“Empire” as traumatic for Vader as it is for Luke, shares comic writer
Marvel Comics launched a monthly series, Star Wars: Darth Vader, back in February. The series is set immediately after the events of The Empire Strikes Back, a period that hadn’t been explored up until this point.
Writer Greg Pak commented on writing the character, as part of a Lucasfilm Publishing panel, released today as part of Comic-Con @ Home.
“It’s been a tremendously exciting thing to do. When I first started talking with folks about the book… I kind of couldn’t believe that we were getting to dig into this time period. As Star Wars fans, everybody remembers, probably the best known moment in the whole storyline, when Luke gets his hand lopped off… Darth Vader is his father, et cetera, et cetera.”
“But we tend to think of that through Luke’s point of view, because Luke’s our main character at that moment, right? But when you dig into that, you realize Vader himself is as traumatized as Luke is, in that moment. That moment is echoed purposely, multiple times throughout the series… There all these moments in time when Vader reaches out to somebody, in his family, somebody he is deeply connected to, and is rejected or looses that person in some way or another.”
“So it was tremendous to be told: this is the moment, you want to explore this. And so what we’re doing is we’re exploring Vader’s reaction and the immediate aftermath of this rejection.”
“And just the number of doors that have been thrown open to us to walk through and to take Vader through are astounding. We’ve not only been able to dig into Vader’s own psyche, we’ve been able to dig into the past and bring back various surprising characters, one very surprising in particular from the prequels, and dig deep. This is the kind of story I love the most, being able to do this kind of crazy, fantastical stuff, but then combine it with as deep an emotional story as you can do.”
On the prequels, Pak commented that “they are essential to this tragedy of Darth Vader. This over-arching story line which runs through all of these movies. And there’s so many great little moments and great characters, and so many nuggets to play with, you know?” When we got the greenlight to use Sabé, it was amazing. Because Vader’s whole emotional life turns on these key relationships, and one of them is Padmé. In those prequels, the way he’s penned into the Dark Side is through his love for Padmé, and his desire to save her life.
“So to not refer to Padmé in this would be a huge mistake, you know what I mean? So in this storyline, Padmé is not here, but Sabé is. There are all these handmaids who look like her, who were trained to know her mannerisms, and who are devoted to her. They’re still around. To be able to be able to use them in this story and to see how they react to Vader, and Vader reacts to them is tremendous.”
Asked to share about the upcoming arch, Pak reluctantly offered hints.
“At the end of our first arch, Vader claims to have settled all of his previous business. But the Emperor knows better. He knows that Vader hasn’t settled anything, and Vader is going to suffer a terrible punishment, and undertake a new journey-slash-question. There are key elements that will tie into Episode 9 in a huge way.”
The complete panel is available to view online, on the Comic-Con International YouTube channel. The online event will continue through Sunday.