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Star Wars: Vader - Dark Visions #1-5
Star Wars: Vader - Dark Visions
WHO IS DARTH VADER? He has been many things: a SITH warrior, a commander, a destroyer. DARTH VADER is to many throughout the GALACTIC EMPIRE a symbol of fear and mysterious, otherworldly power. But there are some who have seen the DARK LORD in a different light. There are some corners of the galaxy so dark and desperate that even Vader can be a knight in shining armor. The first issue of a new STAR WARS limited series, writer Dennis Hopeless (CLOAK AND DAGGER, JEAN GREY) sheds new light on the many sides of the galaxy's greatest villain.
COLLECTING: VADER: DARK VISIONS #1-5
COLLECTING: VADER: DARK VISIONS #1-5
128 pages, Paperback
First published August 27, 2019
273 people are currently reading
699 people want to read
About the author
Dennis Hopeless
528 books118 followersDennis "Hopeless" Hallum is an American comics writer from Kansas City, Missouri who has written for Marvel Comics, Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Boom! Studios, Arcana Studio, and Oni Press.
See also under Dennis Hallum
See also under Dennis Hallum
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 197 reviews
May 4, 2021
I actually loved this one and going to add it to my collection. My favorites are the first one with the planet and the one with the crazy lady crush 😃😏
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
July 9, 2022
“Out of those heavenly flames steps the Black Knight. Cloak blowing in the breeze. Firelight dancing across his armor. Waiting in the still silence for what he knows will be a great battle. Waiting for the Ender beneath his feet to open its horrible golden eye—and wake up.”
Vader: Dark Visions is an anthology series by Dennis Hopeless and a variety of artists, showing the different perspectives of those who encounter Darth Vader around the galaxy. It’s interesting to see how some end up seeing the Sith Lord in a completely different light than those who encounter him on a more frequent basis. We follow the perspectives of an X-Wing pilot who must go head to head with Vader in the air, an Imperial Commander who already knows the price of failing Vader, a young boy who sees Vader fight off the kaiju that’s been terrorizing his planet, along with others. I’ll review each story individually down below, but this was a pretty nifty little anthology that I recommend to any fans of the character.
“Savior” by Paolo Villanelli & Arif Prianto ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
This was fucking awesome. Vader lands on a planet after sustaining damage in a space battle and fights a giant kaiju monster he crash landed on. This monster has terrorized the residents of the planet for years, so Vader ends up becoming a hero and savior to these people. It’s beyond cool to see a story where Vader is mythicized into a Knight in Shining Armor, and the art by Villanelli & Prianto does a fantastic job of selling the scale and epicness of this conflict. I adored this story and would like to see more like it.
“Unacceptable” by Brian Levek & Jordan Boyd ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
An imperial commander begins to freak out after he is informed Vader is personally coming to see that he has completed his mission. After he realizes he has failed said mission, he flashes back to when Vader force choked his fellow commaders and begins making increasingly desperate choices in the hopes of not ending up the same way. The art does a great job of compliementing the story as well. I don’t think this was some amazing one-off or anything, but it was a very fun and darkly comedic story with some awesome art.
“Tall, Dark and Handsome” by David Lopez, Javier Pina, and Muntsa Vicente ☆ ☆ 1/2
Eh it caused up a stir but it was pretty banal. Pretty skippable and apparently it was plagarized.
“Hotshot” by Stephen Mooney & Lee Loughridge ☆ ☆
And the second dud of the collection arrives. This wasn’t completely horrible, but a predictable ending and not a lot of Vader just makes this stand out as the weakest story of the lot so far. The art was fine during the quieter moments too, but it got a bit too chaotic and hard to follow once the action started.
You Can Run... by Geraldo Borges & Marcio Menyz ☆ ☆ ☆
Sadly, another not-so-great story to close out what was an otherwise pretty good collection up until these final 3 stories. They aren’t atrocious or anything, they just aren’t nearly as engaging as the first 3 stories in the collection. This one sees Vader track down some stolen Imperial equipment as he chases a native through his home planet. There’s some incredible art and truly trippy moments, but this wasn’t a whole lot of anything.
TLDR;
Even if the quality of the collection drops off by the end, this is an easy recommendation for any fan of Darth Vader. All of the issues are easy to jump into and even if all the stories aren’t incredible, the art is mostly solid across the board. A fun enough collection of Darth Vader stories, that aren’t as fulfilling as reading the Gillen or Soule’s runs, but it is much easier to digest. Also that Greg Smallwood cover is one of the best Darth Vader covers ever.
Vader: Dark Visions is an anthology series by Dennis Hopeless and a variety of artists, showing the different perspectives of those who encounter Darth Vader around the galaxy. It’s interesting to see how some end up seeing the Sith Lord in a completely different light than those who encounter him on a more frequent basis. We follow the perspectives of an X-Wing pilot who must go head to head with Vader in the air, an Imperial Commander who already knows the price of failing Vader, a young boy who sees Vader fight off the kaiju that’s been terrorizing his planet, along with others. I’ll review each story individually down below, but this was a pretty nifty little anthology that I recommend to any fans of the character.
“Savior” by Paolo Villanelli & Arif Prianto ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
This was fucking awesome. Vader lands on a planet after sustaining damage in a space battle and fights a giant kaiju monster he crash landed on. This monster has terrorized the residents of the planet for years, so Vader ends up becoming a hero and savior to these people. It’s beyond cool to see a story where Vader is mythicized into a Knight in Shining Armor, and the art by Villanelli & Prianto does a fantastic job of selling the scale and epicness of this conflict. I adored this story and would like to see more like it.
“Unacceptable” by Brian Levek & Jordan Boyd ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
An imperial commander begins to freak out after he is informed Vader is personally coming to see that he has completed his mission. After he realizes he has failed said mission, he flashes back to when Vader force choked his fellow commaders and begins making increasingly desperate choices in the hopes of not ending up the same way. The art does a great job of compliementing the story as well. I don’t think this was some amazing one-off or anything, but it was a very fun and darkly comedic story with some awesome art.
“Tall, Dark and Handsome” by David Lopez, Javier Pina, and Muntsa Vicente ☆ ☆ 1/2
Eh it caused up a stir but it was pretty banal. Pretty skippable and apparently it was plagarized.
“Hotshot” by Stephen Mooney & Lee Loughridge ☆ ☆
And the second dud of the collection arrives. This wasn’t completely horrible, but a predictable ending and not a lot of Vader just makes this stand out as the weakest story of the lot so far. The art was fine during the quieter moments too, but it got a bit too chaotic and hard to follow once the action started.
You Can Run... by Geraldo Borges & Marcio Menyz ☆ ☆ ☆
Sadly, another not-so-great story to close out what was an otherwise pretty good collection up until these final 3 stories. They aren’t atrocious or anything, they just aren’t nearly as engaging as the first 3 stories in the collection. This one sees Vader track down some stolen Imperial equipment as he chases a native through his home planet. There’s some incredible art and truly trippy moments, but this wasn’t a whole lot of anything.
TLDR;
Even if the quality of the collection drops off by the end, this is an easy recommendation for any fan of Darth Vader. All of the issues are easy to jump into and even if all the stories aren’t incredible, the art is mostly solid across the board. A fun enough collection of Darth Vader stories, that aren’t as fulfilling as reading the Gillen or Soule’s runs, but it is much easier to digest. Also that Greg Smallwood cover is one of the best Darth Vader covers ever.
September 28, 2020
This is a collection of stories about the Dark Lord of the Sith himself. I found it fun and entertaining throughout. [Warning: Spoilers possibly to come]
The first one shows Vader in a scenario in which Evil battles Evil -- with the outcome leading certain observers to believe that what they're really seeing is Good vs Evil. As Obie Won might say, it "all depends upon a certain point of view".
The second one, I think, is illustrative of why, notwithstanding the belief in their efficiency, totalitarian systems, being based upon fear and coercion, inevitably become ones based upon lies -- each one of which imposes a promissory note upon the future. In this case, a Star Destroyer commander lies to the High Command, only to realize that Vader is on it, who then embarks upon a suicidal effort to cover it up even further. It doesn't end well, and it reminded me of variations of the profligacy in lives or dreadful miscalculations that have actually been repeated in the real "Empires" of human history. Think Chernobyl, or Hitler's subordinates being afraid to tell him the truth about the Normandy invasion ---- or Stalin's death because his lackeys were too terrified to disturb him to find out if he was well.
The third shows what can happen when a groupie worships the wrong kind of hero.
I won't go into the fourth and fifth stories except to say that they were fun and enjoyable to read.
All in all, this is what I expect from a graphic novel --- to be fun, engaging, and entertaining. I think most fans of the anti-hero genre would enjoy it.
The first one shows Vader in a scenario in which Evil battles Evil -- with the outcome leading certain observers to believe that what they're really seeing is Good vs Evil. As Obie Won might say, it "all depends upon a certain point of view".
The second one, I think, is illustrative of why, notwithstanding the belief in their efficiency, totalitarian systems, being based upon fear and coercion, inevitably become ones based upon lies -- each one of which imposes a promissory note upon the future. In this case, a Star Destroyer commander lies to the High Command, only to realize that Vader is on it, who then embarks upon a suicidal effort to cover it up even further. It doesn't end well, and it reminded me of variations of the profligacy in lives or dreadful miscalculations that have actually been repeated in the real "Empires" of human history. Think Chernobyl, or Hitler's subordinates being afraid to tell him the truth about the Normandy invasion ---- or Stalin's death because his lackeys were too terrified to disturb him to find out if he was well.
The third shows what can happen when a groupie worships the wrong kind of hero.
I won't go into the fourth and fifth stories except to say that they were fun and enjoyable to read.
All in all, this is what I expect from a graphic novel --- to be fun, engaging, and entertaining. I think most fans of the anti-hero genre would enjoy it.
March 25, 2020
This is a collection of short stories that concentrate on how people view Darth Vader. These views can range from abject fear to all the way to fanaticism. These stories don't really add anything to the overall canon so it is not a required reading.
I am not the biggest fan of short stories but I really enjoyed these stories about Vader. Whether it was a viewpoint of savior or to total desperation because a character fears to disappoint Darth Vader this was a very pleasant look into his reputation. We know that he is the Emperor's right hand man and the galaxy's enforcer and this collection emphasizes that. Once again the artwork is terrific with each story having its own style. I believe what sold me on this collection is that I feel like it is a commentary as to why audiences have gravitated towards this character. When we see his amazing entrance in A New Hope we know that he is the bad guy. That didn't matter though as fans of all ages (including myself) have become Darth Vader fans and I like how this issue deals with how that happens.
I was a little skeptical going into this because of the opening cover. Darth Vader being a knight doesn't exactly exude Star Wars to me. But this collection won me over as we see him being a bad ass and his effects of his reputation throughout the galaxy.
I am not the biggest fan of short stories but I really enjoyed these stories about Vader. Whether it was a viewpoint of savior or to total desperation because a character fears to disappoint Darth Vader this was a very pleasant look into his reputation. We know that he is the Emperor's right hand man and the galaxy's enforcer and this collection emphasizes that. Once again the artwork is terrific with each story having its own style. I believe what sold me on this collection is that I feel like it is a commentary as to why audiences have gravitated towards this character. When we see his amazing entrance in A New Hope we know that he is the bad guy. That didn't matter though as fans of all ages (including myself) have become Darth Vader fans and I like how this issue deals with how that happens.
I was a little skeptical going into this because of the opening cover. Darth Vader being a knight doesn't exactly exude Star Wars to me. But this collection won me over as we see him being a bad ass and his effects of his reputation throughout the galaxy.
May 13, 2021
Five one shots written from the perspective of those revolving around the orbit of Darth Vader. The first three are good. The last 2 pretty bland. I like the story where Darth Vader fights the kaiju and is seen as a savior by the city's inhabitants. The story about the nurse with a fixation on Vader was good as well. The art is hit and miss throughout.
September 3, 2019
Very solid and enjoyable collection of five short stories, each offering a new and different perspective on Darth Vader and his place in the world of Star Wars. Out of five stories, only one (#4) I’d say wasn’t that good, and even then it’s just mediocre. Other stories, especially the first three, are excellent and really show some interesting angles on Vader from the perspective of people surrounding him. The art is solid throughout. Overall, a fun quick read I’d recommended to any Star Wars fan.
October 13, 2021
A pretty disparate anthology featuring different perspectives on Vader being an implacable badass. The most outrageous one was probably the one featuring a nurse romantically obsessed with the man behind the mask.
Fantasy dream sequence. I hope?
Some girls sure can pick 'em, eh?
Fantasy dream sequence. I hope?
Some girls sure can pick 'em, eh?
August 6, 2019
It's like I tell my students: plagiarism is an automatic failing grade.
It's easy enough to Google, but Chuck Wendig was originally working on a Vader anthology series. He was fired, the series was canceled, and then Marvel suddenly announced a new Vader anthology series written by someone else. That's suspicious enough.
But when the third issue in Vader: Dark Visions came out, Wendig admitted on Twitter that the story was similar—incredibly similar, in fact—to the third issue he had already written and submitted. There were, he indicated, only some minor changes. These changes added up to a major problem with the issue, but the changes themselves were relatively small.
And nowhere in this issue or any other is Wendig given credit.
Now, you can argue it's all hearsay, he-said he-said arguments. We only have his word on it. Whatever you think of the reason for Wendig being fired from his book (which is well-documented as being over his personal politics on Twitter) the firing itself was legally and ethically sound. Writers are essentially contractors, employed at-will, and can be let go at any time for any reason. Being upset at Wendig for being political is a little like being upset at water for being wet, but there's nothing inherently wrong with someone firing him for it.
What's wrong is turning around, taking the work he already did, and making only surface-level changes without giving him proper credit. Because once you know Wendig worked on this book, if you're at all familiar with his writing, you can't help but see his fingerprints all over it. His hallmarks are deliberate emotional dissonance, a slow-burn subtext of horror that breaks the surface at exactly the right moment to unsettle you, and rigorously exploring all aspects of a character. His themes and techniques are present throughout the narrative.
Even worse, the minor changes they made to justify outright theft manage to make the final product terrible. As Wendig himself described, in his version of the third issue, the viewpoint character was a man. That story would have been an incisive commentary on toxic masculinity and the hazards of idolizing authority.
Instead, the version we got had a woman in the lead. She's depicted as a disturbed deviant who lusts after Vader based on her personal fantasies, and the story indulges in every depraved trope of the desperate fangirl you can think of.
So in this metaphor, the writers and editors responsible didn't just try to plagiarize their assignment; they decided to change words they didn't understand to try to avoid getting caught. The result is a barely coherent mess that wouldn't have gotten a passing grade even if it wasn't stolen.
It's easy enough to Google, but Chuck Wendig was originally working on a Vader anthology series. He was fired, the series was canceled, and then Marvel suddenly announced a new Vader anthology series written by someone else. That's suspicious enough.
But when the third issue in Vader: Dark Visions came out, Wendig admitted on Twitter that the story was similar—incredibly similar, in fact—to the third issue he had already written and submitted. There were, he indicated, only some minor changes. These changes added up to a major problem with the issue, but the changes themselves were relatively small.
And nowhere in this issue or any other is Wendig given credit.
Now, you can argue it's all hearsay, he-said he-said arguments. We only have his word on it. Whatever you think of the reason for Wendig being fired from his book (which is well-documented as being over his personal politics on Twitter) the firing itself was legally and ethically sound. Writers are essentially contractors, employed at-will, and can be let go at any time for any reason. Being upset at Wendig for being political is a little like being upset at water for being wet, but there's nothing inherently wrong with someone firing him for it.
What's wrong is turning around, taking the work he already did, and making only surface-level changes without giving him proper credit. Because once you know Wendig worked on this book, if you're at all familiar with his writing, you can't help but see his fingerprints all over it. His hallmarks are deliberate emotional dissonance, a slow-burn subtext of horror that breaks the surface at exactly the right moment to unsettle you, and rigorously exploring all aspects of a character. His themes and techniques are present throughout the narrative.
Even worse, the minor changes they made to justify outright theft manage to make the final product terrible. As Wendig himself described, in his version of the third issue, the viewpoint character was a man. That story would have been an incisive commentary on toxic masculinity and the hazards of idolizing authority.
Instead, the version we got had a woman in the lead. She's depicted as a disturbed deviant who lusts after Vader based on her personal fantasies, and the story indulges in every depraved trope of the desperate fangirl you can think of.
So in this metaphor, the writers and editors responsible didn't just try to plagiarize their assignment; they decided to change words they didn't understand to try to avoid getting caught. The result is a barely coherent mess that wouldn't have gotten a passing grade even if it wasn't stolen.
June 12, 2022
"Vader: Dark Visions" is an anthology of vignettes featuring Darth Vader. It is a collection of differing people's views of the Dark Lord. The stories and art are all pretty good and this is a good volume of short stories.
Savior- a young alien boy sees Darth Vader as a Knight defending his world.
Unacceptable- An imperial Commander tries to correct a mistake before Vader arrives.
"Tall, dark and handsome"- An Imperial Nurse fantasizes about a relationship with vader and sneaks into his room for a face to face with her true love.
"Hotshot"- A cowardly kid becomes a cowardly Rebel and shows cowardice is forever.
"You can Run"- A Rebel spy has a run-in with Vader.
The final bit had some cool cover art.
All in all? This was a nice collection of Vader-themed short stories.
Savior- a young alien boy sees Darth Vader as a Knight defending his world.
Unacceptable- An imperial Commander tries to correct a mistake before Vader arrives.
"Tall, dark and handsome"- An Imperial Nurse fantasizes about a relationship with vader and sneaks into his room for a face to face with her true love.
"Hotshot"- A cowardly kid becomes a cowardly Rebel and shows cowardice is forever.
"You can Run"- A Rebel spy has a run-in with Vader.
The final bit had some cool cover art.
All in all? This was a nice collection of Vader-themed short stories.
October 13, 2019
This is a solidly "okay" collection of short vignettes featuring Vader. The best Star Wars writers can write Vader in such a way that you can sense Anakin behind the mask. These stories don't do that at all—they give only an Episode 4–level understanding of the character: the mysterious, evil, terrifying dark knight. It's fine, though there have been much better graphic novels about Vader in the past few years.
The image of Vader as the cover of a romance novel will be hard to forget.
The image of Vader as the cover of a romance novel will be hard to forget.
November 15, 2020
No issue was bad but most were just ok. Issue number three was my favourite and brought the rating up to 3.5 stars.
March 6, 2021
Book sestavený z pěti jednosešitových povídek kde není Vader tak úplně hlavní postava ale vše se točí kolem něj, což je hodně sympatické. Stejně jako se mi moc líbí nápady se kterými se tu pracuje, některé jsou výborně zpracované jako druhý a třetí issue.
Na druhou stranu některé jsou zpracované fakt nudně.
Škoda, ale ohromně cením nápad protože podobný věci by Star Wars potřebovali jako sůl.
Na druhou stranu některé jsou zpracované fakt nudně.
Škoda, ale ohromně cením nápad protože podobný věci by Star Wars potřebovali jako sůl.
December 28, 2020
What... what did I just read?
That was the weirdest bunch of SW comics I've read in a while.
Not even just weird. The Aphra comics are kind of weird, but I've gotten into a rhythm with those. But this... some of these stories were so dark and depressing that part of me regrets ever reading this. I had to jump right into Clone Wars Adventures volume 9 to stop feeling so weird.
Also, I don't know why this is titled "Dark Visions." This is just a collection of five completely unrelated stories that include Vader in some way.
The first story in here is the least weird out of all of them. It's about this time Vader fought this monster that terrorized a planet. The narration is kind of interesting, but it's nothing to write home about.
The next one is one of those dark ones that I couldn't enjoy. The artwork and the styling of the panels are both very cool, but the plot for this is... ugh. Basically, it's about this guy who's so scared of Vader that he'll do whatever it takes to bring him victory. I suppose it's realistic, but it was very unsettling to read.
The third one, oh man... okay, I saw most of the panels for this comic beforehand on Pinterest or something, so I already fully knew what this story was about. But that still didn't properly prepare me - this is about a strange stalker obsessive nurse on the Death Star who has a crush on Vader. Yeahhh. It's got that slightly depressive air to it that the last story had, and it's just... really, really weird. It has some good artwork in places, but I really don't know what I'm supposed to be feeling at this point.
Story number four is hardly about Vader, honestly. It's more so about this pilot who wants to take the winning shot just once. (Also, writers of these kinds of stories need to stop making the main plot point "will Vader die?" because... duh.) It's a really depressing story, and not in a moving or interesting way. I thought that ending would be stronger but... nope. Ugh, what is this collection?
Can we have some stories about Vader, not about the random people he encounters? If "Dark Visions" was about Vader seeing visions of past Jedi or something, that would be neat. Instead we have... whatever these stories are. Ugh, almost done.
The fifth and final story in here is also weird, albeit tamer than the previous ones. Again, I really don't know what I'm supposed to be getting from any of these. It's about Vader trying to kill rebels, but there's this barkeep... ugh, why am I even trying to describe this? This story is nothing. It's weird and random and confusing and, again, is hardly about Vader. You could replace him with any other SW villain.
1/5 stars. I wish this volume had a single story I liked, but this seemed to purposely be veering towards weird. That's not a problem, but I felt like it strayed a bit too far into the "depressing weird" category for me to actually like this and get invested. I felt so uncomfortable after reading this that I had to watch several Rebels episodes to get the taste out of my mouth. Oh well. Onto the next Aphra comic, I guess.
That was the weirdest bunch of SW comics I've read in a while.
Not even just weird. The Aphra comics are kind of weird, but I've gotten into a rhythm with those. But this... some of these stories were so dark and depressing that part of me regrets ever reading this. I had to jump right into Clone Wars Adventures volume 9 to stop feeling so weird.
Also, I don't know why this is titled "Dark Visions." This is just a collection of five completely unrelated stories that include Vader in some way.
The first story in here is the least weird out of all of them. It's about this time Vader fought this monster that terrorized a planet. The narration is kind of interesting, but it's nothing to write home about.
The next one is one of those dark ones that I couldn't enjoy. The artwork and the styling of the panels are both very cool, but the plot for this is... ugh. Basically, it's about this guy who's so scared of Vader that he'll do whatever it takes to bring him victory. I suppose it's realistic, but it was very unsettling to read.
The third one, oh man... okay, I saw most of the panels for this comic beforehand on Pinterest or something, so I already fully knew what this story was about. But that still didn't properly prepare me - this is about a strange stalker obsessive nurse on the Death Star who has a crush on Vader. Yeahhh. It's got that slightly depressive air to it that the last story had, and it's just... really, really weird. It has some good artwork in places, but I really don't know what I'm supposed to be feeling at this point.
Story number four is hardly about Vader, honestly. It's more so about this pilot who wants to take the winning shot just once. (Also, writers of these kinds of stories need to stop making the main plot point "will Vader die?" because... duh.) It's a really depressing story, and not in a moving or interesting way. I thought that ending would be stronger but... nope. Ugh, what is this collection?
Can we have some stories about Vader, not about the random people he encounters? If "Dark Visions" was about Vader seeing visions of past Jedi or something, that would be neat. Instead we have... whatever these stories are. Ugh, almost done.
The fifth and final story in here is also weird, albeit tamer than the previous ones. Again, I really don't know what I'm supposed to be getting from any of these. It's about Vader trying to kill rebels, but there's this barkeep... ugh, why am I even trying to describe this? This story is nothing. It's weird and random and confusing and, again, is hardly about Vader. You could replace him with any other SW villain.
1/5 stars. I wish this volume had a single story I liked, but this seemed to purposely be veering towards weird. That's not a problem, but I felt like it strayed a bit too far into the "depressing weird" category for me to actually like this and get invested. I felt so uncomfortable after reading this that I had to watch several Rebels episodes to get the taste out of my mouth. Oh well. Onto the next Aphra comic, I guess.
November 3, 2019
Rating of 4.5
Prepare to see one of the most iconic and beloved villains in all of fiction, Darth Vader, in a whole new light as Dennis “Hopeless” Hallum and several talented artists present five new and clever stories of the Dark Lord of the Sith from across the galaxy.
To most of the universe, Darth Vader is the Empire’s ultimate symbol of power, authority and fear, delivering death and destruction upon all who incur his wrath. But to some he can be something even more potent and remarkable. On one planet he is a Black Knight, a beacon of hope that saved them from a terrible monster. To a certain Imperial Commander, Vader is a reminder that failure is unacceptable. To one Imperial nurse, Vader is her one true love. But no matter how people see him, the one universal truth is that those who encounter this Sith Lord are likely to end up dead.
To see the full review, check out the link below:
https://unseenlibrary.com/2019/11/03/...
For other exciting reviews and content, check out my blog at:
https://unseenlibrary.com/
Prepare to see one of the most iconic and beloved villains in all of fiction, Darth Vader, in a whole new light as Dennis “Hopeless” Hallum and several talented artists present five new and clever stories of the Dark Lord of the Sith from across the galaxy.
To most of the universe, Darth Vader is the Empire’s ultimate symbol of power, authority and fear, delivering death and destruction upon all who incur his wrath. But to some he can be something even more potent and remarkable. On one planet he is a Black Knight, a beacon of hope that saved them from a terrible monster. To a certain Imperial Commander, Vader is a reminder that failure is unacceptable. To one Imperial nurse, Vader is her one true love. But no matter how people see him, the one universal truth is that those who encounter this Sith Lord are likely to end up dead.
To see the full review, check out the link below:
https://unseenlibrary.com/2019/11/03/...
For other exciting reviews and content, check out my blog at:
https://unseenlibrary.com/
October 12, 2020
One shots that showcase the terror, dread, and madness surrounding the Dark Lord of the Sith.
March 5, 2020
The back cover talks about how the book shows Vader in a slightly different light. They should turn that light off.
The first story, showing Vader as a Dark Knight, isn't bad, and is well drawn. But the 'Tall, Dark and Handsome' story was just wrong on so many levels, not the least making light of a woman with apparent mental issues. Hotshot was okay until the final pages, and 'You Can Run' goes weird places for no good reason. 'Unacceptable' is of middling quality, but that still makes it one of the better stories in the collection.
The art varies from impressive (Savior, Hotshot) to barely tolerable (Unacceptable), but there isn't anything worth reading here. If you want to see Darth Vader at his best, read the regular series instead.
The first story, showing Vader as a Dark Knight, isn't bad, and is well drawn. But the 'Tall, Dark and Handsome' story was just wrong on so many levels, not the least making light of a woman with apparent mental issues. Hotshot was okay until the final pages, and 'You Can Run' goes weird places for no good reason. 'Unacceptable' is of middling quality, but that still makes it one of the better stories in the collection.
The art varies from impressive (Savior, Hotshot) to barely tolerable (Unacceptable), but there isn't anything worth reading here. If you want to see Darth Vader at his best, read the regular series instead.
August 25, 2021
Each of these 5 issues is a standalone story featuring Darth Vader being savage af. This book pulls no punches. I loved it. It’s a love letter to Darth Vader at his most evil and callous. The badass moments abound. Definitely a nice treat for the fanboys.
June 24, 2021
I read this volume via Kindle Unlimited.
Can I just say that Kindle Unlimited having loads of comic trades is like saving my wallet so much. This is a collection I hadn't yet heard of, so when it came up in my recommendations, I was intrigued as to why. Basically, this is some short stories about Vader outside of the main Star Wars storyline. Vader doing what he does best, and creating his evil manipulative master of the universe energy I guess. We see him save himself, and in turn, save a civilisation from a terrible beast; we see him kill his own generals; we see him blow up a rebel base. Ultimately, this is a collection of stories to make you realise that at one stage, Vader really was beyond redemption.
Can I just say that Kindle Unlimited having loads of comic trades is like saving my wallet so much. This is a collection I hadn't yet heard of, so when it came up in my recommendations, I was intrigued as to why. Basically, this is some short stories about Vader outside of the main Star Wars storyline. Vader doing what he does best, and creating his evil manipulative master of the universe energy I guess. We see him save himself, and in turn, save a civilisation from a terrible beast; we see him kill his own generals; we see him blow up a rebel base. Ultimately, this is a collection of stories to make you realise that at one stage, Vader really was beyond redemption.
August 14, 2024
Truly Enjoyable!
You don't need to be a devoted fan to enjoy these stories, just a fan of the comics medium. Truly a great collection drawing from a large number of genres for inspiration. Original, fresh storytelling that captures the vibe of what made Darth Vader such a legendary bad guy: he works as the antagonist in almost any type of story.
You don't need to be a devoted fan to enjoy these stories, just a fan of the comics medium. Truly a great collection drawing from a large number of genres for inspiration. Original, fresh storytelling that captures the vibe of what made Darth Vader such a legendary bad guy: he works as the antagonist in almost any type of story.
September 16, 2019
Short stories all portraying different perspectives of Vader.
September 25, 2023
A solid few stories that show Vader in a mostly different light than what we traditionally see him as. These were interesting to see even though most lacked any real substance.
January 31, 2021
Entertaining
August 27, 2021
Five one shots trying desperately to spread Vader’s myth throughout the galaxy...
Since they all range from meh to meh the myth here looks like a dud.
Since they all range from meh to meh the myth here looks like a dud.
January 25, 2020
Here's another comic I got on sale at the end of 2019 on Comixology- Vader: Dark Visions!
We've had a ton of vader centric content in the comics of late, between Kieren Gillen's Vader series taking place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, the Dark Lord of the Sith series from Charles Soule, Target Vader, and a new "rebooted" Darth Vader series that will take place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
In between Dark Lord of the Sith and Target Vader, we were given Vader: Dark Visions- and the start of a small sense of "Vader fatigue". Look, I love Darth Vader as much as anybody else- he's kind of the perfect villain. He's a badass, a terrifying presence, and a complex history to back it all up. Pretty much no other villain in pop culture history has both terrified and inspired the world on the scale that Darth Vader has.
But... how much can Darth Vader can we get before it starts to get old?
THE STORIES: Yep, this one is a bunch of oneshots, that doesn't follow one particular story. Normally with an anthology like this, or a comic collection that has multiple story arcs, I review each one individually, but if there's not enough unique things to say about each one, I'll do them all in one go. This is the case here: each one shot tells different stories, but they have enough of a unifying theme and enough of the same good and bad aspects that reviewing each one individually is redundant. Whereas with something like almost every volume of the Knights of the Old Republic comics by John Jackson Miller had multiple story arcs and they were all pretty much consistently awesome, Vader Dark Visions has multiple story arcs that are consistently... mediocre, at best.
The first story is about Vader crashlanding on a planet during a space battle between the Empire and the Rebellion, told from the point of view of a native boy from a society that sees the offworlders as gods.
The second is about a maniac of an imperial officer so terrified of failing his mission that he fanatically pursues a rebel target whatever the costs.
The third is about a nurse who is in love with Darth Vader and collects cybernetic pieces left behind from her doctor's surgical procedures after a battle. She also fantasizes about Vader, a lot.
The fourth story is about a hotshot rebel pilot who will do whatever he can to get himself in an X-wing to blow up imperial scum.
Finally, the last story is about Vader tracking down some stolen information, told from the point of view of an undercover bartender on a backwater planet.
THE BAD: well, first things, first, the writing sucks. It's not a problem in every one of these, but most of them are plagued with obnoxious internal monologues. I seriously don't understand why comic book writers still use this device. A little bit of narration at the very beginning of a comic can be fine to establish the plot and setting, and I tend to be a bit more lenient on non-star wars comics for this. Its bad in most star wars comics because they utilize an opening crawl, but with Dark Visions, again I could have given it a pass if it was just used at the start (these one shots don't use the crawl). But the problem is that with the first, third, and the fifth story (the former 2 in particular), it doesn't let up, and just gets tiresome. WE GET IT. these internal monologues are pointless! They aren't providing anything new in regards to useful insights about the characters. Let the visuals speak for themselves. Comics are a VISUAL MEDIUM. IT'S CALLED A GRAPHIC NOVEL FOR KRIFF'S SAKE!
None of these really add anything new to the character of Darth Vader. I guess it was trying to explore the mythical boogeyman aspect of the character by exploring him through other characters, but what we end up getting in execution is just more of Vader being a big bad badass who kills everything and everyone in his path. We aren't left with many interesting new characters either- a wideeyed boy from #1 who thinks aloud way to much, a creepy fangirl in #3 (although the ending was fitting), a 10-cent Poe Dameron in #4, and just some guy in #5.
THE GOOD: I did get two takeaways from this comic.
First is the artwork. While it's not the best and looking cheap in many panels (particularly #3), other panels look really good and have a style that matches what the tone is going for. In issue #1 it focuses on a wide-eyed kid who idolizes vader like an antiheroic god- so we get to see Vader in all these sweeping poses like a knight in glistening black armor, with his lightsaber drawn more like a flaming sword. In issue #2 all the over-the-top expressions on the imperial officer protagonist actually work in the story's favor. The man is so scared by what Vader will do to him for failing that it basically drives him insane, so all the exaggerated facial expressions play to an advantage in conveying the character's emotions more effectively. The nurse's fantasies in #3 are drawn like impressionist paintings, which tend to depict things in a more idealistic manner.
Lastly, I liked how ambiguous the endings to #2, #4, and #5 were. They stop on a visual image that feels more like a cliffhanger than total closure. The ultimate fates of the protagonists aren't actually shown, but enough is implied that you could fill in the blanks with a more terrifying image than anything the artists could actually depict. And I have to commend this comic for doing that a few times. I've been getting the impression that due to Star Wars always having this tightly interconnected canon (this was true in the legends days, but it is even more true now that lucasfilm gave an official statement regarding that), it hamstrings creativity an impactful moments. Most of the time you would see the very endings of the characters in these stories and you would definitively see Vader doing the deed, but I loved how there's some room for interpretation as to how it exactly played out in the moments I mentioned here.
THE CONCLUSION: Final rating is 2.5 stars, rounded down because the good stuff is not mindblowingly spectacular and doesn't outweigh the problems.
Vader: Dark Visions just didn't feel necessary to me. You get to see more of Vader being badass and terrifying, but we've seen that plenty of times before in recent years, and done better in just about everywhere else its been tried. Rogue One's hallway scene captured how scary and unstoppable Vader is far more effectively than any of these five stories combined, and the previous two Darth Vader series in the canon showed more insight into who Vader is as a person.
I will give it this: Issue #2 with the Imperial officer and his emotional breakdown was good and effective. That's pretty much where most of the credit for that 2.5 stars is going. It gives us enough backstory to tell us why this person is so fearful, and the story slowly builds up the dread as the officer slowly loses his mind. But that isn't enough to save the rest of these stories which are plagued with clunky writing, dull characters, and repetitive setups that convey the same message over and over again. While I've read worse, this one doesn't go beyond run-of-the-mill mediocre. I'd skip it and read Dark Lord of the Sith instead.
We've had a ton of vader centric content in the comics of late, between Kieren Gillen's Vader series taking place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, the Dark Lord of the Sith series from Charles Soule, Target Vader, and a new "rebooted" Darth Vader series that will take place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
In between Dark Lord of the Sith and Target Vader, we were given Vader: Dark Visions- and the start of a small sense of "Vader fatigue". Look, I love Darth Vader as much as anybody else- he's kind of the perfect villain. He's a badass, a terrifying presence, and a complex history to back it all up. Pretty much no other villain in pop culture history has both terrified and inspired the world on the scale that Darth Vader has.
But... how much can Darth Vader can we get before it starts to get old?
THE STORIES: Yep, this one is a bunch of oneshots, that doesn't follow one particular story. Normally with an anthology like this, or a comic collection that has multiple story arcs, I review each one individually, but if there's not enough unique things to say about each one, I'll do them all in one go. This is the case here: each one shot tells different stories, but they have enough of a unifying theme and enough of the same good and bad aspects that reviewing each one individually is redundant. Whereas with something like almost every volume of the Knights of the Old Republic comics by John Jackson Miller had multiple story arcs and they were all pretty much consistently awesome, Vader Dark Visions has multiple story arcs that are consistently... mediocre, at best.
The first story is about Vader crashlanding on a planet during a space battle between the Empire and the Rebellion, told from the point of view of a native boy from a society that sees the offworlders as gods.
The second is about a maniac of an imperial officer so terrified of failing his mission that he fanatically pursues a rebel target whatever the costs.
The third is about a nurse who is in love with Darth Vader and collects cybernetic pieces left behind from her doctor's surgical procedures after a battle. She also fantasizes about Vader, a lot.
The fourth story is about a hotshot rebel pilot who will do whatever he can to get himself in an X-wing to blow up imperial scum.
Finally, the last story is about Vader tracking down some stolen information, told from the point of view of an undercover bartender on a backwater planet.
THE BAD: well, first things, first, the writing sucks. It's not a problem in every one of these, but most of them are plagued with obnoxious internal monologues. I seriously don't understand why comic book writers still use this device. A little bit of narration at the very beginning of a comic can be fine to establish the plot and setting, and I tend to be a bit more lenient on non-star wars comics for this. Its bad in most star wars comics because they utilize an opening crawl, but with Dark Visions, again I could have given it a pass if it was just used at the start (these one shots don't use the crawl). But the problem is that with the first, third, and the fifth story (the former 2 in particular), it doesn't let up, and just gets tiresome. WE GET IT. these internal monologues are pointless! They aren't providing anything new in regards to useful insights about the characters. Let the visuals speak for themselves. Comics are a VISUAL MEDIUM. IT'S CALLED A GRAPHIC NOVEL FOR KRIFF'S SAKE!
None of these really add anything new to the character of Darth Vader. I guess it was trying to explore the mythical boogeyman aspect of the character by exploring him through other characters, but what we end up getting in execution is just more of Vader being a big bad badass who kills everything and everyone in his path. We aren't left with many interesting new characters either- a wideeyed boy from #1 who thinks aloud way to much, a creepy fangirl in #3 (although the ending was fitting), a 10-cent Poe Dameron in #4, and just some guy in #5.
THE GOOD: I did get two takeaways from this comic.
First is the artwork. While it's not the best and looking cheap in many panels (particularly #3), other panels look really good and have a style that matches what the tone is going for. In issue #1 it focuses on a wide-eyed kid who idolizes vader like an antiheroic god- so we get to see Vader in all these sweeping poses like a knight in glistening black armor, with his lightsaber drawn more like a flaming sword. In issue #2 all the over-the-top expressions on the imperial officer protagonist actually work in the story's favor. The man is so scared by what Vader will do to him for failing that it basically drives him insane, so all the exaggerated facial expressions play to an advantage in conveying the character's emotions more effectively. The nurse's fantasies in #3 are drawn like impressionist paintings, which tend to depict things in a more idealistic manner.
Lastly, I liked how ambiguous the endings to #2, #4, and #5 were. They stop on a visual image that feels more like a cliffhanger than total closure. The ultimate fates of the protagonists aren't actually shown, but enough is implied that you could fill in the blanks with a more terrifying image than anything the artists could actually depict. And I have to commend this comic for doing that a few times. I've been getting the impression that due to Star Wars always having this tightly interconnected canon (this was true in the legends days, but it is even more true now that lucasfilm gave an official statement regarding that), it hamstrings creativity an impactful moments. Most of the time you would see the very endings of the characters in these stories and you would definitively see Vader doing the deed, but I loved how there's some room for interpretation as to how it exactly played out in the moments I mentioned here.
THE CONCLUSION: Final rating is 2.5 stars, rounded down because the good stuff is not mindblowingly spectacular and doesn't outweigh the problems.
Vader: Dark Visions just didn't feel necessary to me. You get to see more of Vader being badass and terrifying, but we've seen that plenty of times before in recent years, and done better in just about everywhere else its been tried. Rogue One's hallway scene captured how scary and unstoppable Vader is far more effectively than any of these five stories combined, and the previous two Darth Vader series in the canon showed more insight into who Vader is as a person.
I will give it this: Issue #2 with the Imperial officer and his emotional breakdown was good and effective. That's pretty much where most of the credit for that 2.5 stars is going. It gives us enough backstory to tell us why this person is so fearful, and the story slowly builds up the dread as the officer slowly loses his mind. But that isn't enough to save the rest of these stories which are plagued with clunky writing, dull characters, and repetitive setups that convey the same message over and over again. While I've read worse, this one doesn't go beyond run-of-the-mill mediocre. I'd skip it and read Dark Lord of the Sith instead.
April 10, 2025
5 comics. 1: Nice dif colored alien art. Maybe a bit hard to know what the devices/vehicles are with the movement and melding w/ landscapes. Written kinda jarring/poetic, don’t know if I need background info on this blue boy and whatever Razzy is (Droid yes, but a god or rebuilt bot) I’ve never seen before despite playing, watching, reading and collecting many other things in the franchise. They call Vader the Black Knight. Some planets regard him as a savior who fell from the sky.
2. Horror rather than sci-fi aesthetic w/ deranged faces. War roomy. Interesting shaped panels almost like vehicles, spikes, daggers, razors. Ship battles not for me, reminds me of Avatar movie cheesy dramatics. End gore is cool.
3. So funny, this obsessive love one is titled Tall, Dark, and Handsome. Harley Quinn vibes w/ a nurse falling for her nutso patient. Love the vaporwave (vaderwave) shading. Starts in the floating ship docks on the Death Star I loved to be in on Battlefront 2. Her faces and fantasies are sooo hilarious. I would read a whole graphic novel of this. You’d think a woman wrote this. The end though! 😭
4. Gun smuggler family. Beautiful pink to blue galaxy renderings. Very detailed, lots of panels and word bubbles to make most of the space. Rebel symbols shaved into heads. Courage and cowards afraid to take the perfect shots.
5. Red and white shading in Vader looks good and actiony, like he’s more fluid and alien than normal. Nice humor and bar scenes. Good intense dialogue and hypnotic plants with matching trippy panels even in the shape of gnarled knots. Not sure if he’s alive at the end?
2. Horror rather than sci-fi aesthetic w/ deranged faces. War roomy. Interesting shaped panels almost like vehicles, spikes, daggers, razors. Ship battles not for me, reminds me of Avatar movie cheesy dramatics. End gore is cool.
3. So funny, this obsessive love one is titled Tall, Dark, and Handsome. Harley Quinn vibes w/ a nurse falling for her nutso patient. Love the vaporwave (vaderwave) shading. Starts in the floating ship docks on the Death Star I loved to be in on Battlefront 2. Her faces and fantasies are sooo hilarious. I would read a whole graphic novel of this. You’d think a woman wrote this. The end though! 😭
4. Gun smuggler family. Beautiful pink to blue galaxy renderings. Very detailed, lots of panels and word bubbles to make most of the space. Rebel symbols shaved into heads. Courage and cowards afraid to take the perfect shots.
5. Red and white shading in Vader looks good and actiony, like he’s more fluid and alien than normal. Nice humor and bar scenes. Good intense dialogue and hypnotic plants with matching trippy panels even in the shape of gnarled knots. Not sure if he’s alive at the end?
September 23, 2021
Dennis Hopeless costuma ser um bom escritor dentro das séries que se propõe. Chamou minha atenção pela primeira vez na série Arena dos Vingadores, com uma proposta muito interessante e um desenvolvimento fantástico de jovens heróis à la Battle Royale e Jogos Vorazes. Neste Star Wars: Vader - Visões Sombrias, o roteirista estrutura cinco histórias que mostram diversas visões de Darth Vader a partir de diferentes seres envolvidos sob sua sombra. A arte, feita cada edição por um artista diferente, incluindo o brasileiro Geraldo Borges, é competente. A maioria dos enredos é satisfatório. Temos um sobrevivente de um ataque sith que considera Vader um herói, um capitão do império que precisa fazer de tudo para agradar Vader, uma enfermeira obcecada pelo Darth, que coleciona partes de sua vestimenta e um garçom contrabandista que acaba tendo alucinações com o sombrio sith. Todas tramas e desenvolvimentos muito bons. Com exceção de uma que, na minha opinião demonstra aquilo que meu preconceito com HQs de Star Wars costumava me afastar dessas revistas: uma história de navinhas se enfrentando nas profundezas do espaço. Bastante decepcionante. Em todo caso, recomendo a edição de Star Wars: Vader - Visões Sombrias para fãs e nem tão fãs da franquia de George Lucas.
April 30, 2023
I received this book from a friend
This book did so much with its limited amount of pages. First we saw just how futile it is to get in Vader’s way, we saw something go against him and just barely almost have him (think about that!) and then we saw how he handles unwanted attention from.. a woman? Yeah. This one was nuts and I enjoyed seeing Vader both prove that he’s not immortal and also seeing how cold hearted he still remains inside that suit.
This book did so much with its limited amount of pages. First we saw just how futile it is to get in Vader’s way, we saw something go against him and just barely almost have him (think about that!) and then we saw how he handles unwanted attention from.. a woman? Yeah. This one was nuts and I enjoyed seeing Vader both prove that he’s not immortal and also seeing how cold hearted he still remains inside that suit.
January 4, 2023
3.5 - Wasn't as good as the other ones...
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