DARTH VADER is coming to an end at issue #25–wait WHAT?

Darth Vader was arguably the strongest of Marvel’s Star Wars modern publishing line that rebooted last year. While Jason Aaron‘s (Ghostrider) Star Wars title continues to push the line forward and retain an immense quality, Kieron Gillen (The Wicked + The Divine) and Salvador Larroca’s (Invincible Iron Man) beloved work on the Vader series has made it a fan-favorite among those who gave it an honest chance.

Today, via an interview with IGN, Gillen announced his and Marvel’s plans to end the series at a milestone, issue #25. The writer mentioning that it was his long term-goal that made him want to conclude the series with a beginning, middle and end.

Darth Vader leaving me? [Laughs] No, it was a situation where, you know, 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. 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.

Via Twitter, Gillen hilariously acknowledged that one of the few books that he has written that has made it to the top ten is the one getting cancelled;

https://twitter.com/kierongillen/status/731117912077914113

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

Prior to Vader and Marvel’s last line-wide publishing event, Gillen was working on a few additional titles in the Marvel superhero line including Secret Wars mini-series, Siege and Angela: Asgard’s Assasin and Young Avengers.

Gillen is now busy with his Image series, The Wicked + The Divine and has announced his upcoming project, The Ludocrats with the publisher as well. The writer has a few more additional series from Avatar Press including Mercury Heat and Uber—Gillen announced back in July that he was taking a break from Marvel until Darth Vader came around, an offer he couldn’t refuse.

think it’s for the best. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve done at Marvel, but I’m aware that I’m starting to feel a little burned out on the MU. Both Iron Man and Young Avengers took more out of me than I was completely aware of at the time, and the work there has often felt hard since that (With the notable exception of SIEGE, which was designed to be a giggle.) That writing Darth Vader was so freeing made me suspect that even if my schedule hadn’t demanded it, I’d be better taking a step away from the MU and superheroes for a bit to recharge. I’ll see where my head’s at in 2016.

Gillen likely has more plans for tackling comics and upcoming projects in development–if you enjoyed his work on Vader, follow him and artist Salvador Larroca onto their next projects. In the meantime, take a look at an additional cover from comics mastermind Chris Samnee (Daredevil)