May 9, 2018 - DARTH VADER #16, DEATH OF WOLVERINE COMPLETE COLLECTION TPB

As promised – two updates in one day. These are the writers notes for the books I have on shelves today, May 9. They include Darth Vader #16 and the Death of Wolverine Complete Collection TPB.

First, good old Mr. Dark Robot Guy himself, Darth Vader! Issue #16 has art from Giuseppe Camuncoli and Daniele Orlandini, colors by Java Tartaglia and letters by Joe Caramagna. Cover here by Giuseppe and Elia Bonetti, and man, it’s great. Vader and some Inquisitors and a bunch of Inquisitor Troopers, headed on up to ruin someone’s day.

It’s part four (of 5) of “The Burning Seas,” the arc set on Mon Cala that dovetails nicely with the current arc in Kieron Gillen’s Star Wars series, also dealing with the Mon Calamari, but decades later.

This issue is designed in part to pull back the curtain on this Jedi we’ve been seeing through the arc, Ferren Barr, as well as his disciples. I’ve seen a number of reviewers talking about the idea that Barr seems to have started a new Jedi Order, gathering a few people around him to begin again. That is not accurate – his crew isn’t a bunch of Jedi or Jedi wannabes. They’re more like the Force acolytes we saw in Rogue One on Jedha – people who believe in the Jedi cause and want to do what they can to help. You’ll see.

Mostly, though, this issue was about getting to the ending, those last three words, which were in my pitch for this arc from the beginning. The editors and Story Group dug the idea, but there was a lot of “are you sure you can pull this off and/or set it up properly?” – I think we did. The only bad thing about it is that you guys will have to wait until Issue 17 to see how it plays out.

In other Vader-y news, I announced on Twitter that the next big arc after “The Burning Seas” will be called “Fortress Vader,” and will revolve around how he got that amazing castle on Mustafar. It’s a big arc, I'm a few issues into it already, and I think you’ll dig it a lot. Hope so, anyway. A lot of people seem interested in this one – I hope I pull it off!

The other release from me is the Death of Wolverine Complete Collection TPB, a huge volume collecting not just the Death of Wolverine story I did with Steve McNiven back in 2014, but also the follow-up miniseries: Weapon X Project and Logan Legacy, and a number of cool one-shots that revolved around the tragic loss of Logan as well. Here’s the cover, which repurposes the original cover for Death of Wolverine #2 in an ALL NEW WAY!

This is an interesting release, in part because I didn’t know it was coming out! I’m just a writer, guys – they don’t always tell me stuff. That’s fine, and warranted. Honestly, it’s sort of a nice surprise when something like this pops up on my radar. Re-releases and re-packaging of books are always great from where I’m sitting – it means the stories I told back when “matter” enough to put them in front of a new audience. I’m proud of everything in here, and I think it’ll make a fun read collected like this.

I suspect, of course, that this was put out in connection with the Hunt for Wolverine event running now, which continues this week with Tom Taylor and RB Silva’s Adamantium Agenda #1. That’s the mini that gets the New Avengers back together (sans Logan, of course) to go out looking for Wolverine’s missing body. It’s great wide-screen superhero action, and this mini will drop some very important clues to the overall picture. Don’t miss it!

That’s it for this week. Next week brings more CURSE WORDS, with Curse Words #14, as well as more Star Wars, with Poe Dameron #27 and the fourth trade in that series, “Legend Found.” See you then!