New MARVEL STAR WARS

[Water Bob]

I've been checking out the new Star Wars lines from Marvel, and I'm quite impressed! Not only are these new books (I read the trades) drawn well, the writing is top notch. Each trade is like watching a new Star Wars movie.


The main Star Wars book is excellent, but I think I'm more drawn to the Darth Vader book, which takes place simultaneously with the main book. It's neat to read about an event in the main series, then see the same story from the other side in Vader's book.


Man, there's this new character in the Vader series. Aphra. She's a cute little thing, with a damn cute personality. And, she's a flat out sociopath. She's got no real grasp of right and wrong. Which is why she survives working with Vader. That, and she's real smart.


In the most recent book, Volume 2 - Shadows And Secrets, Vader turned on her and started to choke her to death. I couldn't believe it! I actually felt sorry for Aphra! This comic book engaged me emotionally!


I'm so charmed by Aphra. What a well written character! She's so damn charming....and then you are brought back to earth with how bloody she can be getting her task accomplished. No, she's not blood thirsty. It's just that anything goes when it comes to completing her job. In that way, she kinda reminds me of the changeling assassin in Attack of the Clones that Jango Fett hired to take out Senator Amidalla. "It's just a job," that changeling said, as if that justifies and legitimizes cold blooded murder.


Aphra is a wiz with electronics, machinery, starships, and droids. She's got this re-programmed 3PO unit where most of the protocol programming has been replaced with torture techniques. The damn droid is humorous as hell. But, it, too, is quite sobering when he is let loose on "patient".


The book definitely has a more "adult" feel, like the new film. And, I'm digging it...A LOT.

Click Here To See The Big Pic

 

[Water Bob]

I've read on a web page somewhere that Aphra is like a darker Han Solo, working for the bad guys. I agree. That fits her.

Here she is on Geonisis sometime after the Clone Wars ended.

She's smart, too. Don't let her glib nature fool you into thinking she's soft of mind.

 

[megamania]

Intriguing.


Is this the Vader down series?

 

[Water Bob]

I haven't read Vader Down yet. I read trades, so it hasn't been published yet. It's due soon. I believe Vader Down is a crossover.



If you're going to read the main book and the Darth Vader series, I'd read them in this order:

STAR WARS: SKYWALKER STRIKES

DARTH VADER

DARTH VADER: SHADOWS AND SECRETS

STAR WARS: SHOWDOWN ON THE SMUGGLER'S MOON

 

[Water Bob]

I just got the Lando collection and started it....and....it's good. I mean, really good.

It's nice to read a Star Wars story that isn't about Jedi and epic stories and destiny. This one is about life on the fringe. Specifically, it's about that charming rogue, Lando Calrissian. It's set before he managed to become the administrator of Cloud City.

And, Lobot! The book does a great job with him. He's Lando's partner! I've never seen his cybernetics explained before, but in this book, it is revealed that he was augmented by the Empire as a master strategist and military tactician. And, since this book is now canon, I guess that is going to be Lobot's background. Maybe that was established before, but I never saw anything about Lobot's background before now. I thought it cool.

It's a good book.

STAR WARS: Lando

 

[Water Bob]

I'll say this, too: Marvel is really stepping up to the plate with these new books. Not only is the story good, but the art is excellent, too. I'd rather have good story than good art, but, really, with a comic, you need both. It's a visual medium as well as a written one.

To illustrate my point, here's some pages from the newest book (Showdown on the Smuggler's Moon) in the main Star Wars series:

 

[Gustavo Woltmann]

Very very good stuff! =)

 

[Water Bob]

Flash Forward to the newest trade paperback out: Darth Vader End of Games. This is vol. 4, but there was also a crossover in the continuity called Vader Down. So, there have been five trades so far.

I mention this one because I absolutely love the new droids, Triple Zero and Bee Tee. They're the anti-duo to C-3PO and R2-D2. Triple Zero is a protocol droid of the same model as C-3PO, except Triple Zero is silver instead of gold. Bee-Tee is an earlier model R4 astromech droid.

Triple Zero is a bit of a misnomer. The designation actually describes a chip inside the droid's head. It's his intelligence matrix that Dr. Aphra (see earlier posts) put in the droid's head.

Triple Zero is an uber assassin matrix that is almost impossible to destroy. It's smart. It will change droid bodies, if it has to. It went on a three year murder spree across the galaxy before it was caught, and when it was caught, the droid blew it's own brains out in an effort to hide and save the personality matrix that is Triple Zero.

The chip was taken out and locked down in a facility where the chip was blocked from infecting any other droids--that is, until Dr. Aphra stole the chip (I think this was shown in the first trade) and placed it inside an old, silvered 3PO unit we now know as Triple Zero.

It's really pretty damn cool. The writers of these Star Wars comics are doing a bang-up job. Interesting stories. Intriguing plots. I can't wait to get the next one.

The droid in Rogue One, K-2SO? I think he'd really like Triple Zero. Or, maybe the two would clash because they're so much alike.





Oh, and Bee-Tee? He's an R4 droid that has been outfitted with ultimate hardware. Instead of saws and arc welders and flying flame engines that pop out of R2-D2, Bee Tee has missile launchers, gatlin blasters, and grenade throwers popping out of his doors.

The pair just crack me up.

 

[Water Bob]

The Vader series is probably the best of all the new Marvel series. And, I think it will definitely stand the test of time.

Look at all the great characters this series added to the Star Wars universe....


Dr. Aphra - A cute, love-able, smart, sociopath. She has exactly zero sense of right and wrong. Otherwise, you'd want to marry her.

I spoke about these guys above. Triple-Zero and Beetee. Two homicidal droid maniacs with a sense or humor and subtext.

This shot of Beetee and R2 cracks me up. R2 has his arc welder out!

Then, there's Black Krrsantan, the wookiee. And, the wookiee wants his money.

Finally, there's Cylo. I think his name is an inside joke. [sblock]If you kill him, his consciousness is transferred to another clone body. So, I think it's a nod to Battlestar Galactica and the Cylons (new BS, not old BS). Cylo is worthy adversary for Vader. He's a bad guy for a bad guy.[/sblock] He's a Lex Luthor to Vader's Superman. Cylo always seems to be one step ahead of Vader, out-thinking him.

And, Cylo is a master with cybernetics. In fact (and this is canon now), [sblock]Cylo was the lead designer of Vader's suit. You can say that the Emperor ordered Cylo to rebuild Vader after Anakin's near death on Mustafar. Near the end of this series, we find out...that Cylo hid a kill switch among Vader's suit circuitry![/sblock] Awesome!

Is that Tagge you see in the panels above? It sure is! Remember, he's the guy that Vader nearly choked to death aboard the Death Star in A New Hope. Nope, he didn't die in the explosion. He escaped, and Palpatine raised him in rank to Grand General. Vader has lost face with the Emperor. Palpatine blames Vader for the Death Star's destruction. (Yep, it even fits with the story of Rouge One--probably more so than it did when the story came out.) So, Tagge has been a thorn in Vader's backside.

And, by the end of the series, [sblock]Vader has engineered it that Tagge drops a few notches in the Emperor's estimation. Palpatine takes the Executor away from Tagge and gives it and the fleet to Vader. We know something like this happened between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back--so, here, it's spelled out. Vader gives Admiral Ozzel command of his flagship (and Vader ends up killing Ozzel because he came out of light speed too near the Rebel Base on Hoth and was detected, in TESB).[/sblock]

It's awesome stuff, this book series (trade paperback series).

It's got giant, living starships made of unbelievably big whales! You want SPACE OPERA? YOU GOT IT!

It's got some scenes with some amazing depth that reveal some of Darth Vader's demons.

It's got some jaw dropping moments. THEY DID...WHAT!?

And, it's got a new CANON story that fills in some gaps right after A New Hope.

I love it.

 

[PurpleDragonKnight]

this looks seriously good... hopefully they have graphic novels for us late adopters