Comics: "Darth Vader" #1 Review / Kieron Gillen Love Letter

- by Señor Editor, 13 February 2015

Dear Kieron Gillen,
We have never met, but I’ve been thinking a lot about you lately. I’m sure I must have read some of your comics in the past, but I can’t say for sure - I am so bad with names… Please forgive me, Kieron. (Do you mind if I call you “Kieron”?) After reading your “Darth Vader” issue one this week, from Marvel Comics, I feel like I’ve known you forever… And that we would be good for each other.

Click for Kieron-Gillen's-Genius size

This didn’t just occur to me this Wednesday, though. I wouldn’t presume a creator of your magnitude reads TrashMutant.com, but in my review of “Star Wars” #1 I wrote that the most exciting thing in the issue was the “Vader” preview at the end. I knew back then this was going to be fantastic. Darth Vader in Jabba’s palace? With freaking Squidhead, Boba Fett and Droopy McCool in the background?! Only a genius could write that scene. 

That opening scene is beautiful, mirroring Luke’s arrival at Jabba’s palace in “Return of the Jedi”, but also absolutely mindblowing when it turns out it’s Vader! And it reads really well. The problem with a lot of Star Wars comics is that they feel like fan fiction, because writing these characters we’ve known for decades in new situations is tricky. One false move, one wrong detail and everything feels wrong.

This is not the case here. Many other writers took too many liberties with the Star Wars universe, adding new aliens and creatures that didn’t fit in well at all. You use all these established background blink-and-you’ll-miss-them characters and put them to use, making something new and yet familiar. It’s fantastic, Kieron. I can't stop thinking how talented you are.

Force-Choking Jabba. This is so good. (All images in this article are © Marvel Comics)

As the issue progresses, we get to see more scenes of Vader on Tatooine, all perfectly using existing canon to make scenes that could easily belong in the original trilogy. We also see the Emperor, looking very OT himself, and being the creepy dick that we know and love. It’s worth mentioning that this whole series ties to Marvel’s “Star Wars” title, but does so in a way that doesn’t require readers to read anything but “Vader” (though they should still read “Star Wars”). This is planned out better than anything Mon Mothma, Jan Dodona and Admiral Ackbar put together could come up with. Leave it to you, Kieron, to make everything work so perfectly.

I also really liked Salvador Larocca’s art in this issue. It was perfect, actually. It was the best art this comic could ever have. Best art any Star Wars comic could have… But let’s be honest here, Kieron: the art is obviously so good because of the perfect script you wrote. I can’t help but think it is YOU that actually inspires the team that works with you on “Darth Vader”. Just being around you must make Salvador and the others feel like they need to give it their best. It’s your creative genius that keeps the ship afloat… But you never mention it to anybody, or even think that way - you would never do that. You are too good for that. Too pure.

Classic Emperor. Classic ESB torture device. And a Dr. Ball, MD cameo.

Some people are concerned with what will happen to the Marvel Universe after the reboot. I say let it rot! We don’t need it, it can just go die in some dark place, as long as we have the new Star Wars comics and Kieron Gillen, leading Marvel like a wise and inspiring mentor. Like a (young and handsome) Obi-Wan Kenobi, taking us away from the shitty sands of Tatooine, and into a vast and beautiful galaxy of Kieron Gillen Star Wars comics.  

You are a beautiful man, Kieron. Don’t let anybody ever tell you different. Write me, so we can FINALLY be together.

Yours forever,
Señor Editor

Me and Kieron Gillen. Together. One day.

P.S.: The person who misspelled your name on the last page credits should be FIRED.

 
… Please leave us a comment below!

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Loading

---

Follow @TrashMutant