New Darth Vader Ongoing Coming This June

Marvel has announced that Darth Vader will be getting a new ongoing series, this time showing his formative years as a Sith Lord.

When Marvel launched their new line of Star Wars comics in 2015, the ongoing Darth Vader series by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca was the big breakout hit. Lasting 25 issues, it took place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and told a story of political intrigue, backstabbing and Vader learning that his son was not only alive but had been responsible for the destruction of the first Death Star.

And it was every bit as good as that sounds.

When the series ended, it left a hole in the Star Wars titles that Marvel tried to fill with a Dr. Aphra ongoing, but it wasn’t the same. There was nothing like watching Vader really able to lash out and be the complete badass he was always meant to be.

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Marvel must agree because on Friday they revealed that the Dark Lord will be getting a new ongoing series this June. The new Darth Vader will be written by Charles Soule and feature art by Giuseppe Camuncoli. The new series, which Soule is describing as Darth Vader: Year One, will pick up immediately after Revenge of the Sith and show Vader learning to get a grip on the dark powers now at his disposal.

While speaking to IGN, Soule talked about how his volume of Darth Vader will be different from what Gillen did when he wrote the character.

"“I would say that in Kieron’s series, you had a man who had been doing that job and was sort of accustomed to his reality in a way that this Vader is not. So [in this new series] the fire is burning very, very bright in terms of his hatred and anger and the things he’s trying to work through. He’s trying to understand himself, whereas Vader in Gillen’s series was almost sort of an older crocodile that’s been around for a long, long time and has no real enemies or challenges. Obviously there were challenges in that book, but this is someone who’s very, very sure of his place in the universe and galaxy. It was kind of about topping that a little and taking that away from him and seeing what he did.”"

One of the coolest parts of taking a Year One approach to the series is seeing parts of Vader’s past that have until now remained a mystery. In fact, the very first arc will show readers how Vader built his iconic red lightsaber.

"“The first arc is going to revolve around Vader’s construction of his red lightsaber, because at the end of Revenge of the Sith, he obviously loses his blue saber when he gets all chopped up and Obi-Wan takes it to eventually give to Luke down the road. So we end up with a character who is known as having this iconic sword, like his magical red sword, but he doesn’t have it yet. So what better way to start a big huge series than with a quest for a magic sword?”"

Related Story: Preview: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story #1 From Marvel

If this new Darth Vader series is even half as good as the first one, you can count me in for the long haul.

Darth Vader #1 will arrive in comic shops this June.