Comics Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader’s Castle (5/5 Released)

Spoiler

We see some sweet looking stormtroopers in the last panel. Kinda look like inquisitor trooper.

 

D'oh! You're right! It's so obvious, how could I miss that? Guess I need more sleep.

 

Spoiler

I get the feeling it takes place before Kanan and Hera recruit Sabine and Ezra, considering it's just them and Chopper aboard. Though does that timeline work out with Hera seeing Kanan using his lightsaber? I forget.

 

Spoiler

Hera learns that Kanan is a Jedi during A New Dawn.

 

Spoiler

I don't remember either. Time for a Rebels re-watch! My thought on timeline placement was that it might take place early in season one, as Kanan's interest in finding Jedi survivors in this issue could tie into his hope to find a qualified teacher for Ezra in "Rise of the Old Masters." Could go either way, I suppose. I still wonder where that holocron came from - or where it ended up!

 

@The2ndQuest
@AdmiralNick22
1/5 released

This is the first Star Wars Adventures story that I actually enjoyed. I didn't realize it was rated PG-13 lol. I took some notes.

Spoiler

Ship: Auric
Fate: Melted by Mustafar's lava

Lina Graf, head curator, the Graf Archive
Skritt
Lieutenant Hudd
Gee-Three (XM-G3)
CR-8R (Crater)
------------------------------------
Ship: Hoopaloo Nest
Fate: Crashed on an asteroid
Graysom
------------------------------------
Ship: The Ghost
Hera
Kanan
Chopper
-----------
Entity:

• Lost in the void for untold centuries
• Once all powerful
• Jedi stripped it of its physical form

Fate: Trapped in an empty Holocron

Emil Graf is the grandson of Milo Graf. Lina is Milo's sister, so Lina is Emil's great aunt.

 

New variant cover and preview for #2: Count Dooku: Prince of Darkness!

Spoiler: Preview for Tales from Vader's Castle #2

 

Looks like Obi-Wan visits planets of perpetual night during the Clone Wars in both continuities now.

 

@The2ndQuest
@AdmiralNick22
2/5 released

Not as good as #1, but the same format where we get a little bit of the present and flash back to a story that happened in the past.

 

Really enjoyed issue #2. Great creatures-of-the-night dark atmosphere.

Spoiler: Count Dooku: Prince of Darkness!

- Energy vampire were-Dooku!

- Some Commander Cody action!

- And another panel of the magma troopers.

Here's the preview for #3: The Briar Witch:

Spoiler: Preview for Tales from Vader's Castle #3

 

first issue was decent, possessed Chopper is really grand and I actually love the art on the framing story.

 

Ooooh... look what popped up in issue #3's framing story:

Spoiler: Issue #3's framing story

The Dancing Goddess! Now how'd that wind up in Vader's castle?

Edited to add: I just saw that StarWars.com published another article today on this mini, with Cavan Scott sharing some of his script pages, classic horror references within the series, and sneak peeks at issues #4 (love the art!) and #5.

 

Spoiler

That doesn't really seem to work with the timeline, considering the Goddess got blasted to bits by Dryden at the start of his fight with Han, but I guess there's more than one in canon now.

 

Spoiler

Maybe Dryden's was a fake, seeing is he has a bad eye for that sort of stuff.

"The dancing goddess? It's magnificent! How'd you do it? It looks exactly like the real thing!"
"Er... because it is the... real... thing?"

...Next Aphra comic.

 

Fun series. I like the framing story cast (aside from Crater's design, which takes L3's mix'n'match aesthetic several steps too far) and all the fun callbacks... and from that preview the art for #5 looks phenomenal!

So much Vader's Castle focus recently. I reckon we'll know all there is to know by the time the VR game comes out.

 

Preview for #4: Night of the Gorax:

Spoiler: Preview for Tales from Vader's Castle #4

Omigosh. Everything about this one. Cavan Scott pulling lots of goodies from the Ewoks movies and cartoons.

 

Wow, that art is absolutely gorgeous. I hope we get to see Robert Hack on more Star Wars projects in the near future!

 

Spoiler

Rur thought he was a spirit, too, right?

 

Issue #4 is a Halloween treat for fans of the Ewok TV movies and animated series. @Ewok Poet , hope you have an opportunity to check this one out!

Spoiler

The flashback story works both as a canon story and as a sort of "prequel" to the animated series, and features young pre-Chief Chirpa, Ra-Lee, and Logray as well as appearances by Duloks, Wisties, a Gorax, and... the SUNSTAR!

The framing story also offers a bit of a surprise at the end. Okay, not that much of a surprise, exactly, but let's just say things aren't looking good for Our Heroes.

 

Well, at least we know that

Spoiler

Lina and Crater survive.

 

OH.MY.BLASE.TREE.GOAT. Thank you! Yubnub!

 

read issue #2, freakin Kelley Jones on the art is soooo cuz Jones is so creepy (had a bunch of Jones Venom and Batman comics back in the 90s) and getting jones to do a Dooku as Vampire story (Christopher Lee returns to his vampire roots!!) is just fantastic. Admittedly, there's a bit of an art clash between the framing story and the main story but tis great.

 

I have to agree with the art in this issue being phenomenal! I hope to see Hack working on more Star Wars comics.

 

Read issue #3, may be the weakest so far but the fact that it's Han caught up in a magical mumbo-jumbo situation makes it more compelling. I don't know how that story about possessed witches and magic aging was supposed to make the bug person feel better though!

 

@The2ndQuest
@AdmiralNick22

4/5 released

Due to my trip to LA, I just got caught up with all my books. In summary, I thought #3 and #4 were a little lackluster.

Thanks for sharing. It was a good read and I didn't know the other Ewok's names other than Chirpa so that article definitely gave me some insight and appreciation for the work that went into it even I didn't love the story.