In 2018, IDW Publishing released the 5-issue mini-series Star Wars Adventures: Tales From Vader's Castle to coincide with Halloween. The first issue contains the yarn The Haunting of the Ghost. The tale is framed in another story starring Lina Graf, a commander in the Rebel Alliance. Lina is aboard the Auric with her crew: a bug-like alien Skritt, Lieutenant Hudd, XM-G3, and CR-8R (or Crater). The Auric is attacked by TIE Fighters and the ship's shields and power core are damaged. Lina decides to land on the nearest planet Mustafar which Crater informs her is guarded by Imperial forces. Situated on a rock surround by flowing lava, Lina tells everyone they need to abandon ship, but Crater is apprehensive and recounts a tale told to him by his fellow droid Chopper.
Aboard the Ghost, Kanan Jarrus is analyzing a holocron using the Force while Hera Syndulla attempts to contact an informant named Graysom. Kanan realizes the holocron is empty as Chopper spots Graysom's ship the Hoopaloo Nest crashed on an asteroid. The Ghost lands near the Nest and Kanan and Hera board the damaged craft. Hera learns an escape pod ejected from the Nest and she is suddenly electrocuted near one of the ship's panels. As they return to the Ghost, an electric arc is seen between the two craft. They find Graysom's escape pod and Graysom says he crashed because the Nest was haunted. As he is explaining, the lights on the Ghost go out and a laughter echoes throughout the ship. As Hera heads to the cockpit she is suddenly electrocuted again as Graysom tells the others the spirit is following him. Then the airlock suddenly opens but Chopper is able to close it before Kanan is pulled into space. Hera and Chopper head to the cockpit as Kanan and Graysom are sealed into a room by the entity with Kanan's lightsaber laying on the floor outside. In the cockpit Chopper is inhabited by the spirit while Kanan uses the Force to manipulate his lightsaber to free him and Graysom. The spirit in Chopper explains it was stripped of its physical form centuries ago by the Jedi. Hera tricks the entity into the empty holocron when Kanan appears and uses the Force to seal the spirit inside.
After listening to the tale, the rebels depart the Auric. Using macrobinoculars, Lina spots Vader's castle guarded by Imperial Stormtroopers and informs the others that is where they are going.
Cavan Scott, writer of four of the Adventures in Wild Space young reader books, wrote this comic. The first book in that series, The Escape, introduced the character Lina Graf. Like all the Star Wars Adventures comic from IDW, this comic is aimed at young readers. The artwork is cartoonish which seems to be typical for young reader comics. The framed story is meant to evoke dread in the reader for the actions taken by Lina and her crew at the end of the book, but not being the target audience, I cannot say if it was successful or not. My only complaint is with the character Graysom who is drawn as a giant, clothed bird with a monocle. Cavan Scott reintroduced Jaxxon to modern Star Wars comics in Star Wars Adventures Annual 2018 in April of that year and if more uninspired, anthropomorphic characters are a result, I wish Jaxxon had remained forgotten in the past.
Thankfully, none of the five covers feature Graysom, but instead the main two covers showcase the Ghost crew. A black and white version of cover A is used for the retail incentive A cover. Lina Graf and her crew from the Auric are depicted on retailer incentive cover B. Vader's Castle is in the background as well as a ghostly image of Vader. The IDW Convention exclusive is a black and white version of retailer incentive cover B.
cover A
cover B
retailer incentive a
retailer incentive B
IDW Convention exclusive
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