cloak of Deception.

Also some canon references, like the Pablo-class training droids from Vader Immortal, and a couple to Cavan's own creations like the Huna-netre and the Nameless mentioned in Jedi Lost. And we've got an Inquisitor showing up fairly late in their timeline, too, if they're meant to be disbanded as of ANH.

 

Spoiler

 

Hmm, the person who I thought as the Fourth Sister died in the Soule comic (red skinned female humanoid). Interesting. When exactly does this take place? Has to be very early during the Rebellion.

 

Lina Graf is a (young?) adult at this point, so the comic could take place anytime after 10ish BBY, I’d say. Probably closer to ANH.

My guess

Spoiler

is that the Inquisitor turns out to be Graf in disguise, on a Boushh!Leia-style mission to free Hudd. Scott saying that the character is “described as the Fourth Sister” certainly sounds fishy to me.

 

Spoiler

Good call, the saber tech is WAY off and there's really no reason to have gotten that wrong for lack of reference material.

 

Star Wars Adventures #30 solicit.

Spoiler

(W) John Barber, Michael Moreci (A) Derek Charm, Tony Fleecs (CA) Arianna Florean
Learn more about the heroes and villains of The Rise of Skywalker! In this issue, the spotlight falls on Supreme Leader Kylo Ren and his unstoppable First Order army!
In Shops: Jan 15, 2020
SRP: $3.99

 

Star Wars Adventures - Return to Vader’s Castle #4

Spoiler

The ending of story about being trapped in your own brain without any means of communication is very Twilight Zone/Black Mirror -esque and super creepy. Juxtaposed against the Hutts being drawn like Disney Princesses somehow makes it even more eerie.

The Hudd stories are 2/2 in enjoyment where Vanee's are 0/2. Sure the bad side has cookies, but the Rebellion seems to have better stories.

My initial thought, as others have stated above, is that the Inquisitor is probably Lina Graf in disguise.