Dark Visions #1 has its flaws. It’s an intriguing bit of world-building wrapped around 20 pages of non-stop monster-fight. But that world-building and the clear purpose of this series — along with the fact that this is the campiest, zaniest Star Wars comic in ages — has me more eager to read the next issue than anything else in Star Wars comics. Read Full Review

Great writing from Hopeless and superb art from the whole team get the opening chapter of this limited series off to a perfect start. A complete treat of a first issue that looks and feels just like a Star Wars comic should! Bravo! Read Full Review

Vader " Dark Visions #1 surpassed my expectations for a mini-series such as this. The creative team managed to present us with something truly unique. It was an epic tale of Vader, one that allowed us, for the smallest, briefest moment, to believe he was something other than the villain. Of course, that perspective will never hold. But that's what makes it interesting, isn't it? Read Full Review

Darth Vader versus a kaiju: it's the reason comics exist. Read Full Review

Told like a short story, this one-shot adventure is filled with wonderment only the Sith Lord himself could bring. Read Full Review

Paolo Villanelli really steals the show here with how the book looks with Prianto's color work and it's just striking from the first panel to the last. It's a real treasure of artwork that a lot of artists can learn by in setting perspective, design, and just bringing to life the power of the character's physicality in a great way. I hope we see Villanelli on a lot more Star Wars books in the future. Read Full Review

An exciting Vader adventure that sees him in a slightly different light than fans are used to. Solid writing and standard Marvel/Star Wars art fare make for a very enjoyable read. Read Full Review

Dark Visions #1 is an intriguing look at the surprising legacy left by one of the galaxy's most intimidating villains. Read Full Review

This issue does not have me hopeful for the rest of this series. The story is so basic as to allow the artist endless opportunities for epic levels of excitement, but the visuals are the weakest element of this issue and that's not good for a comic book. When all is said is done, did anything important happen? Was there anything memorable in this? The answer is, sadly, no. This is only for the most hardcore Star Wars fans. Read Full Review

Vader vs Giant Monster = thumbs up

This issue serves as an excellent parallel into reality. If you are unaware that a person saving your life is evil, your view will be shaped by what you know. So Obi-Wan's line rings true that, "you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

Very interesting kick off issue to a anthology of stories I've really been looking forward to. Darth Vader may be seen as one of the most evil characters in the history of fiction, but there are some people in the galaxy that don't see Vader that way. If you like Vader at his most badass this is a comic for you.

Vader vs a kaiju and being an all around badass. 'Nuff said.

Hopeless attempts to give us a new perspective on Vader by seeing him though the naive eyes of a tunnel-dwelling, blue-skinned alien child. However the irony of this could only be lost upon someone as unfamiliar with Star Wars as the protagonist of this story is of the Empire, Jedi, or lightsabers.

While this “primitive” character has access to technology like hoverboards and magnifying binoculars, he is also so unfamiliar with space battles, the Empire, or the Rebel Alliance that he simply refers to them as “Space-Gods”. This dichotomy forces you to accept certain logical flaws in order to accept the narrative convention the story relies on. Personally, I found this hard to accept and it took me out of the story almost immediately.

That being said, if you are able to get past this flaw, the basic story is enjoyable in a fan-fiction sort of way. While it doesn't give us anything new about such a well-established character like Vader, it allows for a pleasurable experience for fanboys wishing to see him battle against a giant shark-like monster on horseback fulfilling any Star Wars meets Game of Thrones fantasies you might have.

The art by Paolo Villanelli is surely the best part of the book. Successfully capturing the familiar characters and other assets of the Star Wars universe, while creating a new world of aliens, Villanelli is able to keep a lively, energetic feel to the pages without succumbing to the natural inclination of adhering to the films so strictly that it makes the art stiff and dead.

Overall this is a fun Star Wars story with solid art. Vader is a complete badass and action is much more important that character development or narrative. I’m not sure where the remaining 4 issues will go from here though. This was told as a one-shot story that may or may not have an overarching theme with the rest of the issues. For $4.99 each, I’m not sure I will bother finding out.
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