Darth Vader Series To End With Issue #25

In a surprise move, Marvel is ending their best-selling Star Wars: Darth Vader series with #25 as the creative team has decided to move on.

Say it ain’t so!

Since issue #1, Marvel’s Star Wars: Darth Vader has consistently been a favorite of not only me, but most of the comic book reading world. Writer Kieron Gillen and artist Salvador Larroca have crafted a tale of political intrigue and action like few others in comics, and did it all in the world of Star Wars.

And now that is all coming to an end.

It was announced last week that Marvel will be bringing the curtain down on Darth Vader with issue #25. That means that the current “End of Games” arc will be the last and that afterwords, fans will have to hope he will show up in Star Wars so they can get their monthly fix of the Dark Lord of the Sith.

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It’s a surprising move to cancel the series considering how well the title has sold and the fact it has also been a critical darling. But it would seem that the decision had more to do with the creative team than anything having to do with Marvel or Disney.

In a recent interview with IGN about the series coming to an end, Gillen pretty much said as much, explaining that the story he and Larroca intended to tell had come to its end.

"“It was a situation where, you know, we’ve always said all the way through, from Darth Vader #1, that this was a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. And we kind of looked where we were after Vader Down, and we realized we were probably actually nearer to the end than we thought we were. And it was a situation where we were like, “Okay, it’s better to actually end this story in a way which we think is the most effective. We don’t want to pad it out extraneously.” That was the kind of thing, we were like, ‘Oh yeah, this is the end of this particular story,’ in which case it’s a natural place for Vader to move on.”"

The cover to Star Wars: Darth Vader #25, the final issue.

Now there is no question we will see Vader again, but one has to wonder what will become of the stellar supporting cast Gillen and Larroca created, including Dr. Aphra and the droids Beetee and Triple-Zero. Will they all meet their end in issue #25 or will they live to create havoc another day?

If I had to guess, and using Marvel’s recent publishing past as a guide, I’d be shocked if we didn’t see a Darth Vader volume 2 announced very shortly.

It has been Marvel’s pattern over the last few years to relaunch certain series once a popular creative team leaves. If they can find a team willing to follow Gillen and Larroca and who can take the series in a new, unexpected direction, there is no reason to think it can’t continue with a new, shiny #1 on the cover.

Regardless of what happens, the oversized 40-page final issue of Star Wars: Darth Vader goes on sale in August. It will be a bittersweet moment, but one I’m sure will be worth reading.

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