This was tons of fun, which is what I want in my Star Wars comic books. Fan service = fun. In Vader Down (like in Rogue One) we get to see what Darth Vader is fully capable of. Seeing the Dark Lord of the Sith downed on an unfriendly planet surrounded by his enemies after inadvertently running into the Rebellion’s fleet, he is forced to survive on his own as an unstoppable force of nature. The stakes are new really high for Vader but for everyone else: the fear is real. This crossover graphic novel, in which we get to see Dr. Aphra (one of my favorite characters in the new canon) fighting Han Solo is wonderful entertainment. ( )

Despite the largely bad art in this book, this is one of the best and funniest "Star Wars" GNs I've read. One of the best "Darth Vader" GNs, too, although Vol 3 and Vol 4 in 2015-2016 series definitely fight for that spot.

I wasn't a Darth Vader fan coming into this and didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. This book is just so full of ridiculousness and humor.

Han is so in love with Luke and so in love with Leia.

Chewie is badass even when he's high and basically unconscious.

Vader just kills everything and it's HILARIOUS. One Vader in a ship versus a bunch of ships? Psssh. One Vader on the ground versus ships and an army? Psssh. One Vader on the ground versus tanks and an army? Pssssh. One Vader on the ground versus a retreating ship? Pssssh. Every time we check back in on Vader and it's just him being badass and scaring people before murdering everything is somehow the funniest part of this book.

Luke wakes from unconsciousness and immediately literally KICKS a murder astromech that can fire missiles.

Aphra takes none of anyone's shit and it's lovely. She has a great interaction with Han.

Leia sucker punches someone and saves the day and she spends the latter portion of the book just being an overall badass. It's great.

If you're reading the "Darth Vader" 2015-2016 series, make sure to stick this GN between volumes 2 and 3 on your readthrough. You won't want to miss it. ( )

Fantastic mix of drama and humour! ( )

Some amazing art and the intense collision of the two series' characters. Great stuff overall. ( )

This was a mash up of all the other titles that have been going on in this new Marvel Star Wars Universe (that takes place after A New Hope and before Empire).

Vader is stuck on a planet, and he's looking for Luke.

Luke meanwhile is looking for an ancient Jedi temple sort of place. But winds up nearly dying a few times.

On the one hand if I just took it at face value as a TPB with no connections to any particular universe it was really cool.

But with some of these in between the movies TPBs, it's harder and harder to read them because they're putting in too much clashing stuff that I can't totally see happening between the movies. ( )