Customer Reviews

STAR WARS - VADER'S QUEST

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is definitely one of the better of the recent Star Wars comic story arcs. As a matter of fact, it is one of the best ones yet.

This comic answers the question how exactly did Darth Vader find out who that pilot was. Taking place about three weeks after A New Hope, this also has Vader and Luke's first face-to-face meeting.

This comic has witty dialogue, and art that at first seems very simple but grows on you. It turns out to be very effective, and the lightsaber blades and blaster bolts look superb.

This is a very refreshing Star Wars comic, better than a lot of the recent drivel such as Leviathan, Evolution, and Crimson Empire II. I definitely recommend this one.

It also introduces the character Mala Mala, who's backstory can be seen in issue #2 of Dark Horse's Chewbacca miniseries.

I have never been entirely certain just what the heck Vader did to find out about Luke Skywalker between "A New Hope" and "Empire Strikes Back." This is actually more of a four-star review, but I am awarding it an extra star for being one of the few SW comic books that I like.

This follows a post-ANH, pre-ESB storyline. The artwork is actually pleasant to look at--I found myself savoring the images. Yes, Luke and Vader do a few things that are out-of-character, but book writers have done worse to Luke (poor Luke... poor poor Luke!).

It's a fairly simple story on the surface, a fairly light story with little of the unrelenting misery that is sprawled throughout the bloated stories that fill the SW comics. This one is fresh, new, enjoyable, and has the added bonus of being drawn in a manner that is highly reminiscent of SW itself, colorful and pleasant.

It's not the greatest story ever written, but it sure is better than most! If you like Vader and/or Luke, be sure to check this comic out!

When I heard that they were finally going to be doing a Darth Vader story in the comics, and that on top of that it would deal with the father/son issue and Palpatine as well, I was very excited. Finally we would know more about the circumstances of when Vader discovered that it was in fact his own son that destroyed the Death Star.

What a complete let-down.

For starters, I was unimpressed with the artwork. There have been some fabulous artists working on the Star Wars comics, and in my opinion this isn't one of them. If you want to see some great Star Wars art, check out the Darth Vader 2-part story in STAR WARS TALES #1-2.

The story was deplorable. Macan completely misses the boat on the characterization of Luke, Vader, and Palpatine.

Luke comes off as a whiny loon with no redeeming value whatsoever. He basically comes off as an idiot - Luke Skywalker is naive, yes, but not a numbskull.

Vader actually gets stood off by a community of aliens. What a complete joke. The evil Darth Vader that we know from the movies wouldn't have ANY probably destroying every last one of them if they were in his way.

Macan has Palpatine executing back-door planning with a third-rate bounty hunter. NO WAY this happens with the Emperor we know in the movies. In the time period of TPM, sure. But once he's in control of the galaxy he's so far up on the totem pole that he'd never have to deal with such lowly citizens.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. Vader never even states the fact that he knows Luke is his son, which is the MAIN REASON FOR THE STORY! Instead there is a major focus on new characters that we care nothing about. The only other characters from the movies that appear are Jan Dodonna and Wedge Antilles, and THAT'S IT. The alien race that appears is uninspired and lame, and actually physically resembles another SW alien race, the Bothans. All of this tells me that the author didn't even do his homework, because there are ZERO tie-ins to any other piece of Star Wars literature.

There are some great Star Wars stories out there, but this isn't one of them. I'd recommend checking this out in person before you spend your money on it.

I'll say this here and now. If you're looking for a story that dives deep into Vader's past, examines various aspects of the Dark Lord, and features a riveting storyline packed with Darth Vader at his best... You're going to be disappointed. In my opinion they really should have advertised this book differently. Yeah, Vader is an important character and all, which is rare in SW lit, but you don't really get any big revelations.

It is quite different from your standard SW tale, though. Take, for example, Tom Vietch's 'Dark Empire' or Stackpole 'In the Empire's Service.' (I stress that excellence of the latter.) In any case, the story and art are quite different from these two more dark, rugged tales. The story has a fiar degree of humor, as well as very very nice, dramatic moments. The scene at the end in particular is classic, most notably for the shot of Vader standing at the hangar entrance in the moonlight with two rows ofd identical troopers behind him. Very nice and probably the best art moment in the book. The art itself is a bit of a mix. While it lacks detail and possesses a somewhat cartoonish quality, it also has a nice cinematic quality. The coloring is also quite effective. Overall its a very different story than the afformentioned, very series tales. The story is by no means very heavy or deep, but at the same time it's interesting to see Luke still a young naive farmboy instead of the boring, perfect old Jedi he turns into later on.

The gem of this comic has to be the story of Jal. It helpes to add a feel of realism about the Rebellion and defines its early movement fairly well. Once again, a different face instead of a tired old one is always welcome.

For die-hard Vader fans, I reccomend that you resist the urge and consider skipping this one. But for fans of a different tale that goes into some depth about the Imperial-Rebel differences, give it a shot. It's not an excellant comic, but it remains steady throughout. If you want a nice change from the norm than I reccomend this book. However, if you want to see some high-quality Macan scripting I reccomend 'X-wing Rogue Squadron: The Phantom Affair' and indeed the rest of Stackpole's exceptional series.

Yes, it could've been better. The quality of the printing is really good, but the story and some characters are kinda weak. The good stuff is finally we find out how Vader came to know of his son and the hunting he begins. The problem with the story is that it drifts away in subplots of minor characters that got absolutely nothing to do with the atual plot. This way the reader finds himself jumping from the story of an envy alliance pilot to a female bounty hunter (Not THAT one, though) and spend little time with the actual conflict between Vader and Luke. Nice read if you collect this comics, pass if you want a deeper, Zahn-like story.

The title says it all... if you ever wondered how did the dark Lord of the Sith ever find out about Luke being his son, this is the book you've got to read...

I read this comic shortly after I saw A New Hope on DVD with my Dad and my brother. So after dinner, I read this one and discovered how Darth Vader found out that Luke Skywalker was his son. In one of the good fanfics I have read, Darth Vader actually orders one of his men ( an imperial officer ) to find out more about the boy who fired the shot and destroyed the Death Star. And this officer is to report back to Darth Vader with some information without letting Emperor know anything about this search for Luke.
Until my friend told me about this comic, I have always thought the fanfic mentioned above could PROBABLY be canon, real and official.
But this comic was ... IS terrific ! The drawings do look like those real characters on screen ! Luke you see in this comic does look like young Mr Mark Hamill. My very favourite scene is where Darth Vader encounters Luke ( He is blindfolded so he cannot see. ) I would highly recommend this comic to anyone who is interested in this Vader/Luke relationship :D

This TPB is one you will love or hate. The pencil work at times is chillingly awesome. At other times it will make your face crunch up in a grimace!. The tipoff is the truly odd drawing of Luke on the cover. The inking, binding and other production features are excellent. I have seen Dark horse try this cartoon quality art style and I dont care for it. Some of the middle pages had washed out colors. Bottom line is that I enjoyed the story and some of the art work enough that it overcomes the bizarre pages so I give this 2 stars.

'Vader's Quest,' fills an intersting story niche for the die-hard Star Wars fan. The story is set in-between Episdoes IV and V and chronicles Vader as he goes about hunting down the gunman responsible for the destruction of the Death Star - Luke Skywalker. There is very little in the way of new character revelation or backstory to draw much interest but the plot itself manages to be serviceable just enough to keep readers chugging through all 80 pages or so.

Any of the guys that said that this comic was "great" or that "it gives you a glimpse of vader and luke's first encounter" is just wrong. Anyone with at least basic star wars knowledge knows that their first encounter was on "Star Wars Splinter of the Mind's Eye", which was the first Star Wars story ever written by someone other than George Lucas, even before George Lucas even thought of starting to write "The Empire Strikes Back", and from which Lucas himself later acknowledged he gathered some of his inspiration for the rest of the trilogy. I recommend reading that book instead of this comic book...