Ask older Star Wars fans to name an agonizing cliffhanger, and they'll likely cite the three-year gap between Episodes V and VI, the seemingly endless wait for a resolution after Vader spilled the beans to Luke and Han had been turned into furniture for Jabba the Hutt. Comics scribe Brian K. Vaughan has gained a reputation for coming up with such edge-of-seat cliffhangers multiple times each and every month for the various titles he writes, particularly for his creations Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina. Aside from constructing addictive plots with page-turning suspense, the Eisner-award winning author has been acknowledged for writing snappy dialogue and constructing chilling scenarios worthy of the classic Twilight Zone.

For Vaughan, seeing the Dark Lord of the Sith for the first time as a child came with its share of shivers. "When I was five or so, my family went to a toy store in Cleveland where they were promoting the release of the new Star Wars action figures by having someone dress up as Darth Vader to greet the shoppers," Vaughan recalls. "I was so terrified, I nearly wet myself."