FORMAT: TRADE PAPERBACK | RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 30TH
Being held in the confines of Vader’s Castle can’t be much fun, but the team at IDW Comics, led by writer Cavan Scott and a team of artists, appear to be having a grand time as we return to Mustafar for a quintet of creepy tales just in time for Halloween (which is actually celebrated in the Star Wars galaxy, specifically on Endor if you remember your ‘80s-era Ewoks comics!).
Kicking off with ‘The Horned Devil’ we’re ignominiously dumped on Lotho Minor, the home of the former Darth Maul – at this point still half man, half spider – as he does his best Pennywise and hunts down a gang of lost children, before ‘The Curse of Tarkin’ sees a Frankenstein’s monster created out of different alien parts return to its ‘father’ the Grand Moff, wreaking havoc aboard a Star Destroyer before finding some kind of redemption.
‘Bop-Sh-bopp, Little Sarlacc Horror’ brings us the ever-lethal Asajj Ventress on the hunt, finding a pet Sarlacc in a tale drawn by UK artist Nick Brokenshire, while ‘Vault of the Living Brains’ swings us to Tatooine as Jabba and his cousin Crakka bet on their fighting beasts, a wager that doesn’t end well for Crakka, before the final entry ‘Night of the Lava Zombies’ sees Vader finally arrives as Mustafar zombies attack.
Return to Vader’s Castle is hugely fun and beautifully crafted and, hopefully, this anthology series could become a Halloween tradition that continues for a long time in Star Wars literature.
