Unfortunately, Google thought that a Father's Day Google Doodle featuring Darth Vader and his son, Luke Skywalker, wouldn't work.
The good news is comic artist and writer Jeffrey Brown managed to sell publisher Chronicle Books on the concept as a comic book. Behold: Darth Vader and Son.
According to the L.A. Times' Hero Complex blog, the comic imagines the iconic Sith Lord as just another doting father, playing baseball with his son, cooking meals, buying toys. Brown sets the single-panel vignettes as the interaction between Vader and Skywalker, his four-year-old son. (Skywalker's twin, Leia, apparently doesn't appear, but may in the (inevitable?) sequel.)
Brown said the comic was based on the frustrations of interacting with his own son, who was about four when the project began, but who is now five-and-a-half.
"Like one of the strips is where Darth Vader makes eggs for breakfast, and Luke isn't happy with them," Brown told the paper. "My eggs are apparently OK for my son, but there are definitely other things I've made where he's been like, 'I don't like this.' And you know, just trying to get him to go to bed. There are a lot of those universal touch points that are in there.
Brown authored the book with the blessings of both Google and Lucasfilm, the latter of which was very supportive of Brown's ideas.
"There was nothing that I wanted to put in that they didn't let in. Nothing that they wanted me to change," Brown said. "Most of their suggestions were kind of minor tweaks. Sometimes I would forget to capitalize the word 'Force' or things like that."
Brown didn't close a price or a release date, but we found the hardcover version of Darth Vader and Son on Amazon for $10.06. It is scheduled to ship next week on April 18, about two months before Father's Day.
Image credits: Jeffrey Brown/Chronicle Books
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