A review by inlibrisveritas
Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison by W. Haden Blackman, Agustín Alessio

4.0

Ghost Prison takes place 19 years before A New Hope and gives us a nice little view into the world that Palpatine is working with before the original trilogy starts.

Some of the past graphic novels I’ve read have had Vader standing around and generally not doing much other than a few force chokes or light saber duals. I’m very pleased to say that Vader is a force to be reckoned with in this one, no pun intended. He shows off his power and just how ruthless he can be when it comes to other people’s lives; in short he kicks some major butt in this one. We get a quick glimpse into his past as well as some of the Jedi’s rather shifty dealings, aka the Ghost Prison. This is told from Lieutenant Tohm’s point of view, who is a Imperial Agent and a man betrayed by those he thought closest to him. He’s not particularly brave but he is smart, and it’s nice to see someone normal in comparison to Vader and the shadier people he associates with. It’s a new voice and perspective on Vader, and it gives a bit of insight on what it’s like to be an agent under his direct control.

I think this is a great off-shoot story of the main storyline that gives you some insight on what the characters were up to during the time gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Everything wraps up nicely as it should, which should be no surprise given the constraint of having to fixed points to work between. The art is beautiful, dynamic and very detailed and it really makes every scene worth staring at.

This is definitely one of the better Star Wars graphic novels I’ve read and it’s certainly worth reading.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.