Star Wars: Darth Vader Vol. 2 - Shadows And Secrets

After showing off a strong opening volume with Darth Vader and his supporting cast, writer Kieron Gillen and artist Salvador Larroca continue to shed more light on the dark lord himself. Whereas the first volume introduced readers to Vaders supporting characters and planted seeds for future plots, volume 2 sheds more light on Vader’s own goals and the lengths he takes to get them.Collecting issues #7-12, by now Vader knows of the Emperors secret super soldier/Sith-manufactured beings, has his own underlings (Aphra, Triple Zero and BT-1), and a droid army at his disposal to come into power. But Vader needs a few other aspects to properly be a dominant power in the galaxy: money (credits) and workable connections from the crime underworld. Vader kills an intergalactic kingpin and takes their enormous fortune away on the grounds it gives Jabba the Hutt faith in Vader as mutual business partner and hands the fortune over the Empire (since Vader is still working for them after all). But Vader has Aphra and crew steal the credits from the Empire to make it all look like a simple robbery. Now Vader has all the things he needs to run his own empire and search out for Luke, but Grand General Tagge will not allow Vader to search for Skywalker and wants him to instead investigate who really stole the raided money by assigning a new assistant to Vader, who happens to be a deductive investigator. Now Vader has to lead this assistant away from finding out it was Vader who planned the heist, while also having Aphra’s crew look into Luke’s location and keep up the façade to the Empire.I know my general summary sounds like a lot – and it is-, but there are many details Kieron Gillen puts forth into this second volume and managed to me glued to what happens next. Gillen makes Vader put on a strong face as enforcer for the Emperor and the Imperial Empire, while trying to build up his private armada in secret. It’s not a volume that pushes the narrative forward greatly, but it’s just encapsulating to see Vader playing a game of cat-and-mouse under the Empires nose to cover his tracks, while he strengthening his own plans with strong character development as well.As volume 1, Vader found out he had a son. This makes an interest setup for the comic and fill-in for the movies. If you think about it, it makes sense. Vader was portrayed as the villain with no redeeming aspects about him in A New Hope, but he does seem to have softened up by Empire Strikes Back. Gillen’s Vader being put into position as one who wants to destroy the Emperor for lying to him about Padme fills in the void wonderfully, almost as if he is undermining the Empire for the Rebels. This is what makes Vader a character to root for, even if he still is the all-powerful villain. So Gillen’s handling of Vader is well done on all fronts. He says things just right, displays power, calmness, and intellect to be a scary main character and compelling one as well.The big factor this time around is Aphra and her crew get about half the page time as Vader, which might seem to hinder things as I felt Aphra was a bit too happy-go-lucky in the 1st volume. This time around, she’s more likable because we get more of a serious and even conniving change to her as she is doing Vader’s dirty work behind the scenes, as well as coming to grips if (and/or when) the day comes she will be expendable to Vader to cover up his own plans. It makes both her and Vaders’s story run parallel and comes together by issues #11/12 pretty.Again, all art is done soely by Salvador Larroca to great detail. There is the occasional panels that look a bit awkward, but it’s solid art and conveys the cloak-and-dagger, espionage very well. Especially Vader himself, which even with no visible emotions, conveys power and intrigue with every page.While I thought this is an improved second volume, I think it also replaces the problems from volume one in other ways. As much as I enjoyed the intrigue of Vader trying to be a general and hiding his true motives, one could argue it adds a lot of unneeded complexity and characters to the time. Quite a bit of the issues is of Vader’s new assistant rabbling on in great detail over the investigation that could have been shortened, as well as invoking a host of new characters like Vader’s assistant, bounty hunters, and some general akbar-like creature that will (or will not) mean anything in the future. There is a lot of moving pieces here that could confuse people. And although the integration of the Prequels is not as prevalent here as vol.1 (which was still small), there comes a major aspect in the story that still reverts back to those films which I know some fans will hate. And the very last aspect is the ending wraps up a bit to sudden considering Gillen spent 5 issues moving things slowly and then speeding it up at the end.Other than that, DARTH VADER VOLUME 2: SHADOWS AND SECRETS is still an awesome series for looking deeper into Vader and his actions from Episode IV to V. He’s still incredibly interesting and portrayed properly, his supporting cast has improved (Triple-Zero and BT are hoots for their dark sense of humor), great art, and complex story telling. It may be overly confusing for some or too drawn out, but it’s still a solid series that I will continue to read more about, especially the cliffhanger ending.Which things will change up pretty dramatically as 3-issues of Vader will tie-in to the “VADER DOWN” crossover under Jason Aaron. I’ve already read the entire event, but I’ll write about for the next review. After that event, the story of Vader will get back on track under the creative team of Gillen and Larroca.

This one again has Darth Vader at odds with his superiors as he has his own agenda. Dr. Aphra is back and is helping him accomplish those goals even if they aren't always on the same page. This book is as good as the first one and does a good job moving the storytelling forward. I like the characters and how they fall in line with the Star Wars universe. I'll keep this short but I like how this book is progressing and look forward to seeing what Vol 3 brings.

This is a great continuation of the Darth Vader comic series. It's great to have the new characters of Aphra, BeeTee, and Triple-Zero back in this issue as they are truly the greatest characters in this comic series. One note, despite what the numbering and what Amazon says, the comic is continued in the Vader Down collection which is a crossover with the Star Wars comic, but if you skip it you will be lost in the last two Darth Vader collections. This collection leads directly into Vader Down. Again, highly recommended. If you have read Volume 1, definitely continue with this one.

This series artfully captures the gap in Annakin Skywalker's transition from the Clone Wars era ambitious youth to the Imperial era stoic tyrant. We get to see a side of Darth Vader that is not shown in the original series, while at the same time never betraying the original portrayal of this iconic character.The story remains relevant even if the stakes feel somewhat low due to knowing that Darth Vader succeeds in the task he's set to - Vader frequently comments that this entire saga is a pointless waste of his time, and yet even so we don't feel like the story is boring. The characters that are introduced are interesting, and the main supporting cast (while small) keep me intrigued and wanting to know more, even though I don't normally go in for 'evil' protagonists.My only gripe lies with the artwork. Let me be clear: the art and illustration is BEAUTIFUL, so this gripe is just a minor nitpick (hence the 5-star rating). That being said, I feel that the artist needs some work making human faces seem less out of place. Every human face really doesn't seem to fit the quality and detail of the rest of the artwork. Non-human faces (including, ironically, the still mask of Darth Vader) come through as expressive and well done, but human faces seem bizarrely contorted and lacking proper emotion. Let me reiterate though that this was merely the most notable - but still quite minor - flaw I could manage to find in the series thus far.

I have to say that I really had a tough time wrapping my head around both the writing and art style of the Darth Vader graphic novels. Kieron Gillen isn't very clear in his approach and I find myself having to re-read several portions to understand what's going on. Same goes for Salvador Larocca's artwork. It's just so mysterious at times and I find myself needing re-cover material that should have a simple flow to it. All that being said, Gillen is a visionary and has come up with some brilliant concepts that are enjoyable to experience. Telling the story from the perspective of the Empire, and slowly seeing Darth Vader's character develop from what we see between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back is quite enjoyable. All-in-all a solid-enough story to get 4-star review from me.

I can't get enough of this, I always wondered What happened in between each movies, you'll like it, see the true power of Lord Vader!

Gillen's stories stay true to Star Wars canon. A breath of life in a universe that was nearly destroyed by the "Disney sequels."

Gillen has a solid arc in this series, it’s interesting to see Vader doing something on his own under the Empire’s nose to find his lost son with a help from Aphra. Good read and I can hear John Williams’ score and Vader’s breathing in the pages.

The Vader line is worse than the Star Wars line, doesn’t feel like Star Wars and only a bias fan would actually say this series is any good. 1/10

Continuing on from volume one, Darth Vader continues to exude calculating and cold menace. The exciting art is faultless and conveys action smoothly while the writing gives a window in to the world how Vader see it.

Great series so far, darth vader sending out the message re who's no.1 in the galaxy ha ha..

An enjoyable read but not particularly stand out or memorable. Will get you your Star Wars fix though, and watching Vader at the height of his power is always a treat.

Much more coherent than the earlier volume with half decent characters. Although the Sherlock figure is a bit cheesy. Plenty of double crossings and secret agendas. Fun.