– Spoiler Review –
Star Wars felt like it truly got into spooky spirit of Halloween last year thanks to IDW’s Tales from Vader’s Castle miniseries, a month-long series of terror in a GFFA. Thankfully, IDW has brought back more scares with the sequel, Return to Vader’s Castle, once again written by Cavan Scott! In issue #1, “The Horned Devil,” we visit one of the scarier parts of Darth Maul’s life…Spider-Maul!
The previous visit to Vader’s Castle on Mustafar had a framing story where a group of Rebels crash landed there, telling stories along their journey to escape. This time around one of those Rebels, seemingly as they ventured deep in the Castle, is revealed to still be alive, tortured by Vader’s attendant Vaneé with…SPOOKY STORIES! It’s campy and goofy, but it’s all in the fun-natured spirit of the season, and it’s especially easy to embrace with artist Francesco Francavilla providing interiors for the framing story. Francavilla created some epic cover art for the first series, and he continues to do so for this one, but having him on artwork for the series itself heightens the scares, from Vaneé wielding a torch of fire, the spooky images in the holograms, to the truly devilish close-up of the attendant. Beyond a perfectly campy way to deliver these spooky tales, I’ll be curious to see what happens with Hudd, and if it involves a return of other Rebels, like Lina Graf, to rescue him from the Castle.
The first issue’s tale, “The Horned Devil,” sees a group of smuggling recruits tasked with surviving a night on Lotho Minor, the junkworld, to show they have what it takes to join the creepy, mean droid Captain Spikewheel’s crew. At this point in time, Maul, having somehow survived his bisection/fall in The Phantom Menace, wormed his way to Lotho Minor and haunts the caverns of the planet, his mind mostly broken and one half of his body reminiscent of a spider…it’s Spider-Maul! We only got a small amount of time with this creepy transition for the fallen Sith in The Clone Wars, so I’m glad the overly spooky nature of his appearance and lair, combined with his wicked mind, got a little more a spotlight in a series bred for exactly for characters like him. I also liked how we saw his sharp, calculating mind wasn’t completely lost as Spider-Maul, as it’s revealed he actually sent out the message which brought Spikewheel to the planet, hoping to use the ship as his escape.
For the Spider-Maul portions, art comes from Megan Levens, with colorist Charlie Kirchoff, and I love what they brought to Maul’s creepiness in the caverns, with my favorite set of panels being him holding one of the young crew aloft, as if he’s floating in the air, as it gave me a great feeling of unease, and then of course the first big reveal of Spider-Maul. This might be for all-ages, but it’s creepy in a way everyone might get some chills and the art is mainly to thank (or blame, depending on how much you enjoy frights!).
Here are a few other things:
- Scott and Levens spoke with the official site regarding the process to bringing this tale to life, along with some peaks behind the scenes on Levens’ art. The article even finishes with some teases for the rest of the Return to Vader’s Castle stories.
- The Star Wars blog also revealed a sneak peek of next week’s Tarkin-focused tale.
- Last year, I only reviewed Tales from Vader’s Castle as a miniseries, but this time we’ll have not only an issue by issue look, but the miniseries wrap-up at the end of the month!
Off to an already stronger start than last year’s spook-fest, Return to Vader’s Castle #1 will fright and delight and make you want to come back for more.
+ Spider-Maul, Spider-Maul, does whatever a Sith Spider can
+ Both artists project a spooky vibe
+ Mystery of what’s to come from the framing story
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
RETURN TO VADER’S CASTLE
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IDW’S STAR WARS ADVENTURES:
Tales from Vader’s Castle (miniseries) | Annual 2019