Star Wars: Vader — Dark Visions

Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca tackled the character as he worked his way out of disgrace in the wake of the Death Star’s destruction.  Charles Soule and Giuseppe Camuncoli showed us the character as he was just starting out and unknown to the galaxy at large.  Good “Darth Vader” stories like these have one thing in common: They find something for the Dark Lord of the Sith to struggle against without diminishing him.  Dennis “Hopeless” Hallum has found a new track to take with this “Dark Visions” series: Exploring Vader as he’s seen by those around him. It’s a good setup without question.  It’ just a shame that it didn’t result in a more consistently enjoyable set of stories.

It starts strong with “Savior,” the story of an alien kid who witnesses Vader take down the monster that’s been terrorizing his planet.  His people have been forced to move underground at a moment’s notice when the monster approaches, but all that changes when the Sith Lord crashes on the planet after a pitched space battle.  We get some pretty spectacular Vader vs. Giant Monster action thanks to Paolo Villanelli as he manages to capture the epic spectacle of such a showdown, and gives the title character some choice scenes to show what a badass he can be.  Hallum structures the action well, though the real novelty of the story is in seeing how the right circumstances can make a character like Vader into someone’s hero.

“Savior” is the best story of this miniseries and that’s never a good sign in an anthology.  At least it’s followed up with a story that I really wanted to like in “Unacceptable.” It focuses on Commander Tylux, a Star Destroyer captain who has just destroyed a Rebel base without a single casualty among his crew.  Yet he’s not happy. That’s because the Rebel spy they were after escaped with some key plans. His hopes that what they’ve achieved will placate the Emperor are short-lived once he hears that Vader will be coming to appraise what he’s done.

This story could’ve been a compelling look at how the Empire’s merciless standards, and Vader’s role in their enforcement, bring out the worst in its officers.  While that happens here, it unfolds in a way that’s so over the top it becomes more laughable than compelling. It’s not just that Commander Tylux makes the worst decisions possible after getting the news, said decisions result in the worst possible outcomes as well.  Brian Level illustrates the story in a way that accentuates the over-the-top nature of the story and takes it further away from anything resembling reality. “Unacceptable” is ultimately a train wreck in terms of story and execution, which means that there’s still entertainment to be had in seeing everything go wrong.  You just have to get past the feeling that it didn’t need to become a train wreck in order to be entertaining.

It’s followed up with a better story in “Tall, Dark, and Handsome” assuming you like them on the creepy and disturbing side.  I mean, how else would you describe a nameless female nurse who develops a one-sided crush on Vader? We’re privy to her every thought as she imagines numerous scenarios where she and the Sith Lord become closer, while in real life she does everything she can to be physically close to him.  However fleeting or dangerous the situation is for her.

The story’s real flaw isn’t the idea that someone could be attracted to Vader.  He’s got a presence that commands attention that could turn into love — albeit the warped and disturbed kind.  No, the bigger issue here is that we never get inside this woman’s head. We never get a sense of who she is and if she’s in love with Vader for what he represents, or if mental illness plays a role.  I’m bringing that up because the otherwise slick and expressive art from David Lopez and Javier Pina gives her this wide-eyed look which suggests something’s not right inside that head of hers. As it’s not clear what’s going on inside this woman’s head,  the story winds up only working on a surface level. One which shows you the bad times that are in store for anyone thinking about Vader and love.

The next story, “Hotshot,” is a bit better about getting inside its protagonist’s head.  He’s the son of a gunrunner who couldn’t pull the trigger to save his dad when he was caught by some Imperials.  Now the kid is all grown up and itching for a shot at the Empire in his X-Wing. He gets more than he bargained for when his group of Rebels raid an Imperial supply moon and encounter a certain Sith Lord who was inspecting production there.

Hallum has us understand why the kid is the way he is and the story plays well enough off of his personality.  While his big crisis of confidence is certainly novel for the kind of character he is, it doesn’t really lead anywhere interesting.  What we get is a series of plot beats that as you’d expect with some decent art by Stephen Mooney. Decent in the sense that there are some scenes, like the opening one that are well-constructed and full of detail, that are balanced out by ones that just look a little… off.

“You Can Run…” closes out the volume with a story that mostly feels like it was done to give artist Geraldo Borges the chance to draw some really unsettling and crazy stuff by “Star Wars” standards.  Said stuff happens on a jungle planet where there’s a backwater bar that serves both Rebels and Imperials so long as they’ve got the credits and check their weapons at the door. One Rebel shows up to celebrate a big score of Imperial intelligence and as the barkeep is checking it away, who else but Vader shows up.

The barkeep grabs the score and runs out into the jungle.  This proves to be as smart a move as you’d expect after he winds up getting hit with a plant’s poisonous spines and starts hallucinating an even more terrifying Sith Lord.  On that level, the story works because Borges delivers on the chances he gets to show off how the barkeep reacts to Vader’s dragon-tipped lightsaber, being accosted by monsters and former patrons in a run-down hideout, and Vader issuing a fully-toothed declaration that doesn’t need the Force to back it up.  What we get is definitely cool. I do wish that Borges had gone even more over-the-top and descended fully into surrealism after the barkeep gets hit with the toxins.

“Dark Visions” had a good idea in showing us what Vader looks like to other inhabitants of the “Star Wars” universe.  Unfortunately we never really get to know most of these inhabitants and some of them are even trapped in stories that don’t really go anywhere.  I was honestly expecting more from Hallum given how he’s surprised me in the past with the quality of his “X-Men” stories. Here, he just gives us an alright anthology of Vader stories that never really lives up to the potential of its central idea.