This is review of Darth Vader (2015-2016) omnibuses and Star Wars (2015-2019) issues 16-19 which contain Rebel Jail story arc. Vader Down event was included in omnibuses.
Little bit about my Star Wars taste before I go any further. Knights of the Old Republic games are my favorite things having name Star Wars. The Last Jedi is my favorite of Disney movies and best Star Wars movie since original trilogy.
Darth Vader (2015-2016) tells story how Darth Vader moved from Tarkin’s thug to the one who calls shots for Empire between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. Story starts soon after end of A New Hope and end in place which could be near the beginning of Empire Strikes Back. We get lot of references to both movies and prequels. This is biggest flaw of Disney’s Star Wars. It concentrates too much into past. Non trilogy movies concentrated showing what was referenced in movies. Same problems seems to be in comics. Rebel Jail story arcs have secondary story based on two words said by Leia in Empire Strikes Back.
Setting stories between existing stories having characters of those other stories takes away some excitement because you know where this is going and at least in some part who is going to make it. It is pretty sure Darth Vader will survive stories set between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back and he can’t end up having something he didn’t have in Empire Strikes Back. So final issues cleans the plate from anything not mentioned in Empire Strikes Back.
One more thing before going into positives. It is not the problem of Darth Vader run but Vader Down event. Vader becomes unstoppable killing machine in Vader Down. Whole event feels like fan fiction by someone who thinks characters from original trilogy are far better than anyone else. Jedis of prequels couldn’t have survived what Vader survives in Vader Down. His powers and skills were more reasonable in rest of the run. It is because Vader Down was written by different writer.
Everything above may sound like I didn’t like Darth Vader (2015-2016). That is not the case. I liked it but not because it was about Darth Vader but because of everything which had nothing to do with the movies. This is story of Darth Vader playing a secret game against other Empire officials with Doctor Aphra. Doctor Aphra is reason I picked this run first place. Doctor Aphra is ethically compromised female Indiana Jones with little bit of Han Solo and Tank Girl.
Together they are against Emperor’s new technological squad who could replace Darth Vader if they can win him. This is same Sith ideology which Knights of the Old Republic had. Not sure if it is still part of current Star Wars but this was very close to Knight of the Old Republic. Story goes quite far from the movies. It is engaging. There are interesting twists. Last issues are almost let down after where this went during the story. Vader had to get to where he was in Empire Strikes Back.
This is more interesting as Doctor Aphra story than Darth Vader story. Her story moves from pages of Darth Vader (2015-2016) to Rebel Jail story arc in Star Wars (2015-2019) to return to Darth Vader (2015-2016) later. Rebel Jail story arc is good because of Doctor Aphra and the villain but it didn’t make me want to check the comic. Doctor Aphra got her own comic Doctor Aphra (2016-2019). I have read first story arc of it and it is the best thing Disney’s Star Wars has give us.
This and Doctor Aphra’s own comic shows Star Wars can still be interesting. Some fans might still want Star Wars to be references to movies the grew up with but that doesn’t make it interesting story telling. This is only Darth Vader comic I am planning to read. I read it because I wanted to read Doctor Aphra’s story from the beginning. Darth Vader on his own wouldn’t have carried this for me. Darth Vader fans might have different opinions.