Darth Vader #3

History

The series was assembled around 2014 when Marvel editor Jordan D. White approached British writer Kieron Gillen to helm the newly licensed Star Wars line, with artist Salvador Larroca — a Star Wars fan Gillen recruited partly for his ability to render both cinematic and mechanical imagery — providing interior art across all 25 issues. Gillen has described the conceptual seed for Aphra as arriving during a visit to the Lucasfilm offices, where passing a large Indiana Jones display prompted the idea of a gender- and morally-switched version of that archetype dropped into the Star Wars galaxy; the character was co-created with Larroca and editors White and Heather Antos. Gillen worked in close consultation with the newly formed Lucasfilm Story Group to ensure the series — one of the earliest set firmly in the relaunched canon — did not contradict the original trilogy films, a process he found creatively novel compared to writing for the Marvel Universe proper. Gillen had originally planned for Vader to kill Aphra before the series ended, but ultimately devised a way for her to escape that preserved the integrity of both characters, which opened the door to her own solo title launched in 2016.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Released March 25, 2015; written by Kieron Gillen, interior art by Salvador Larroca, cover by Adi Granov; edited by Jordan D. White with Heather Antos as assistant editor.
• First appearance of Doctor Aphra (Chelli Lona Aphra), a rogue criminal archaeologist recruited by Darth Vader to help him build a private droid army following his disgrace after the Battle of Yavin.
• First appearance of 0-0-0 (Triple Zero), a protocol droid personality matrix that had been quarantined for centuries due to its compulsion to drain organics of their blood; Aphra steals the matrix from Quarantine World III in Kallidahin Space.
• First appearance of BT-1 (Beetee), a Blastomech assassin droid prototype created by the Tarkin Initiative, described in-issue as posing as an astromech while concealing a devastating weapon arsenal; Triple Zero awakens BT-1 using an internal Tarkin Initiative test language.
• The issue is Part III of the six-issue opening arc titled 'Vader,' set in the period between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, with Vader operating in defiance of the Emperor's official chain of command.
• Doctor Aphra became the first original Star Wars character not originating from the films to lead a canon Marvel ongoing series, with her solo title Star Wars: Doctor Aphra launching in 2016 and running for 40 issues before relaunching in 2020.
• The issue was later reprinted as Darth Vader: Doctor Aphra #1, a promotional one-shot distributed for Halloween ComicFest 2016.
• The issue went back to print multiple times; Marvel used different cover color treatments to distinguish the various printings.

Cast · 5 characters

Full credits

Key issues in Darth Vader

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#1 1st appearance — Black Krrsantan

Variants (4)