Current Favorites: Vader Down

     How do you pull-off a cross-over with a small line of Star Wars comics?  I'd be hard-pressed to think of how it could be done better than it was with Vader Down, running in Vader Down #1, Darth Vader #13-15 and Star Wars #13-15.  Before you read any further than this, this post may contain small SPOILERS.

    The basic premise is brilliant.  Vader tracks down Luke to what should be a deserted planet and comes out of hyperspace into the midst of three Rebel squadrons on a refueling run.  In order to prevent him from slaughtering everyone, Luke rams his X-Wing into Vader's Tie Fighter and the two crash on the planet's surface.  Luke radios the Rebellion for help, and Leia commits every resource she can summon to the planet to hunt and kill the murderer of Alderran, for Vader is alone and down. 
    First, I love this story for essentially being an old-school cross-over.  Outside of the one-shot starting it, it is a story interwoven between two titles, not a unwieldy 13 series cross-over.  Secondly, Gillen and Aaron do a great job of giving everyone believable motivations that carry-over from their previous stories: Luke is here trying to learn more about the Jedi, Vader is here hunting look, Leia comes to hunt Vader with a very single-minded obsession, Han just wants to save his friend and get out, while Aphra is desperate to prove to Vader that this wasn't a trap.  The two never forget who is the lead, and Vader here is awe-inspriring.  With his actions here, it is easy to see why one such as him would not be impressed by a toy like the Death Star.  They story has action, comedy thanks to the antics of Triple Zero and BT-1, and most impressively tension.  This is a story set in a larger canon where we know what the future holds and there were still a few moments in the story when I was worried about the main characters.  There is one cliff-hanger in particular where an obsessed Leia goes out on her own to kill Vader, and he comes upon her from behind, and while I know the character lives for at least another 30+ years thanks to The Force Awakens, I still had a quick thought of "Oh, no, Leia!".  Forget Robin War, Secret War, or Civil War.  The can't miss cross-over event of the 2015/early 2016 is Vader Down.

Current Favorites: Darth Vader #12

     I told Mark Adams that today's post would be an "Overlooked Gems of the Golden Age" spotlighting the King, but then I read Darth Vader #12.  Man, the Star Wars line from Marvel has a whole has been top-notch, but this title has to be the best of the bunch.  Kieron Gillen does a great job laying duplicitous layer on top of duplicitous layer as we see the different political machinations at work within the Empire, and he does it by adding to the mythos instead of recycling it.  Also a highlight is Salvador Larocca's art.  Salvador brings his A-game here conveying Vader's emotions purely though his body language.  This issue did not fail to live up to the expectations.  This issue concludes the current story arc which sees Darth Vader in a precarious position.  Currently abused and out of favor with the Emperor, Vader has started to make moves to establish a separate power base which has included stealing several thousands of credits from the Empire which he has used to secretly acquire a droid factory and search for the mysterious young pilot who destroyed the Death Star.  The Emperor has seconded him to Moff Tagge, who has paired him with one of the Empire's lead investigators, Thanatos.  Now he and Thanatos are on the outskirts of a cloud nebula hiding the thief, who works for Vader.  How will Vader get out of this?  In a word?  Masterfully.  Since this is a rather recent comic, I won't say more, but if you like Star Wars comics and can only afford one to add to your pile make it this one. 

    I'll leave you with a brief blog update.  There more than likely won't be a post until Tuesday-Wednesday of next week. I'll be having a little downtime with the family over the weekend, and I want to also take a small break from the reading order (2-3 nights, maybe a week) to catch-up a little more on current comics based primarily on the Vader Down cross-over and the ending to the current Secret Wars. 

....Always two there are

    I just got back from watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens .  I had a weird sense of closure/things coming full circle.  As I mentioned in this post My dad, the first time I saw a Star Wars movie was when I was 5 to Empire, and today it was me and my six year-old son, Clark.  I really enjoyed it.  It doesn't match my sense of nostalgia for the first trilogy, but there was something groundbreaking about the first Star Wars that will be hard to duplicate.  Andy and Michael Leyland give a good synopsis/review on their latest podcast: http://twotruefreaks.com/download.php?id=2331.  They talk about how their has been a trilogy for each generation and how somewhere out there is the generation this new trilogy is for.  I think there right, and I was sitting next to him.  He cackled at the antics of BB-8, gasped at the evil of Kylo Ren, and was smitten with Rey.  You know what?  That's okay.  Part of being a parent is passing things on and sometimes that means letting go.  Who knows?  In another 20 years, maybe my grandson or granddaughter will be going to see Star Wars Episode 24 with their dad.

My dad

1st comic I remember owning

 On April 22nd 2015 at 5:30 pm Central, Wilbur Earl Hooks II passed away, and I lost the single biggest influence on my life.  Everything I am, everything I consider important I can trace back to him in some way.  Of course the obvious things, the big things: the importance of values, of family, and of an honest day's work, but also the little things:

Comics?  Here is the secret origin of Trey Hooks and comics.  My dad was always a religious man, a firm believer in God, but he had a greater appreciation for the philosophical and historical side of religion than let's say...the practical applications or others views of the practical applications.  He was all for a sermon on the importance of love or the tribulations of Elijah, but he had no patience or need of a sermon on "12 Tips from the Bible on How to Invest Your Money".  So on those Sundays, and there were many in the late 70's, while my mom dutifully sang in choir, he would dutifully put his tithe in the offering plate, take me to the restroom, and then down the backstairs, out the church doors, into the car, and down to a 7-11 about 5 minutes away.  The purchase was always the same: 2 doughnuts, an Icee, a coffee, one Sunday paper, and one comic.  Those Sundays spent in relative silence (as I remember it) sharing a booth at the convenience store was my first introduction to the worlds of Batman, Spider-Man, etc.  I can't swear that its the first comic I owned, but Amazing Spider-Man #194 is the earliest one I remember him buying for me.

Movies?  One of the family legends is the time I ensured my Dad got a speeding ticket by telling a police office that he was "making us late for a movie".  I was 5, the year was 1980, and I could be forgiven for being excited...the movie was The Empire Strikes Back.  Its the first memory I have of going to a movie theater.

Doctor Who?  I don't how my dad discovered it or why.  I don't know when we began watching it.  I do know that for a little kid with an 8:00 bedtime, the one exception, no questions asked was Saturday nights when Doctor Who started at 9:00 on PBS.  We saw them either cut into a movie or aired back-to-back.  Tom Baker was my dad's favorite doctor over the old one (Jon Pertwee), the young one (Peter Davison), and the look-alike (Colin Baker) [Somehow we had seen Colin Baker episodes in the midst of Tom Baker episodes before we knew about regeneration.  We thought it was supposed to be the same guy played by a similar actor.  I guess we were kind of right in hindsight].  He never really got into the relaunch.  One of my favorite pictures is this:

3 Generations of Dr. Who Fans

It's my father, my 4 year old son, and myself watching the 50th episode together.  My highlight?  The look on my Dad's face of unabashed glee when you heard Tom Baker's voice at the start of his scene.

If you ask people who was Wilbur Earl Hooks II, most people will give you a blank stare, because he went by the nickname Buddy his entire life, and in a way that's fitting.  More people considered him friend than probably anyone I know.  He was certainly the best father I will ever know.  He was certainly one of the best friends and mentors.