Ricky Church reviews Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader’s Castle #2…
After the literal Ghost story in the first issue, Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader’s Castle #2 takes another dive into a very familiar and classic area of the horror genre: vampires. Not only does the issue sport vampire-like creatures, but it wisely uses the opportunity to include Count Dooku as a main antagonist in the story, paying homage to Dooku actor Christopher Lee’s legacy as the blood-sucking count. It’s a fun issue that takes advantage of the premise much more than the previous issue with a good Clone Wars-era adventure for Obi-Wan.
The main story had all the classic feelings of a vampire story with Obi-Wan and fellow Jedi master Adi Gallia investigating a creepy castle and so-called dark lord that controls a horde of monsters. It’s pretty clear where the inspiration comes from, but writer Cavin Scott goes all in on the Dracula themed Star Wars story and makes it an engrossing tale. Of course Count Dooku would be interested in a creature such as Ravna who can turn anybody into bat-like monsters like him, hoping to spread it like an infection among Republic forces. However, the real fun in the story is when Ravna turns on Dooku, trying to make him one of his minions. This is where Scott utilizes the Lee-as-Dracula homage the most and the issue turns into some cooky fun with the story and imagery. It is definitely entertaining and fits right in with the Star Wars galaxy.
For the art, Derek Charm again handles all the Mustafar sequences with the group of Rebels trapped on the planet. His artwork is energetic and he gets to play around with a bit more of the horror genre as well when they come across a big scary-looking creature of their own, but the main draw is the story with Dooku. For this, IDW gained Batman and Sandman super-artist Kelley Jones for the visuals and Jones excels created a dark, creepy atmosphere in Ravna’s castle and Dooku’s transformation. It’s clear he enjoyed creating the Dracula homages in some very evocative imagery that was complimented by Michelle Madsen’s dark colours. Jones’ work is the highlight of the book.
Star Wars Adventures: Tale from Vader’s Castle #2 again tells a somewhat simple story, but Scott captures the spirits of Obi-Wan and Count Dooku and mixes Star Wars and Dracula well together. Kelley Jones’ artwork is the selling point of the issue with some great horror-themed visuals, especially when it comes to depicting the late Christopher Lee asa monster-bat Sith Lord. You can’t ask for much more than that with an issue like this.
Rating: 8/10
Ricky Church
