In the May issue of Marvel Comics’ Star Wars: Darth Vader, the Dark Lord’s search for vengeance leads to Naboo where the Sith must confront his greatest fears — in the tomb of his wife, Padmé Amidala. Haunted by the phantoms of his past and a lust for vengeance, Vader hunts the galaxy to strike back those that concealed his son, Luke Skywalker at birth. The “Dark Heart of the Sith” story arc takes readers into events in the wake of The Empire Strikes Back, as the villainous Darth Vader dares trespass into the burial chamber of his forbidden love.
Star Wars: Darth Vader, the ongoing monthly title from writer Greg Pak, joins Star Wars: Rise of Kylo Ren and flagship title, Star Wars in the next wave of Marvel Comics set a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. After the treacherous events in Cloud City from The Empire Strikes Back and Luke Skywalker’s fervid refusal to join his father and “rule the galaxy as father and son,” the Sith Lord’s vengeance is swift and merciless, as Vader hunts the galaxy for the betrayers that stole his son from him. Across the Dune Sea of Tatooine and through the megacities of Coruscant, Darth Vader traces Padme’s final hours to determine who aided her before her death and secreted the boy away.
In Luke Skywalker’s workshop in the sand-swept Lars homestead and in the lavish quarter’s of the late Padmé Amidala, Vader is plagued by memories of Yoda’s ominous judgments before the Clone Wars, the pleas of his wife and lover, begging him to leave everything behind and raise their child with her in safety, and his own rejection of the Jedi and final surrender to the dark side. When the trail of discovery leads back to the planet Naboo, the Dark Lord’s quest for answers draws him to the gates of death itself, the tomb of Padmé Amidala. It was Vader’s fear of loss that led an impressionable young Anakin Skywalker down the path to the dark side, and, when the hate consumed him entirely, his beloved wife’s life was forfeit. With Padmé’s tragic death by his own sorcerous ways searing his conscience and his lust for revenge burning across the stars, the wretched Sith is menaced by phantoms from his past in Star Wars: Darth Vader.
Star Wars Writer Greg Pak’s psychological shadow-play casts the disfigured Darth Vader as a disturbed and vindictive specter, whose humanity only surfaces as new revelations torment his damaged mind. With his conscience torn between the hunt for his betrayers and the shame and guilt of his role in Padmé’s death, Vader’s search for vengeance turns to one of atonement for the fallen-Jedi. Pak’s story arc takes readers on “an unprecedented journey into the Dark Lord’s dark heart” and allows the writer to “explore just what Padmé still means to him after all these years.” This May, Greg Pak and artist Raffaele Ienco bring the tragic Lord Vader to the tomb of his star-crossed lover, and the story of “The Dark Heart of the Sith” to Star Wars: Darth Vader.
- STAR WARS: Darth Vader
- Writer: Greg Pak
- Art: Raffaele Ienco
- Cover Art: In-Hyuk Lee
- DARTH VADER continues his terrifying quest for vengeance against everyone who hid the existence of his son from him. But on NABOO, the DARK LORD OF THE SITH faces a deadly new challenge as his focus turns from LUKE to PADMÉ, the wife of the man Vader used to be. And what secrets lie in the tomb of PADMÉ AMIDALA?
- In Shops: May 20, 2020
