"Star Wars: Darth Vader: Shadows and Secrets"

            The following is a review of the graphic novel “Star Wars: Darth Vader: Shadows and Secrets” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format. It is NOT a review of any of the films, television series, or video games.

            It is a period of insurgence. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base on s moon of Yavin, have won a shocking surprise victory against the rightful reign of the Galactic Empire. The Empire’s ultimate peacekeeping force, the Death Star, was destroyed due to an unforeseen design flaw. Without this deterrent, the rule of law is in danger. Chaos looms. For the nineteen years after the vanquishing of the Jedi and his painful rebirth of volcanic Mustafar, Sith Lord Darth Vader has faithfully served his master. But now, he has failed the Emperor and must pay the price.

            Darth Vader, on a mission from Emperor Palpatine, traveled to the planet Tatooine to make a deal with crime lord Jabba the Hutt. In the process, Vader hired Jabba’s best bounty hunters Boba Fett and Black Krrsantan. Fett was to the pilot who was responsible for the destruction of the Death Star and Krrsantan was to find the agent engaged in secret work for the Emperor. Grand General Tagge assigned Vader an adjutant, Lieutenant Oon-Ai, and sent him on a mission to learn the source of pirates who had been raiding the Empire. Vader was able to learn that the leak actually was Oon-Ai. Darth Vader turned to rogue archeologist Doctor Aphra in search of private resources and troops on unquestioning loyalty. Aphra had just stolen the Triple-Zero personality matrix and used it to create 0-0-0-, a protocol droid specialized in torture, and to animate a Blastomech BT-1assassin droid. Aphra had heard from the Droid Gotra of a Droid Factory on the planet Geonosis, a planet that had been sterilized. Vader and Aphra traveled to Geonosis, where they found a surviving Queen and who thought of the droid producer as a womb and the droids as her children. Vader and Aphra were able to defeat the Queen and obtain the producer. Krrsantan found the Emperor’s agent Doctor Cylo-IV, and 0-0-0 was able to torture the information that the Emperor was planning to replace Vader before Cylo-IV expired. Vader found Cylo-IV’s base and discovered Cylo-V and his creations. Vader battled the cyborgs to the Emperor’s pleasure. After the fight, Fett returned to Vader with the name of the pilot who destroyed the Death Star: Skywalker, Vader’s own son, whom he believed had not survived childbirth.

            Vader and Aphra returned to Tatooine to search the house of Luke Skywalker but found nothing. They then went to Son-tuul to steal the Son-tuul fortune for the Empire. Aphra then hired a crew to steal the fortune while it was in transit to its new home in order to secure some money for Vader’s needs. Vader was assigned a new adjutant, Inspector Thanoth, and was tasked with taking down the Plasma Devils, a criminal organization that was considered an opposition to the Empire. Aphra went to an informant called the Ante and learned the location of Commodex Tahn, the mortician that dressed Padme Amidala, wife of Anakin Skywalker, the man Darth Vader used to be. 0-0-0 tortured Tahn into revealing that Padme had in fact given birth to a son before she died and that this son had in fact survived childbirth. Vader and his Stormtrooper army were tasked with finding the person responsible for stealing the Son-tuul fortune, and the trail led right to Aphra. Aphra had made a deal with the Ante in order to ensure her survival: she learned the location of Luke Skywalker before the Ante was slain. Sure enough, Vader allowed Aphra to escape. Vader later tracked Aphra down and extracted the location of Luke Skywalker to Vrogas Vas, but as it turned out, one of Vader’s competitors was listening in on this conversation.

            Vader traveled to the planet Shu-torun to bring an item from the Empire to its King. However, the King was planning to have Vader assassinated during this meeting. Vader was trapped in the bowels of Shu-torun with the King’s daughter Trios and forced to fight for his survival.

            Okay, so now that we’ve got the synopsis out of the way, let’s talk about my own personal opinions about this book. First off, I will say that I found this to be a highly entertaining book. In my opinion, Darth Vader is one of the greatest cinematic villains of all time, and him getting his own ongoing comic series was just fantastic, especially since I feel it was written so well. I thought Kieron Gillen did an exceptional job scripting these stories. I’ve read some of the “Star Wars” comics from recent years, and Doctor Aphra has actually been my favorite “Star Wars” comics created character, and I would love to see her appear in an upcoming television series or movie, so seeing her first appearance was an enjoyable experience for me. I loved the dynamic between her and Vader. That was actually my favorite thing about this book. The whole “I’ll let her live as long as she’s useful to me” deal was just brilliant. And I love her murder droids. As far as the art goes, I thought it was excellent. Salvador Larroca did an exemplary job illustrating this graphic novel. I’m usually a fan of his work, and in this book, he did not fail to impress me. I have to say, all around, I was greatly satisfied with this book and thought it was an entertaining read.

            Next, we’re going to talk about accessibility. I’ve literally typed this at least thirty times, but I know for some of you newbs I have to do it again, so I have to explain what I mean when I say “accessibility.” What that means is how easy this is to just pick up, read, completely understand, and enjoy, even if you know nothing about Star Wars or Darth Vader. So, I will say that this book does require knowledge of “Star Wars” to actually understand. Mostly you’d need to have seen “Episode IV: A New Hope,” but seeing “Episode I: The Phantom Menace,” “Episode II: Attack of the Clones,” and “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” would really help, too, but I feel like you could get away with having only seen “Episode IV: A New Hope,” but that is a prerequisite to actually get anything out of this book, or you will have no idea who these characters are or what’s going on in the story, it’s just essential. “Episodes I-III” are referenced in it, talking about Darth Vader’s history, particularly Padme, but I don’t feel like you absolutely have to have seen them in order to understand this book. However, “Episode IV” is a must see.

            Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty: my numeric score. Now, I score on a pretty simple scale: one to ten. One is the worst, ten is the best. If I give this book a one, it means that every copy of this book should be taken off the shelves, burned, and never reprinted. If I give it a ten, the only reason it shouldn’t be on the shelves is because every copy was sold out by the influx of readers who want to read this exemplary graphic novel. Now, I’m going to explain what a ten means. A ten means perfection. That means this book was written perfectly and the artwork was consistently pleasing to the visual palate. Now the question is, was this book a ten? So, I have to say… it just is not. Yes, the artwork was perfect. It’s exceedingly rare for me to say that a Modern Era Epic Collection had consistently pleasing art. I often find fault in one or more of the artists. Larroca and Yu did not disappoint me with their work. And Gillen did an excellent job with the stories. And yet it just wasn’t perfect, I’m sorry to say. Yes, the stories were all above par, but they just weren’t at the top shelf. I just can’t quite give this book a ten. I can, however, give it a solid nine gladly. This book was excellent, no doubt, but there’s just something holding me back from giving it a ten. I don’t quite know exactly what it is, but I just can’t, in good faith, just hand this book a ten if I don’t feel it deserves it. It does deserve the nine I gave it for sure, and that’s still really good. And to be honest, I’m really not often in the business of handing out tens. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve given out a ten on this blog before, without using a thumb, and this book just doesn’t belong on that hand, sadly to say.

            Next, we’re going to talk about if I give this book the Tim Cubbin personal recommendation and regardless of that, to whom do I recommend this book to? You would probably think that the answer to the first question is “yes,” and if that is your guess, you would be absolutely correct. I do give this book my personal recommendation. As to whom do I recommend this book to, that answer is to any “Star Wars” fan. If you like, enjoy, or love “Star Wars” in any capacity, this book is for you. I just say go get your hands on a copy of this book as soon as you can and read it, I think you will enjoy it.

            So now, we have reached the parting of ways. I can tell you that there are over one hundred posts on this blog, so if you liked this post, please do consider reading more from timcubbin.blogspot.com. You can look for my review of “Star Wars: Skywalker Strikes” if you want another “Star Wars” Modern Era Epic Collection review, and I’ve reviewed over ten other Modern Era Epic Collections at this point, so there are plenty more to read if you liked this. I post on a very frequent basis, so keep checking back frequently for more content. I should have another post coming up sometime in the next two weeks, so keep an eye out for that one. I’ve also written short stories, poetry, essays, articles, and editorials, so there’s all kinds of posts you can read, you’ll probably find something else you’ll enjoy. If you like my book reviews, there are dozens of them on this blog, and there’s a new one coming up soon. I think we’ve come to the point where I have nothing more to say, so I’ll let you get back to your life and do something that’s actually important. I’ve wasted a few minutes of your life, this has been four hours of mine, but I honestly don’t mind doing it for you folks. Feel free to drop a comment, like, share, retweet, whatever you want to do on this site. If you read all the way up to this point, you are THE BEST! And now, all I can say to you is, Tim Cubbin… out!