Marvel's Star Wars: Darth Vader Ends in August 2016

05/13/2016 09:59 am EDT

Darth Vader has been the second longest comic from Marvel's Star Wars line, launching just after the flagship title. Both books are in the new all-canon media explosion, and have taken place in the time period between Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

Now, Darth Vader's solo series is coming to an end in August 2016 with Darth Vader #25. The final issue will run 40 pages of story, and concludes the "End of Games" arc that launched with this week's issue.

"We've always said all the way through, from Darth Vader #1, that this was a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end," writer Kieron Gillen explained to IGN. "And we kind of looked where we were after Vader Down, and we realized we were probably actually nearer to the end than we thought we were. And it was a situation where we were like, 'Okay, it's better to actually end this story in a way which we think is the most effective. We don't want to pad it out extraneously.' That was the kind of thing, we were like, 'Oh yeah, this is the end of this particular story,' in which case it's a natural place for Vader to move on."

The story, then, wasn't about how he gets to Empire, but how he recovers from A New Hope.

Gillen and artist Salvador Larocca have been the creators all the way through the series, and will finish it out together. They've been praised for the new characters they've created, including the young female ne'er-do-well Doctor Aphra and the "evil Threepio and Artoo" Beetee and Triple-Zero.

"Oh yeah, all these characters we've created, and now we actually see who lives and dies," he teased. "Knowing Darth Vader, it's mainly dies."

Darth Vader ending leaves just Star Wars and Poe Dameron as current ongoing series in the line, with mini-series consistently rotating in and out. Considering Vader was a consistent top ten seller throughout the entire run (March's double-shipping month of #17 and #18 were the sixth and seventh best sellers of the month respectively), it's a safe bet we'll be hearing about another new Star Wars series from Marvel Comics soon. The full solicitation text follows:

STAR WARS: DARTH VADER #25

KIERON GILLEN (W) • SALVADOR LARROCA (A)
Cover by JUAN GIMENEZ
VARIANT COVER BY ADI GRANOV
VARIANT COVER BY Jamie McKelvie
VARIANT COVER BY Michael Cho
VARIANT COVER BY KaMome Shirahama
VARIANT COVER BY Joe Quesada
SKETCH VARIANT COVER BY Joe Quesada
VARIANT COVER BY Chris Samnee
VARIANT COVER BY Sara Pichelli
VARIANT COVER BY Cliff Chiang
VARIANT COVER BY SALVADOR LARROCA
ACTION FIGURE VARIANT BY JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER

It has all built up to this! Vader's trials against Cylo's creations! His machinations against the Emperor! His covert missions with Doctor Aphra and her murderous droids! All comes to fruition in an oversized 40-page issue by the stellar team of Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca! You won't want to miss this ending!

56 PGS./Rated T …$5.99

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