Vader's Quest

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Vader's Quest
Publication information
Publishing companyDark Horse Comics
SubjectStar Wars
GenreScience fiction
Release date(s)17 February 1999
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
No. of pages32 each
Expanded Universe
EraRebellion
Galactic Year0 ABY
CanonC
Creative team
Script writerDarko Macan
Cover artist(s)Dave Gibbons
Penciller(s)Dave Gibbons
Inker(s)P. Craig Russell
Colorist(s)Angus McKie
Publisher(s)Mike Richardson

Vader's Quest is a four-issue comic book miniseries set in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, written by Darko Macan and drawn by Dave Gibbons and Angus McKie. Published by Dark Horse Comics, the original four issues appeared in February through May 1999;[1][2] a trade paperback reprinting all four was released in December of that same year.

Together, the four covers of the individual issues form a tetraptych, which is printed in the trade paperback. They focus on, from left to right, Darth Vader, Palpatine, Jal Te Gniev, and Luke Skywalker.[3]

Synopsis[edit]

Soon after the events of the original Star Wars film, the Sith Lord Darth Vader has hired bounty hunters to find out who was responsible for the destruction of the Death Star. At the Museum of the Old Republic, a captured and tortured Rebel pilot, who survived the Death Star battle and returned to his homeworld of Centares, betrays the pilot's surname: Skywalker. Vader attempts to kill every bounty hunter who hears this revelation, but one escapes and heads to Coruscant to tell Palpatine the name in exchange for protection from Vader. Rebel pilot Jal Te Gniev, who is envious and resentful of Luke, tells a woman in a cantina that Luke will be on Jazbina; not knowing anything about Luke besides that he is a wanted man, she then sells this information to an Imperial-connected bounty hunter in exchange for forgiving her father's debt. Vader pursues Luke, and comes face to face with him for the first time on Jazbina (where Jal has also journeyed to warn Luke and redeem himself) but the decidedly anti-Imperial locals force him to leave, saving Luke.

Continuity[edit]

Vader previously met Luke face to face in the 1978 novel sequel to the original film, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, though this book became largely non-canonical with the release of a full-fledged sequel in the form of The Empire Strikes Back (1980).[4]

The unnamed Rebel pilot who betrays Skywalker's name was later revealed to be Thurlow Harris from the video game Star Wars: Rebel Assault (1993).[5]

Collections[edit]

  • Omnibus: Early Victories (2008)
  • Marvel Epic Collection: Star Wars – The Rebellion, Vol. 1 (2016)

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Star Wars: Vader's Quest #1 (of 4) :: Profile". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  2. ^ "Star Wars: Vader's Quest #4 (of 4) :: Profile". Dark Horse Comics. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  3. ^ Macan, Darko (2015). Star Wars: Vader's Quest. New York: Marvel Comics. p. 97.
  4. ^ Armitage, Hugh (21 August 2016). "Star Wars has a lost sequel you've never heard of". Digital Spy. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  5. ^ Mitchell, Greg (4 September 2013). "The Not-So Magnificent Seven". StarWars.com. Retrieved 27 June 2020.