Marvel has been on a roll with their Black, White & Blood series featuring Wolverine, Carnage, and Deadpool, and now, creators take a stab at Darth Vader. Customary of the series, each issue features multiple stories with art-focused narratives exploring different ways to look at the title character. In the first issue, Jason Aaron and Leonard Kirk kick off an ongoing story, Peach Momoko dazzles with a visually striking story, and Torunn Grønbekk and Klaus Janson deliver a Rebel tale.
Kicking things off is Aaron and Kirk’s “Hard Shutdown” Part 1, featuring Darth Vader with his target cornered. It’s a story with twists and turns and plenty of all-out action. If you like Darth Vader stories that showcase impossible Force powers, you’ll love this. It also comes with a surprise ending that should be fun to follow in the next issue. Darth Vader is usually in control, but Aaron appears to be subverting that with a story that could push him beyond what we’ve seen before.
The use of red, supplied by color artist Romulo Fajardo Jr., amps things up with Darth Vader’s red lightsaber. It bathes a scene in red, thanks to its glow.
Next up is Peach Momoko’s “Inescapable,” which is a wordless story. The symbology is incredible here, with visuals representing Darth Vader as a kind of boogeyman or nightmare. The protagonist has seen death, and it comes in the form of Darth Vader.
The Peach Momoko story is haunting and beautiful.
Credit: Marvel
The story is decidedly adult, with gory visuals and haunting body horror. The final image of a familiar spaceship-turned-flesh will make your skin crawl in the best ways. The use of red comes in the form of a lightsaber and blood vessels in the eyes.
The last story is titled “Dissolution of Hope,” featuring a Rebel group with an edge on the Empire. Grønbekk gets to play within the world of Star Wars with many characters. This story takes a while but has a killer twist ending. The power of Darth Vader, it seems, goes beyond fighting abilities.
The use of red is surprisingly subtle in this tale, though, with it used in blaster fire and in other small ways. Unfortunately, this story takes a while and lacks Darth Vader for much of the story. It’d be better to cut down a few pages since much of the character work does not matter.
Star Wars: Darth Vader – Black, White & Red #1 is a good start, with three different stories showing the power of Darth Vader. Witness the incredible power of Darth Vader with tremendous visuals in a series that celebrates everyone’s favorite Sith Lord.
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