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...
Rating: 4 [ Not the Expected ]
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.
Rating: 5 [ I do like having things explained to me ]
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!