The first issue of Star Wars: Vader – Dark Visions #1 poses the question: how would Darth Vader be perceived by an alien race who hadn’t encountered him or the Empire before? Especially if he took on a kaiju-esque creature that’s been keeping the native race trapped underground? Wouldn’t he seem like a dark-clad hero to them?

It’s a brilliant idea, executed to perfection. Dennis Hopeless finds a way to bring us an incredibly unusual viewpoint of the Dark Lord of the Sith; though the issue starts out on fairly familiar ground, the twist that leads to a Vader who feels like a hero to an unsuspecting alien species is handled superbly.

Paolo Villanelli’s art is great too, equally strong at handling the space battles as it is the epic combat between Vader and a giant, oppressive monster.

Just as Andor has shown this year, there’s plenty of unexplored and unusual viewpoints even within canonical, established time periods in the Star Wars universe; Vader – Dark Visions #1 is another great example of that.

You can purchase Star Wars: Vader – Dark Visions Volume 1 (which collects the entire five issue series) from Amazon here.