– Spoiler Review –
It’s officially October but we’ve already been celebrating this spooktacular season with IDW’s latest (and last) entry in the Vader’s Castle series. This week’s issue of Ghosts of Vader’s Castle brings back a series regular with a tale from their own terrifying nightmare… fighting off a swamp monster of Dagobah alongside Luke Skywalker! Plus, there’s mynocks, so we at the Manor we’re most pleased. Head below for our review!
Thom Hudd and his pal Skirtt, a pill bug-like species, have starred in the Vader’s Castle series since its inception so it would feel weird for them not to be here for the end. After Hudd’s extended traumatic experiences in Return to Vader’s Castle’s framing story, it makes sense he’s happy to be taking easy, out of the way jobs with the biggest scares being a nest of mynocks (!!). Skirtt didn’t have to deal with what Hudd did, so he’s still craving adventure, and by the end of the issue, he gets what he wants: Lina Graf and Jaxxon arrive to take them away…and back to Vader’s Castle one last time to rescue Milo! Understandably Hudd isn’t happy and I’m sure we’ll hear more about his objections in next issue’s framing story.
With the shortest entry in the framing story this issue, Francesco Francavilla didn’t have as much panel space as the last few issues, but it made a memorable impression regardless. For starters, near and dear to the Manor’s heart: mynocks!! With this issue dropping only three days before my birthday, I can only assume this was a gift from the whole creative team 😉 Francavilla’s page devouring first glance at a mynock, with Shawn Lee’s lettering bringing its distinctive screech to nail-on-chalkboard-grating life, shows the species’ ferociousness and gives them an extra spooky edge that is worthy of nightmares on its own. There’s even a nest that’s disturbed, where Francavilla provides both the scares and cuteness with his rendition of the little baby ‘nocks. Besides all the gushing about the wonderful mynock appearances (the detrimental names used in the issue don’t faze them one bit), Francavilla’s final few panels, the dusty landing of the Rabbit’s Foot and Hudd’s haunted face, build off of the nightmare’s scary mood.
Hudd’s dream is weird in its own way compared to the past two issues, as he finds himself hunting down Jedi artifacts alongside Luke Skywalker and Artoo, something even he admits could only happen in a dream. Luke’s returning to Dagobah to check out Yoda’s hut only to find it demolished as part of a project to turn the wild and strange into destination hotels and resorts. Maybe peacetime isn’t the best for the galaxy, hey? It also feels like a nice little nod to the recent LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales short on Disney+, where Graballa the Hutt is redesigning Vader’s Castle into a high-end hotel, which Ghosts writer Cavan Scott was thanked on by inspiring them with this series. Regardless, the renovations were stopped for some reason and it turns out to be a swamp monster! Luke and Hudd are separated when it attacks, only for Hudd to see nightmarish visions within his nightmare (nightmare-ception?!), including Luke dead…but talking to him! How Hudd and Luke manage to drive away the creature is a delight I don’t want to spoil! Either way, out of all the tales, this one felt a bit like those from the previous entries in Vader’s Castle, as it easily could’ve been something that happened and explained away, but all the bones and talking dead certainly make it feel like a true nightmare.
Even more chilling (see what I did there?) for Hudd’s nightmare was its artist, Robert Hack, co-creator of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (now you see what I did there?) and Tales of Vader’s Castle alum! He previously drew the haunting Ewok tale, with Charlie Kirchoff on colors, but this time Hack has full control and it results in some true, spooky goodness which gave me shivers so I wish younger readers luck encountering his work here. While I liked Hack’s work with Kirchoff’s colors, as he kept the eerie style at the forefront with his darker color choices and cleaned up some of edges, with just Hack I believe the artist is able deliver an even more preternatural and macabre look, hence why even I was spooked a bit. It’s also much clearer he paints, as there are splashes and other little imperfections behind the work, but instead of this being distracting, it only adds to the ambiance, turning Dagobah from a deep and mysterious swamp to a place full of shadows and unknowns around every tree. Two panels I can’t get out of my head, and probably will result in nightmares, are the two ghostly ones where Hudd first sees Jaxxon, Lina, and Crater as boney specters reaching up from the watery depths of the swamp and the one of Luke and Artoo hanging upside down in trees, similarly all bones and dewired droid. There’s a reason I mentioned macabre earlier, as Hack’s art drips with it and makes it look phenomenal, while his overall style has a moody feel to it and builds a tension for what horrors might be around the next (panel) corner. Likewise, Shawn Lee’s lettering molds to both artists’ styles well, as Lee manages to maintain a painted look for his SFX that helps add to Hack’s style, with only the speech bubbles sticking out but that’s unavoidable.
Here are a few other things:
- For Mynock Manor’s 5 year anniversary a few years back, I had fun with an article exploring canon’s usage of our namesake’s creature! It also features artwork from me, which is NO WHERE on the same level as any Star Wars comic artist to date, so make sure to check it out!
- Over at the official site, there’s an interview with writer Cavan Scott and artist Derek Charm about this final entry in the Vader’s Castle series.
Ghosts of Vader’s Castle #3 didn’t need glorious mynock appearances to be considered great, but we were most humbled.
+ Mynock Amazingness
+ Robert Hack’s macabre art
+ Spooky Dagobah and Hudd’s dream
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
GHOSTS OF VADER’S CASTLE REVIEWS:
#1 | #2
VADER’S CASTLE SERIES:
Shadow of Vader’s Castle (one-shot) | Return to Vader’s Castle (miniseries) | Tales from Vader’s Castle (miniseries)