Preview: Darth Vader #1 from Marvel

Marvel has provided a preview of the first issue of the new Darth Vader series, which picks up where Revenge of the Sith leaves off.

When Marvel reacquired the rights to publish comic books based on Star Wars, you knew they were going to be good. I mean, this is Star Wars we’re talking about. Marvel was only going to put

their best people on the various titles and make sure they lived up to all the hype.

But I don’t think anyone expected the Darth Vader ongoing by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca to be anywhere near as good as it was.

Lasting 25 issues plus a couple extras, Darth Vader was easily the best Star Wars title Marvel published. It features an incredibly deep story, excellent characterization and stunning visuals. It was literally everything a Star Wars fan could ask for in a comic.

And when it was cancelled, a little piece of me died inside.

Yes, it was that good.

More from Comics

• X-Men: 6 reasons why Marvel’s mutants are the best superhero team
• Harley Quinn renewed for a fifth season on Max (and it’s well-deserved)
• Marvel Comics announces seven important X-Men comic books
• The X-Men were betrayed by Captain America in Uncanny Avengers
• Spider-Man: Miles and Peter team-up for their first ongoing series

So I approached the announcement of a second, brand new Darth Vader ongoing with guarded optimism. Instead of trying to pick up where the first series left off, the new book would instead go back to the beginning. Picking up directly after Revenge of the Sith, it would feature an Anakin Skywalker who has just become the monster Vader and was still trying to adapt and accept his new reality.

Written by Charles Soule (who is no stranger to a galaxy far, far away) with artwork by Amazing Spider-Man artist Giuseppe Camuncoli, the book will feature a time period often ignored by most storytellers due to fans hatred of the Prequel Trilogy. Instead, Soule and Camuncoli will embrace it and hopefully be able to live up to the greatness established by the previous volume.

From the Marvel solicitation:

"When Anakin Skywalker fell, both to the pull of the dark side and to the blade of Obi-Wan Kenobi, he rose back up, more machine than man. Having lost everything that he once held dear, the one who was prophesized to bring balance to the Force instead chose a darker path. Now, in a story set directly after the events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, he must take his first steps into a darker world as…Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith!"

Must Read: DC, Geoff Johns announces Doomsday Clock miniseries

Darth Vader #1 arrives in comic shops and digitally on June 7 and will feature a cover by Jim Cheung. It will also include variant covers by Mark Brooks, Adi Granov, Skottie Young, Phil Noto, John Tyler Christopher as well as blank and movie variants.