– Spoiler Review –
As far as finale’s go, with Halloween-themed frights in mind, Return to Vader’s Castle #5 – “Night of the Lava Zombies” is as fitting a finale as one could ever hope for!
From the “Fortress Vader” arc in Darth Vader – Dark Lord of the Sith to the framing story of this miniseries’ predecessor, Tales from Vader’s Castle, the Mustafarians have had a (understandable) history of attempting to throw out the Imperial invaders and their dark overlord. According to Vaneé’s final tale, they attempted it once again with some creepy, lava-themed sorcery, in what easily could’ve been their strongest, most deadly attempt yet. Charles Paul Wilson III’s art, with David Garcia Cruz on colors, made this attack seem more effective than it probably actually was, from the clustered, tight-corridor battle, to the chaos of the zombie’s building bite-ridden armada drawn vividly and with creepy effects, giving this story one of the scariest vibes of all. It all ends in one of the series’ most chilling scenes, where Vader, overcoming a Mustafarian witch’s thrall on him, turns her own abilities against her and makes her order the zombies to drag her to a fiery, lava-filled death. The tale feels like it sits on the edge of all-ages content, a fine line Cavan Scott has threaded all series and artist Wilson deftly handles here.
The framing story with Thom Hudd got an injection with the mysterious new Inquisitor’s appearance, but it turns out it was Lina Graf all along! Lina originally crash landed on Mustafar, beginning the Tales from Vader’s Castle series, and unfortunately left Hudd behind as she thought he was dead. He got a message out an issue or two ago and now here she is, with some other familiar faces from the first series, for the big rescue. It was great to see Lina again, as she added a little spice to a framing story that wasn’t as intriguing as the first’s. Francesco Francavilla’s excellent, pulpy, darker art, always made me look forward to the framing story and he clearly had a lot of fun with the antics which bring down Vaneé and the arrival of Vader, with the spooky, fun final panel of Vader’s helmet reflecting flames, promising another return. While it seems a bit goofy that Vader would have time to torture Vaneé with stories for his failure, if that’s the setup we need to get another one of these next October, I’m in.
Here are a few other things:
- I should have a full miniseries review within the next week or two, where I’ll compared this overall to the last and pick my favorite tale!
Return to Vader’s Castle #5 – “Night of the Lava Zombies” is an excellent finale to another fun romp in horror-filled Star Wars tales.
+ Dark death for Mustafar revolt leader
+ Art really highlighting the zombie invasion
+ Lina and crew’s reappearance for the rescue
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