– Spoiler Review –
Ghosts of Vader’s Castle #4 is the penultimate issue of not only this miniseries, but the entirety of the Vader’s Castle tradition, and for such a lofty place it had to go big and provide some thrilling scares before the even larger ending, and in that, in truly succeeds.
With the group of nightmare sufferers together, Jaxxon, Lina Graf, Thom Hudd, and Skirtt blast their way to Mustafar to rescue Milo Graf and find a way to bring the nightmares to an end. Lina’s told others of her frightening dream, but we’ve yet to really see it, so when suddenly the very busy Rabbit’s Foot suddenly goes quiet, their TIE pursuit eerily gone, and Lina’s all alone, it’s time to dive into her nightmare. Turns out she’s not alone, as she joined by a terrifying version of young Anakin Skywalker which haunts her through the halls of Jaxxon’s ship! He’s playing into her fears of course, she’s still too much of a child to mount a rescue or for the Rebellion to take her seriously, hence them denying her request to take more rebels to Mustafar, but also that she’s too late to save her brother Milo. It’s that fear which takes hold the most, as young Anakin gives way to just before the fall Anakin, taunting her fears about losing Milo until she runs into Milo…and he scares us and her even more, claiming he’s Vader now, using the same verbiage used at the end of Shadow of Vader’s Castle to tease this miniseries. It’s a spooky look for the young Milo, basically an unmasked Vader but if he was younger, and it sends shivers up mine and Lina’s spines…only for her to wake up! We shift into Francesco Francavilla’s art, Lina rushing to the cockpit to see where everyone is, only for Vader to be there…and for her to wake up again, finally in the present! A nightmare-ception!
It was really cool for the series to mess with the formula to make these surprises even more effective, as it plays with your expectation the opening is the real part before the nightmare of the next character kicks in, and the whole dream-within-a-dream only jostles those expectations even further. It took me by surprise and allowed Cavan Scott and the art teams to trick me and I appreciate the subtle work they had to do to make that happen. Also, having this issue before the finale leaves readers wondering what other tricks the creative team has up its sleeves, keeping us all on edge for what they might do in the final issue.
Chris Fenoglio returns to the Vader’s Castle, having provided the art for the first spooky tale about a ghost haunting the Ghost of Star Wars Rebels fame, and his scary, Damien from The Omen inspired young Anakin, and then ghostly older Anakin, with a flaming sword, really continued to push the boundaries of the all-ages nature of this series. Young Anakin has fire in his eyes and older Anakin’s lightsaber being flame all fits with the Mustafar setting, where fire and flame engulf the planet, while Milo in Vader’s suit, with young Anakin’s eyes, is about as unsettling as it gets. It’s also great how Fenoglio so clearly uses a brighter palette before the creepy young Anakin arrives, helping aide the assumption this was the nightmare portion of the story, while the jagged frames keep readers uneasy feeling. As for Francesco Francavilla, his Vader in the Rabbit’s Foot cockpit was stellar, those deep red eyes staring back at Lina, while the potential fruition of Lina’s nightmare, a Vader-like figure appearing from the Castle itself, sets the creepy stage for the grand finale.
It’s really crazy to think this whole endeavor ends next week, but I’m excited to see what scares they bring for the end. I should have a review that day and I might get a miniseries review in, but if I don’t (as I’ll be enjoying my postponed wedding and honeymoon), I might try for a whole Vader’s Castle retrospective. No promises!
Ghosts of Vader’s Castle #4 mixes things up in its penultimate issue, making sure readers are unsettled ahead of its finale.
+ Messing with expectations
+ Creepy Anakin!!
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 | #3
VADER’S CASTLE SERIES:
Shadow of Vader’s Castle (one-shot) | Return to Vader’s Castle (miniseries) | Tales from Vader’s Castle (miniseries)