After six movies and multiple TV shows featuring some version of Darth Vader, most Star Wars fans assume they know everything there is to know about the Jedi Knight turned Sith Lord. Think again. Insight Editions is about to release Star Wars Icons: Vader, a massive, nearly 500-page book about maybe the most famous character in a galaxy far, far away, and io9 has your first look under the cover.
Written by Anthony Breznican and featuring a foreword by Hayden Christensen himself, Star Wars Icons: Vader will be released on October 20. Through exclusive interviews, a detailed history across all media, and lots of rare imagery, the book “covers the character’s journey, from his genesis in George Lucas’s first drafts of Star Wars to Anakin Skywalker’s tragic fall to the dark side in the prequel trilogy and beyond.”
Up until now, that’s all fans knew about the release, but io9 can now show you a few pages.
Below are the first 10 pages of the book, over five spreads, covering Breznican’s intro, which is accompanied by some awesome artwork and images. Click each to read it.
That intro works wonders to get you hyped for what’s to come next. Not only does Breznican explain that he’s going to dive into Vader beyond just movies and TV, he also teases some of his exclusive interviews, such as Steven Spielberg, and lets you know that, outside of just the Force, it’s going to go even deeper.
“While writing this, I realized that the story of Vader is the story of many fathers,” Breznican told io9 via email. “Everyone has a dad, and that person shapes your life whether you like it or not. Even if you don’t know him, that’s part of your story. Some fathers are amazing, some terrible, some in between, but it’s something that every single person shares. I found that everyone who brought Darth Vader to life—from George Lucas to David Prowse, James Earl Jones, Lawrence Kasdan, and more—all had powerful fatherhood stories that deeply impacted how they shaped this ominous, iconic character.”
In addition to Spielberg, Breznican pointed out a few other exclusive interviews he did that were both surprising and helpful. “Steven Spielberg was one of the first people to see Star Wars, and it was thrilling to hear his take on experiencing Vader for the first time,” Breznican said. “Lawrence Kasdan’s memories of writing The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi were astounding, especially when it came to talk of his own father, who had a tragic end but inspired him to live his life differently. Hayden Christensen has a deep love for this character that he has embodied for so long, [and] original Star Wars editor Paul Hirsch also told a killer story about a glitch in the cutting of The Empire Strikes Back that gives Vader one of his creepiest moments.”
Oh, and this is fascinating. “My wife helped me by uncovering the 1930 census records for Modesto, California, which showed that George’s dad, George Lucas Sr., took care of his widowed single mother by working as a ‘mechanic in a typewriter repair shop,'” Breznican said. “Which was basically the same work Anakin Skywalker did in The Phantom Menace. There were many other parallels too. You could say it’s like poetry. It rhymes.”
Would you like to know more? Well, you’ll have to get the book to do that. It comes in two different versions. There’s the standard, which retails for $225, and then the limited “Bas Relief” version, which is “housed in a black-on-black laser-cut slipcase, featuring a die-cast metal coin emblem of Vader’s helmet and logo embossed on the spine of the book. It is accompanied by an 11” x 15” framed bas relief, sculpted in polyresin and hand-finished with matte and gloss detailing.” That costs $450. You can preorder and get more information at those links, and here are some images.
“The daunting thing [about writing this book] was the scale of it all,” Breznican said. “The book is big and pricey, but it holds hundreds of stories about Darth Vader. There is a half-century of Vader to explore. I tried to cover every conceivable version of him, from the movies to the comics, video games, novels, and merchandise. I didn’t want to leave any stone unturned.”
We all love, or love to hate, Darth Vader, and though it’s certainly expensive, this feels like something Vader fans could cherish for years to come.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
