Look, let’s be honest: Vader Down is essentially Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen sitting across a table from each other while grinning diabolically and going “Oh, you had your artist draw Vader doing that cool thing? JUST WATCH WHAT I’M GOING TO HAVE MY ARTIST DRAW!” Alternatively, just imagine this as a Pokemon fight with Larroca and Dedato as the Pokemon and Aaron and Gillen as the trainers.  (I should probably admit that I never played Pokemon or watched it or… this metaphor has gotten away from me.)  (Ten thousand bonus points go to the first person to photoshop this.)

Point is, Vader Down continuing to be an awesome crossover event with the release of Darth Vader #13 by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca.  As you may have guessed from the opener, this comic is filled with plenty of instances of Vader being badass.  Moments like these really emphasize why people are scared of the Dark Lord of the Sith.  Of course, it wouldn’t be a Vader issue if we didn’t get more of Dr. Aphra and the Murder Bots.  They have some particularly fun parts in this issue that I won’t spoil for you.

One of the best moments in the comic was when Gillen got to play with characters he previously hasn’t been able to: Han and Leia.  Their disagreement about whether to go after Vader or to send a rescue mission for Luke really just nails the essence of who they are especially in these early months after the Battle of Yavin.  Leia is focused on the Alliance’s mission and vengeance for her people while Han’s more concerned about this farmboy he’s taking a liking to.

Oh yeah.  And did I mention all those glorious pages of Vader just stomping all over everyone?  Because those were pretty great.