Marvel’s second Star Wars title focuses on the movie’s original villain and his activities after the Death Star’s destruction. Unlike most comics in which the characters’ story rarely overlaps into another title; e.g. Batman events are rarely mention in say Justice League unless there’s a crossover. Darth Vader is intertwined with what went down in Star Wars #1-3, no serious spoilers despite #3 not being released yet. As my comic store’s podcast pointed out, Vader is almost the Empire’s perspective on the same things happening in Star Wars.
I found the artwork to be better too. The nice touch is Vader’s visit to Jabba the Hutt. It follows the same path as Luke’s from Return of the Jedi but this is Darth Vader before he became a crybaby in the prequels, corpses follow in his wake. There’s also more tension between him and the Emperor. With the loss of the Death Star, the Emperor fears that the Empire he crafted is vulnerable. He’s probably right, a significant portion of his military leadership and experienced forces perished while his Sith apprentice survived. Ergo, Vader is “demoted” to negotiating for resources while the Imperial fleet scrambles to maintain order. For uber-Star Wars geeks, you’ll get a couple cool surprises on who remains in the Empire’s inner circle.
Again, I loved the digital option. I now have it on my iPad and the physical copy has gone to a good home, another fan.