What I thought of...Star Wars: Darth Vader #5

Star Wars: Darth Vader #5: Darth Vader is on the hunt for the people that the Emperor has lined up to replace him, since he sees Vader as a failure after the destruction of the Death Star. Vader has an army of modified Battle Droids at his command, and his archaeologist friend (No, not him!) in tow as he goes out to "solve" this little problem.
The Good: Man. Reviewing these Star Wars books just doesn't get any easier. Every time I review one, I want to say that whatever I'm reviewing is the best of the bunch, but they can't ALL be the best.At this point, I'm not even gonna try and rank them. They're all great, but for some reason, this is the one that keeps surprising me the most. It's not like I have low expectations from this book. Maybe it's because I've read SOOOOOOOO many Darth Vader stories and comics over the years, that I don't think I can be surprised anymore, but each month writer Kieron Gillen and artist Salvador Larroca continue to BLOW ME AWAY!!!! This issue is GREAT, and after your done reading it, you're going to be counting down the days until issue #6 is released!
The Bad: 21 days. That's how long it is until issue #6 (as of this writing). June 3rd can't get here soon enough!

What I thought of...Star Wars: Darth Vader #2

Star Wars: Darth Vader #2: To put it mildly, Darth Vader is NOT The Emperors favorite guy right now. He blames Vader for the destruction of the Death Star, he blames him for the Rebels getting away, and he's pretty much downgraded him to heading up a neighborhood watch program of Stormtroopers. It's not a good day to be a Sith Lord.
The Good: Just like last issue, this issue features LOTS of great stuff. There's some great scenes with Vader and his Emperor appointed "handler", a fun mention of the running sub-plot in the book, but the best thing about this issue is the feel of the book. This best way I can describe this is that it feels like a Star Wars comic unaffected by the Prequels (and, once you read the book, there's a HUGE problem with that statement, but I digress). It's gives the reader the feeling that you truly don't know what's going to come next (even though you know what the future holds for Vader), and you don't know anything that happened before the 1977 Star Wars movie (even though you do). And, I'd be making a HUGE mistake if I didn't mention how great Sal LaRroca's art is. As awesome as ever!!
The Bad: I don't know just what it was, but I found myself getting uncomfortable with the way Vader is treated in this book. In the films, he's the ultimate bad-ass, but here, he acts almost like a scolded dog. He tolerates a lot of crap this issue, and I mean a LOT. But, give the circumstances, he really doesn't have any choice.
The Verdict: OF COURSE you should buy this! Marvel has been knocking it out of the park with their Star Wars books. As of this writing, they're batting a thousand, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.