Cavan Scott shares how he mixes horror with Star Wars in Shadow of Vader’s Castle

Writer Cavan Scott is previewing his newest comic, Shadow of Vader’s castle.

Star Wars isn’t necessarily known as being your one-stop-shop for horror, but there definitely are a lot of bone-chilling moments when it comes to the series of movies. Now, that sense of horror is once again being translated into comic book form courtesy of long-time Star Wars writer Cavan Scott, who has a new comic book out as of today.

Speaking to StarWars.com, Scott revealed exactly how his latest comic, Shadow of Vader’s Castle, came to be. Given the nature of this horror comic, the intention was for it to be the third addition to the annual Halloween comic series. It still is part of that collection, albeit, even if it’s a few days late. Still, the spirit of Halloween lives on, and you can celebrate the art of horror any time of year.

For Scott, as he recalled, there were plenty of moments in the original Star Wars trilogy that gave him a proper fright. He recalled watching The Empire Strikes Back, for example, saying:

"Then when I saw Empire in the cinema, how did it start? With Luke hanging upside down in the larder of a massive abominable snowman. That’s literally horror right there (and of course, this was pre-special editions, so my over-active imagination made the wampa even scarier. There was probably a lot more blood). I do remember being absolutely terrified as the creature’s roars started echoing down the ice-tunnels and that’s before we got to splitting tauntauns in two, giant space slugs, and swarms of mynocks."

Thanks to that chilling experience, he said he can now go back to that time as a young one in the movie theater to draw inspiration for his horror writing. “That’s the sensation I want to get across,” he said in the interview.

For those looking to get the comic, you’ll notice that this is, in fact, a one-shot comic. So there may not be more to expect after this. But still, it should be a good story. This comic is about the fall of the Empire and Mustafar. With Vader’s castle on the planet, two boys seek to rid their land of the castle (so as not to be in “Vader’s shadow”) — that is until someone comes along to tell them otherwise.

Still, while this is a horror comic, it’s still suitable for kids to read. In fact, Scott had to take careful measures to ensure the story was still kid-friendly. So if you’re terribly afraid of horror and still love Star Wars, don’t worry. This shouldn’t be so bad! He told Star Wars:

"It has to be something that anyone can pick up, whether you’re 8 or 80. The difference, of course, is that knowing that younger readers could and should pick them up, you have to be sensitive when it comes to writing scares. Excessive gore is out. We can suggest but not show the grislier side of the action. Saying that, isn’t that sometimes more effective? Again, I’m thinking about that wampa roar. You also have to really be careful about the intensity of the horror, judging when to ramp up the tension and, more importantly, when to release it."

Luckily, as mentioned, there’s no wait for this story as Shadow of Vader’s Castle is out now!