Now THIS is a Star Wars comic. After having just finished Gillen's run on Journey into Mystery and jumping straight into this, I think he may be my new favorite Marvel writer. The other Star Wars stuff so far averages out to being pretty decent, but by the numbers. Not this. Gillen is actually taking some chances and doing some great character work, making the series his own. 
 This is exactly what Star Wars needs, honestly. Fewer people trying to write fan fiction in George Lucas's voice, and more people bringing their own voice and style to the universe. This is what has made Marvel great for so many years. Mark Waid and Frank Miller can both write incredible runs of Daredevil that both honor the character, and yet feel wildly, incredibly different in overall tone. There's no reason Star Wars can't be the same. It's the only way it'll stay fresh. 
 As for this book, Gillen truly makes Vader feel like a badass, unstoppable Sith Lord. Maybe moreso than any story ever has. I mean, there are scenes in this that make him seem more formidable than even the original trilogy managed to, simply because the art allows for more intimidating, violent Force use than the originals had the capability to do at the time. 
 I'll also say this: tying this Vader to the shitty, whiny Hayden Christensen Anakin Skywalker was a potential bad move, but somehow Gillen even manages to make that work. He skips over the dumbest stuff from that and only flashes back to things that humanize Vader adequately enough to make him seem even more evil. He's not just a rampaging half-robot, the anger and vengeance that flood out of him are real, and that's kind of terrifying. 
 The only reason I haven't given this 5 stars is because of the very last issue, which seems to be setting the next book up for a potentially silly storyline (Vader versus a bunch of robot people with pretty ridiculous "powers"). I kind of just want to see Vader busting heads for the Empire and scheming behind the Emperor's back, not fighting a knockoff of General Grievous. But, I'm hoping that gets resolved quickly or plays out more interestingly than the final issue here seems to indicate.