- "We're doing the biggest story we've done so far. The movie of the Marvel Star Wars comic books."
- ―Jason Aaron
Star Wars: Vader Down is a Marvel comic book crossover event. The six-issue run began with Vader Down 1 and continues in the comic series Star Wars and Star Wars: Darth Vader. Vader Down is considered the third story arc in the Star Wars series, and is written by Jason Aaron, author of Star Wars, and Kieron Gillen, author of Darth Vader. The crossover event brings together characters from both series as Darth Vader is forced to face off against the Rebel Alliance on his own.[1]
Development[]
- "It's called Vader Down and the core image is Vader against the entire Rebel army and fleet. It's Vader with an array of people in front of him and he's in a precarious situation. What happens then?"
- ―Kieron Gillen
Star Wars: Vader Down was announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2015, along with an interview with authors Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen on StarWars.com. The six-issue comic book run was conceived as a crossover event between Aaron's Star Wars and Gillen's Star Wars: Darth Vader. The two comics are told alongside each other, in the same chronological order,[1] including having both of their first arcs end with Darth Vader discovering that Luke Skywalker is his son.[7][8] By creating a crossover, the two authors were able to create what Aaron referred to as a larger and more epic movie-style event for the Marvel Star Wars comic book line. The crossover also gives them the opportunity to have characters from both series meet one another, such as Doctor Aphra meeting Han Solo.[1]
The story was conceived by the two authors, who found it a joy to cross over and work with each other's characters. Their working environment allowed them to rely on one another to write the characters well, and to ask questions of one another as needed. In the story they wrote, Darth Vader faces down Rebel Alliance forces on his own. Gillen explained that it shows Vader up against the entire Alliance army and fleet, with survival his only goal. This allows Vader to be depicted as the hunted, rather than the hunter, and doing whatever it takes to survive. As a result, the writers had the opportunity to depict a dangerous Vader in a way that had not yet been canonically depicted. The story of the six-part run begins in Vader Down 1 and continues into the Star Wars and Darth Vader series.[1]
Media[]
Issues[]
| Color code key: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Collected (TPB) issue | Released issue | Future issue |
| Issue | Title | Publication date | Trade paperback |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vader Down 1 | November 18, 2015[4] |  Vader Down April 19, 2016[9] |
| 2 | Darth Vader (2015) 13 | November 25, 2015[10] | |
| 3 | Star Wars (2015) 13 | December 2, 2015[11] | |
| 4 | Darth Vader (2015) 14 | December 23, 2015[12] | |
| 5 | Star Wars (2015) 14 | January 6, 2016[13] | |
| 6 | Darth Vader (2015) 15[14] | January 6, 2016[5] |
Additional collections[]
| All issues | All issues | All issues | Star Wars 13 | All issues | All issues |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Darth Vader Vol. 2 February 28, 2017[15] |
Darth Vader Omnibus September 19, 2017 |
Star Wars by Jason Aaron Omnibus March 12, 2019[16] |
Doctor Aphra Omnibus Vol. 1 March 9, 2021[17] |
Star Wars Epic Collection Vol. 1: Skywalker Strikes July 30, 2024[18] |
Darth Vader Vol. 2: Vader Down November 25, 2025[19] |
Cover gallery[]
Sources[]
SDCC 2015: 6 Reasons to Be Very Excited for Marvel's Vader Down - Exclusive Interview on StarWars.com (backup link)- Open Mike Deodato's Vader Down Sketchbook, Part 2 on StarWars.com (original link is obsolete)
- Marvel's Star Wars: Darth Vader – Black, White & Red Revealed on StarWars.com (backup link)
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10
SDCC 2015: 6 Reasons to Be Very Excited for Marvel's Vader Down - Exclusive Interview on StarWars.com (backup link)
- ↑ EXCLUSIVE: Marvel's Star Wars To Sell More than 200,000 Copies in Collected Edition by Burlingame, Russ on ComicBook.com (July 27, 2015) (backup link archived on June 20, 2018)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Vader Down 1
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Star Wars: Vader Down (2015) #1 on Marvel Comics' official website (backup link)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Darth Vader (2015) #15 on Marvel Comics' official website (backup link)
- ↑ The Star Wars Book places the Battle of Vrogas Vas in the year immediately following the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, which Star Wars: Galactic Atlas states concluded in 0 ABY. Therefore, the Battle of Vrogas Vas must have taken place in 0 ABY. As the Battle of Vrogas Vas features in Star Wars: Vader Down, it must also take place in 0 ABY.
- ↑ Star Wars (2015) 6
- ↑ Darth Vader (2015) 6
- ↑ Star Wars: Vader Down (Trade Paperback) on Marvel Comics' official website (backup link)
- ↑ Darth Vader (2015) #13 on Marvel Comics' official website (backup link)
- ↑ Star Wars (2015) #13 on Marvel Comics' official website (backup link)
- ↑ Darth Vader (2015) #14 on Marvel Comics' official website (backup link)
- ↑ Star Wars (2015) 14 on Marvel Comics' official website (backup link)
- ↑ Marvel's Darth Vader #15 - Exclusive Cover Reveal! on StarWars.com (backup link)
- ↑ Star Wars: Darth Vader Vol. 2 on Amazon.com (backup link)
- ↑ Star Wars by Jason Aaron Omnibus on Amazon.com (backup link)
- ↑ Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Omnibus Vol. 1 on Hachette Book Group's Business Portal website (original site is defunct)
- ↑ Star Wars Modern Era Epic Collection: Skywalker Strikes on Penguin Random House's official website (backup link)
- ↑ STAR WARS: DARTH VADER MODERN ERA EPIC COLLECTION: VADER DOWN on Penguin Random House's Comics Retail website (backup link)
External links[]
