The most fearsome villain of all time returns with an all-new series! When Anakin Skywalker fell, both to the pull of the dark side and to the blade of Obi-Wan Kenobi, he rose back up, more machine than man. Having lost everything that was once dear to him, the former chosen one must take his first steps into a darker world…as Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith!
In the Grand Republic Medical Facility on Coruscant, Darth Vader repeats the word "No" as he remembers choking Padmé Amidala on Mustafar. As his new master, Darth Sidious, smirks, Vader lashes out with the Force, destroying the medical droids and even throwing the Emperor against the wall. Vader asks why Palpatine cannot bring her back as he said he could, and he replies that in his rage, Vader chose a different path, and even the dark side of the Force cannot bring her back. However, in her death, Padmé has given Vader a gift of pain, which he must accept or die. Vader agrees to live, and Palpatine says "Good." then shocks his apprentice with bolts of Force lightning. As Vader struggles in agony, Palpatine tells him to defend himself with his lightsaber. Vader retorts he has lost it in the duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi, and that the Jedi took it with him. Palpatine tells him that particular blade belonged to another—a Jedi—and he is a Sith. Acknowledging it has been a traumatic time for Vader, he warns if he touches him again with the Force, he will finish what Kenobi could not. He advises Vader to rise and follow as he has something to show him.
On the steps of the Jedi Temple, Mas Amedda is conducting a ceremony, destroying the lightsabers of the many Jedi slain and sent into hiding by the Great Jedi Purge, telling the citizens that they will never again fear the Jedi, and that Palpatine has saved them from their treachery. Watching from above, Palpatine asks Vader if he knows why Sith lightsabers are red. When Vader replies he does not, Palpatine mocks the Jedi for hiding the knowledge they found uncomfortable, which has led to their downfall. He continues that a Sith kyber crystal is no different to any other, except it has been made to bleed—the living crystal from any Jedi's saber can be converted by pouring one's pain and agony into it, until it turns crimson—the color of rage. In the courtyard below, Amedda places the lightsabers into an incinerator where they begin to melt, then recoils as the kyber crystals explode, blasting a fierce beam of energy and flame into the sky. Vader notes that Palpatine could have given him one of the now-destroyed lightsabers to corrupt, even Yoda's. Palpatine replies that the saber of a Sith is not given, only taken.
On board a Theta-class T-2c shuttle, Vader and Palpatine travel to Gattering in the Mid Rim. As they land, the Emperor notes that he had acquired a ship to give to Vader on his mission to make a lightsaber, but it appears to have been stolen. He tells Vader to embrace the dark side and let it guide him. Vader leaves the shuttle and uses the controls on his belt to adjust the optical scanners in his visor, revealing tracks where his ship had been dragged through the desert sands.
At their base, two enslavers admire the starship, saying even if they can't slice its encryption, they can sell it for more than a year of slaving will make them. The Aqualish enslaver is hit by a piece of machinery, hurled using the Force by Vader, standing on the wall as he says "That ship... is mine." The enslavers open fire as Vader leaps from the wall, hurling machinery and shrapnel. A Pau'an enslaver gets a hit on Vader's armor and boasts that he "Got him!", but Vader lifts the bodies of his fallen comrades to shield himself, then hurls them at the Pau'an. The last survivor asks Vader what he wants, and Vader replies "From you? Only this." and snaps his neck with the Force.
On April 24, 2019, Marvel Comics republished Darth Vader 1 as part of its "True Believers" program, with a suggested retail price of $1 USD.
This comic depicts the destruction of Yoda's lightsaber which, at the time, was seen as contradicting the 2016 reference book Star Wars: Complete Locations, which depicts the lightsaber as being stored in a box in Yoda's Hut by the time of the events of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. When asked about this, writer Charles Soule mused that perhaps Yoda built a new one, that he had more than one or that Darth Sidious built a fake to make a point. Lucasfilm Story Group's Matt Martin later stated that they are aware of the discrepancy, but that it wasn't an error as Yoda likely had more than a few lightsabers during his lifetime. The discrepancy was later seemingly solved in the 2022 comic Crimson Reign 3, which stated that one of Yoda's lightsabers was destroyed during the celebration. This implied second lightsaber was shown earlier in The Book of Boba Fett episode "Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger," where it was offered by Luke Skywalker to Grogu.
The short story "Masters," however, later established that Sidious wanted to collect Yoda's first lightsaber after his death and store it within the Imperial Palace as a trophy, which would suggest that Sidious did not have it destroyed as depicted in Darth Vader (2017) 1. Whether or a second lightsaber existed in this version of events is uncertain.
- Star Wars: Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith Vol. 1 — Imperial Machine
- Star Wars: Darth Vader - Dark Lord of the Sith Vol. 1
- Star Wars: Darth Vader by Charles Soule Omnibus