Star Wars: Darth Vader and Son


By Jeffrey Brown (Lucas Books/Chronicle Books)
ISBN: 978-1-4521-0655-7

It’s never too late to find a treasure or have a good time. Cartoonist Jeffrey Brown certainly knows that, as a glance at any of his painfully incisive autobiographical mini-comics, quirky literary graphic novels and hilarious all-ages comedy cartoons will show.

Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1975, Brown studied Fine Art at the Chicago Art Institute but abandoned painting to concentrate on comics.

His painfully intense, bizarrely funny observational strips soon garnered him fans amongst in-the-know consumers and fellow creators alike: all finding something to love in such varied fare as Every Girl Is The End of the World For Me, Cat Getting Out of a Bag and Other Observations, Little Things or current on-going series Sulk.

Happily, unlike so many creators with such an eclectic oeuvre, Brown has also achieved a measure of mainstream success thanks to his keen artistic sense and a lifelong love affair with the most significant popular arts phenomenon of the last 35 years.

In 2012 Brown created a breakout and mainstream best-seller with his hilarious spin on the soft and nurturing side of the Dark Lord of the Sith: exploring what might have been, had the most dangerous man (more or less) in the Empire had the opportunity to spend a little quality time with his missing son and heir…

The hilarious pre (Jedi) school experiences of Star Wars – Episode Three and a Half: Darth Vader and Son features deliriously daft and telling snatches of Skywalker domesticity highlighting such memorable moments as baseball practise with light sabre, a day at the beach (on Tatooine), budding sibling rivalry with a stupid-head sister, having “the talk” about babies, Trick or Treating with dad in tow, playing in Trash (compactors), finding a babysitter for a precocious kid, shovelling snow on Hoth, playing with that Solo kid and the joy of that first (Speeder) bike as well as a host of other awkward, touching warm moments in the otherwise drab life of a galactic nemesis.

No fan of the all-conquering franchise could possibly do without this deliciously sweet and still readily available hardcover hit – or its recent sequel Vader’s Little Princess – and these superbly subversive cartoon treats could easily make converts of the hardest hearted, fun-starved rationalist or clone.

Gloriously daft and entrancingly fun, this is a superb treat for fans and unbelievers alike and there’s even the promise of a third volume in the pipeline…

© 2012 by Lucasfilm Ltd & ® or ™ where indicated. All rights reserved.