Tales from the Death Star by Cavan Scott, Soo Lee, and Vincenzo Riccardi - 96 pages, ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
A kid living on Kef Bir, a moon in the Endor system, is about to enter the crash site of the second Death Star to prove his bravery. A hooded stranger stops him and tells him a series of horror stories about the Death Star as a warning.
This is a graphic novel structured as a series of short stories connected within a larger frame narrative. As the entire book is only 96 pages long, all of the stories are extremely short, almost like flash fiction. The first few stories feature typical horror stuff -- ghosts, zombies, monsters -- and are about throwaway characters, with the recognizable characters from the Star Wars franchise in minor roles. The one with the ghost fleet was the best out of these, and felt the most Star Wars-y to me. The others seemed more like horror stories with Star Wars elements, rather than Star Wars horror stories. They could have taken place anywhere, in any time period; the fact that they take place in or around the Death Star, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, holds little or no significance to their plots.
I did appreciate the zombie story's theme of "efficiency at all costs," as it is very in-character for officers in the Imperial navy to want to work people beyond death. However, the rest of that story is more goofy than anything, and the cartoony art style doesn't help that impression. I did find the story darkly funny, but the tone is so different from the other stories in the collection that it feels out-of-place. If you've ever wanted to see Darth Vader slashing up zombies with a lightsaber, though, this is a must-read.
The final story, "The Haunting of Grand Moff Tarkin," is the best, and is the sole reason why I've rated this book four stars instead of three. I'm admittedly a bit biased, given that Tarkin is one of my favorite Star Wars characters, but the reason I enjoyed this story so much is that the Death Star setting is integral to its plot. The Death Star's impending destruction is why Tarkin's wrongdoings have come back to haunt him, although he doesn't yet realize what is about to happen. The story's horror also doesn't rely as heavily on supernatural elements or creepy creatures as the other stories in this collection. Although there are some ghosts in this one, it's up to the reader's interpretation whether they're actually ghosts, or just in Tarkin's head. The story has an excellent concept, is well-written, and is the only story in the collection that I wish was longer. Unfortunately, the artwork is inconsistent; Tarkin's face, in particular, tends to vary from panel to panel, sometimes looking exactly like Peter Cushing (the actor who played Tarkin in A New Hope, and whose likeness was used in Rogue One), and other times looking more like a generic elderly man, or even Mr. Burns from The Simpsons. I know from experience that Peter Cushing's face is difficult to draw, but I still expected a better, more consistent likeness in an official Star Wars graphic novel.
Although I wasn't too thrilled with most of the tales in Tales from the Death Star, they were all at least mediocre. Still, I would consider this book a prime example of quantity over quality; while concluding the collection with the best story is a great idea, it left me feeling like a big chunk of the book had been wasted on lesser stories. I don't care about the kid on Kef Bir, the criminals hunting down a monster in the Death Star, the pilots being attacked by Jedi ghosts, or the Imperial soldiers using an ancient ring to resurrect their dead comrades. Their stories were fine, but they weren't super compelling. I want to see more of Grand Moff Tarkin afraid of something for once in his life -- afraid of the horrors he himself inflicted upon the galaxy. That's compelling, and it's what saves Tales from the Death Star from mediocrity.
