Dark Horse to Release Full Collection of Lost ‘Star Wars: Tales from Vader’s Castle’ Series
An oft-forgotten comic book series is no longer lost to the fires of Mustafar. Cavan Scott’s Tales from Vader’s Castle and its various sequel series will be brought together in an all-new collection later this year. From Dark Horse (h/t Star Wars Splash Page), Star Wars: Vader’s Castle The Deluxe Library Collection is a 424-page tome that brings back the horrors found across the Star Wars galaxy.
In 2018, IDW launched Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader’s Castle. The miniseries followed Lina Graf and her companions after they were forced to land on Mustafar. While there, they check out Darth Vader’s castle. Various characters tell scary stories they’ve heard to pass the time, but things get weird as they sink deeper into what’s truly going on. This mini-saga has become a yearly spooky season tradition, initially culminating in 2021’s Ghosts of Vader’s Castle (before Dark Horse brought their spin to the genre). Unfortunately, when IDW lost its Star Wars license to Dark Horse in 2022, the complete series would become virtually unfindable in an official capacity.
Check out the official cover and full synopsis below:
Horror comes to a galaxy far, far away! The complete stories of the iconic villain’s spooky lair are collected in an oversized hardcover for the first time, including creepy new cover art and the only reprinting of Shadow of Vader’s Castle.
Revisit the scariest place in the galaxy with this comprehensive collection!
Exhumed from the lava mines of Mustafar comes the complete legends of Darth Vader’s castle: a shadowy tower haunted by the dark side. Join Rebel Commander Lina Graff, Lieutenant Hudd, and their friends as they sneak through the citadel’s dank corridors in search of escape. Along the way they trade terrifying tales of Obi-Wan, Han, Chewie, the Ewoks, and other galactic heroes facing off against interstellar creeps: menacing Sith, soulless stormtroopers, possessed droids, alien witches, mutant monsters, and more! When Hudd falls into the clutches of Vanee, the castle’s creepy caretaker, he is treated to further spine-chilling stories of the galaxy’s most vile villains, including Darth Maul, Assajj Ventress, Jabba the Hutt, and Vader himself! Even after the band of rebels flee the fortress, they are pursued by nightmares of rampaging were-Wookiees, Dagobah swamp monsters, and other ghouls!
And for the first time, the Shadow of Vader’s Castle one-shot is collected here, in which the Mustafarian locals share their own hair-raising legends about the villainous stronghold.
Are you brave enough to set foot in the Sith Lord’s fortress of fear?
Written by Cavan Scott, author of Star Wars: Tales from the Death Star and Star Wars: Tales from the Rancor Pit, and rendered in ghastly detail by acclaimed illustrators, including legendary horror artist Francesco Francavilla!
Collects Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader’s Castle, Star Wars Adventures: Return to Vader’s Castle, Star Wars Adventures: Shadow of Vader’s Castle, Star Wars Adventures: Ghosts of Vader’s Castle, and the Star Wars Adventures: Free Comic Book Day 2019 short story “Droid Hunters”.
This news provides some hope that Dark Horse will be able to reprint more of IDW’s Star Wars catalog. The biggest glaring hole is the 2020 run of Star Wars Adventures. As an unintended consequence of the Dark Horse transition, several issues never even received a standard trade paperback release — meaning the only way for you to collect the series is to find a way to track down single issues, which becomes more arduous as the years go on. This new Vader’s Castle release is a win for comic preservation. Hopefully more is on the way.
Star Wars: Vader’s Castle The Deluxe Library Collection will be released on September 24.
Nate uses his love for Star Wars and movies in general as a way to cope with the pain of being a Minnesota sports fan. When he's not at the theater, you can usually find Nate reading a comic, listening to an audiobook, or playing a Mario video game for the 1,000th time.
