When I heard the news that Disney had given Marvel the rights to launch a new series of Star Wars comics, I was intrigued.  When I think about it, it's amazing that an official narrative taken from the vantage point of Darth Vader's beef with the rebel alliance hadn't quite reached such heights like a comic series produced by Marvel.  Especially when Darth Vader's character boasts a complexity that remains veiled and never seems to meet its full potential.  Over the history of the franchise, Darth Vader's portrayals have ranged from awe-inspiring implacability to petulant tantrums, so much so that it often polarizes his position, thus endangering the complexity of his character.  And, let’s be honest, the prequels didn’t really help his case either.  Hopefully, the challenges in making Darth Vader the protagonist of the comic's narrative will help to fill out his declaratively complex character.  I am pleased to say that, at least as of the first issue, Star Wars: Darth Vader has turned out at least to be a very enjoyable comic.

The series begins after A New Hope, giving us a look at how the Empire reacts to the loss of their Death Star superweapon.  With the Senate dissolved and the Death Star destroyed, the Empire no longer has reliable tools to stay in control.  Emperor Palpatine has decided to place the blame for this squarely on his apprentice, marginalizing Vader and giving more power to his conventional military officers.  This compels Vader to start looking for resources of his own, setting up a conflict where Vader may need to act against the Empire's interest to pursue his own agenda.

The comic's art is fantastic.  Salvador Larroca masterfully makes use of lighting, posture, and viewpoint angle to convey mood and nuance each scene.  This is especially impressive and necessary: Darth Vader is a difficult character to read because of his mask.  However the comic does a good job of showing you what's going on without spelling everything out.

Darth Vader is a very intimidating character, who compels others to react to him.  Action scenes show him overpowering opponents with an impressive economy of motion.  Of course, this is at least partially because Vader is aging, weakened, both emotionally and physically.  He is now more machine than man after having so much of his damaged body replaced.  He projects strength to cover up weakness, and many of the characters he encounters buy into the facade, while others are able to look past it.

Now that Vader is no longer the Emperor's favorite, he will face growing pressure from Imperial rivals, and be forced to struggle to stay relevant in a changing galaxy.  He will need to continually prove himself, or find some way to adapt.  Comic 001 implies that Vader is already starting to rethink his place in the world, and how he approaches this seems like it could make for some very entertaining reading.  I definitely recommend the series and am looking forward to the next issue.

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