Writer Kieron Gillen on the New Darth Vader Comic Book Series.

Darth Vader #5In an interview with ComicBookResources, British writer Kieron Gillen shared some new details and bits about the upcoming issues of Marvel’s Darth Vader. Gillen talks about the new villains, Boba Fett, the Lucasfilm Storygroup and how “Darth Vader” will interconnect with Jason Aaron’s “Star Wars”. Hit the jump for more details…

 

 

This interview can be considered spoilerific, so if you still haven’t read Darth Vader #1, I suggest you skip it.

 

 

Excerpts from ComicBookResources’ interview:

 

Q: In the first issue, I found myself rooting for Darth Vader, most certainly in the pages and panels opposite Emperor Palapatine. Is Vader the hero in this series?

 

Kieron Gillen: The classic line is that everyone is the hero of their own story. You make up all kinds of stories in your head to justify what you’re doing. But for me, I’m very much fine seeing him being a villain. It’s over 20 years on and he’s still serving the Emperor. But he’s definitely the protagonist. It’s like “The Godfather.” It’s like “House of Cards.” It’s like “Breaking Bad.” And as we get further into the book, we will see him surrounded by people worse than him. Palpatine is an amazing villain. Writing Vader and Palpatine is fascinating because of all of the games going on. And in the next issue, we meet Tagge. And he has an entirely different view of how the Empire should act. And we have the unknown individual who is in the first issue and not named. He’s got his own philosophy on how the Empire should act too.

 

 

Darth Vader #4

 

Q: You mentioned that readers know how Darth Vader’s story ends. How much does that fact play into your storytelling?

 

That was the most exciting thing about doing this book, especially in the period that we’re doing between “New Hope” and “Empire.” In “New Hope,” Vader is not quite as politically powerful as he is going to become. The Empire is an entire fleet and he’s basically a field commander. In “A New Hope,” he’s almost like a troubleshooter. And he becomes enormously more powerful between the two movies. Why? Especially, when you consider that Vader really is to blame for the destruction of the Death Star. At least, he’s the only one left alive that the Emperor can blame. [Laughs]

 

There’s an interesting story in the lead up too. Vader has basically been in a holding pattern for 20 years under the Emperor’s control and then along comes Luke. And he’s shortly going to discover something that he didn’t know but has been beginning to expect. And that’s going to completely change everything. And that’s what makes it all quite fascinating. It’s a bad time for the Emperor to choose to start treating Vader badly. [Laughs]

 

 

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Q: Vader, the Emperor, Boba Fett, Jabba the Hutt — obviously these villains all have speaking roles in the movies, but certainly not at the level of dialogue in “Darth Vader” #1. How did you go about finding distinct villainous voices for each of these characters?

 

Boba Fett is the hard one. That’s something that Jason and I absolutely agree on. In our comics, there are now more Boba Fett speaking lines than there are in the movies. Every time that I write a Boba Fett line, I feel wrong. [Laughs] And I am always cutting his lines. He’s an action star. He’s much more about how he acts and what he chooses to do. That’s the best way to express what he is feeling. He has a bigger part in the second arc than the first arc. He’s going to be heading out after Luke, and that will probably be a bigger part in “Star Wars” than “Darth Vader” in the first arc but he plays a big part in my book as well.

 

 

Boba Fett

 

Q: Something that really surprised me at the end of “Darth Vader” #1 was the Wookiee that we see riding shotgun with Boba Fett. He’s a new character, right?

 

Yes. And he’s cheerfully enigmatic, isn’t he? [Laughs] Black Krrsantan is a bounty hunter. And he’s typical of what’s to come. We’ll be seeing lots of classic characters but we’ll be populating the galaxy too. It’s always a bit odd if just the same characters turn up. It’s a really big galaxy. As for Black Krrsantan, he’s obviously a Wookiee. And he’s also pretty obviously, not a very nice Wookiee. [Laughs] It looks like he has bits of hair missing. And there are some burn marks. There is an implied story there. And as we get further down the line, we will see more and more of organized crime in the Star Wars universe — lots of the bounty hunters that you know. And lots that you don’t. It lends itself to this kind of roguish element. These are the sorts of people that Vader would talk to.

 

 

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Q: You mentioned the interconnection between “Darth Vader” and Jason’s “Star Wars.” Are you in constant contact with him about charting the two books? And how involved has the Lucasfilm Story Group been in the process?

 

They have their own stories but there are soft connections. My story starts shortly after his and then we go our own way and then we come back again. But as is always the case with my books, you only have to read mine to follow the story but if you read both, we will reward you.

 

Jason and I were actually just in San Francisco last week meeting with the Lucasfilm Story Group. We are already planning next year’s story. Where will we go after this year, heading into next year? We’re doing a big story and now we’re plotting what comes out of the big story. I’m introducing a lot of new characters and Jason is introducing a lot of new characters. And I’ll be using some of his characters and he’ll be using some of mine.

 

The Lucasfilm Story Group is basically a curator. They’re keeping the “Star Wars” canon very, very tight. They’re very receptive to new ideas and they’re also very good at sharing what’s happening elsewhere outside of the comics. We know some big things that are coming and we can work with those too. If you are a big “Star Wars” fan and you follow the books and the comics and the TV series and the movies, you will be rewarded.

 

 

For the full interview go to ComicBookResources

 

 

If you still haven’t read our Darth Vader #1 review, you can check it out in The Cantina HERE.

 

The next issue, Darth Vader #2, will be released on February 25.

 

 

Darth Vader #2

 

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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.

Born on April 24, 1980.

Val Trichkov (Viral Hide)

Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.Born on April 24, 1980.

10 thoughts on “Writer Kieron Gillen on the New Darth Vader Comic Book Series.

  • February 19, 2015 at 3:37 pm
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    So. Vader will face off some Separatist remnant, visit the Lars homestead and hook up with Jan Ors or whatever? Exciting! 🙂

  • February 19, 2015 at 5:27 pm
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    That sure looks like Ashoka’s lightsabers. Hmmm….

    • February 19, 2015 at 5:39 pm
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      As suggested by Cantina member, “NDCAtokR,” it could be Asajj Ventres and Quinlan Vos. They are seen together on the cover of the forthcoming novel, “Dark Disciple” and Ventress has a yellow saber, while Vos has green.
      http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Disciple

      • February 19, 2015 at 5:43 pm
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        If Vader kills Ventress, I will be a fan of this comic.

  • February 19, 2015 at 6:14 pm
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    Is it just me or does Vader look fat on the first image ? Like the dark side corrupted his body mass or somethin

  • February 19, 2015 at 6:47 pm
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    Y’ever wonder how Darth Vader goes to the bathroom?
    I do.

    • February 19, 2015 at 7:33 pm
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      so many times !!!

    • February 19, 2015 at 7:56 pm
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      Oh that’s simple: he just FORCES it out 😉

  • February 19, 2015 at 8:51 pm
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    Yeah that is one of the great many abilities of the dark side. Forcing it out. Never shown in the movies, but I assure you, it is ugly.

  • February 20, 2015 at 3:57 am
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    Can’t wait until you folks have to deal with a Star Wars event from Marvel. 14 books, 12 miniseries at 4 issues each priced a 4.99 a pop for 12 months in 2016. How about Brian Bendis writing a Han Solo series with his mindblowing one word dialog ballons. Have at it.

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