Dark Empire Lookback Part 1 of 3
Dark Empire changed everything for a small comic book publishing company called Dark Horse Comics. No longer just an independent comic book company, Dark Empire put them on the map, and while Marvel is publishing Star Wars comics again, Dark Horse still has a strong retail presence in comic book stores. When it came out, Dark Empire issue 1 was one of the top selling comic books of all time. An impressive feat once you realize Todd McFaralne's Spider-Man issue 1, X-Force issue 1 and Superman: Man of Steel issue 1 dropped around the same time, give or take a few months.
The story by Tom Veitch is interesting. 6 years after Endor and 1 year after the Thrawn Trilogy the Galactic Empire regrouped and drove the New Republic off Coruscant, but as they achieved their goal, a civil war breaks out amongst the Imperials. Hoping to retake Coruscant, Lando Calrissian & Luke Skywalker (with R2-D2!) use a captured Star Destroyer which Luke is able to safely land. Han, Leia, and Chewbacca along with C-3P0 come to rescue, only to find a large space storm that is guided by the Force and wants Luke. As his friends escape, Luke is whisked to the planet Byss where he finds that not only is the Emperor alive, he has a limitless supply of clones, and has achieved apparent immortality. To defeat him, Luke decides to become his apprentice and falls to the dark side. Leia, sensing what has happened is able to rescue her brother, and at the end, help him turn back and defeat the Emperor with help from her unborn child as she learns she is pregnant with her 3rd child.
The only issue I have with the art is the color schemes, and sometimes Cam Kennedy gives the characters incorrect weapons. But the faces, ships, planets, etc all look great! We can see our heroes have aged, Palpy still looks all wrinkled and old, and his younger clone slightly resembles his older self. But the black, green and purple just, well, even back then it didn't feel like Star Wars. I would love to see someone add realistic colors to the art, I think it would be a huge improvement. Just my 2 cents there. Also the lightsaber battles aren't long, a couple panels really. But to be fair, there hadn't been long lightsaber battles in the Star Wars comics before than but Marvel's Star Wars 96 is the exception.
While Luke and Leia get the attention, we learn a little more about Han Solo as well. Salla Zend, a former girlfriend of Han's shows up. Han actually had a home, a dump but a home! Plus we learn Boba Fett escaped the Sarlaac (as he would in Disney Canon), and is working with Dengar to bring Han & Leia to the Hutt's so that they can take revenge over Jabba's death.
The Empire has a new super weapon, World Devastators. These ships chop up scrap metal and spew out fighters, or any other vehicles needed for occupation of the planet. It's a super weapon that makes more sense IMO than a Death Star or Starkiller Base. But I'll touch more on the onscreen impacts Dark Empire made in another blog post, as this will not be my only blog post about Dark Empire.
Schedule:
Next Sunday will be part 2, the sequels (Dark Empire 2 & Empire's End) along with how not only George Lucas but Disney have borrowed story elements from Dark Empire and put them onscreen. Also, I'll add a link to the Dark Empire animated adaptation being done on YouTube.
In 2 weeks I'll conclude my "Dark Empire Trilogy" by focusing on the cover art, and the toys! Of all the non film material, Dark Empire has a lot of collectables! I'll cover them all, including the only 2 SA 3.75 inch figures done in the modern line.
This article from the main Star Wars webpage from a few years back is a good read!
https://www.starwars.com/news/how-dark-empire-kickstarted-star-wars-comics-for-a-new-generation
The story by Tom Veitch is interesting. 6 years after Endor and 1 year after the Thrawn Trilogy the Galactic Empire regrouped and drove the New Republic off Coruscant, but as they achieved their goal, a civil war breaks out amongst the Imperials. Hoping to retake Coruscant, Lando Calrissian & Luke Skywalker (with R2-D2!) use a captured Star Destroyer which Luke is able to safely land. Han, Leia, and Chewbacca along with C-3P0 come to rescue, only to find a large space storm that is guided by the Force and wants Luke. As his friends escape, Luke is whisked to the planet Byss where he finds that not only is the Emperor alive, he has a limitless supply of clones, and has achieved apparent immortality. To defeat him, Luke decides to become his apprentice and falls to the dark side. Leia, sensing what has happened is able to rescue her brother, and at the end, help him turn back and defeat the Emperor with help from her unborn child as she learns she is pregnant with her 3rd child.
The only issue I have with the art is the color schemes, and sometimes Cam Kennedy gives the characters incorrect weapons. But the faces, ships, planets, etc all look great! We can see our heroes have aged, Palpy still looks all wrinkled and old, and his younger clone slightly resembles his older self. But the black, green and purple just, well, even back then it didn't feel like Star Wars. I would love to see someone add realistic colors to the art, I think it would be a huge improvement. Just my 2 cents there. Also the lightsaber battles aren't long, a couple panels really. But to be fair, there hadn't been long lightsaber battles in the Star Wars comics before than but Marvel's Star Wars 96 is the exception.
While Luke and Leia get the attention, we learn a little more about Han Solo as well. Salla Zend, a former girlfriend of Han's shows up. Han actually had a home, a dump but a home! Plus we learn Boba Fett escaped the Sarlaac (as he would in Disney Canon), and is working with Dengar to bring Han & Leia to the Hutt's so that they can take revenge over Jabba's death.
The Empire has a new super weapon, World Devastators. These ships chop up scrap metal and spew out fighters, or any other vehicles needed for occupation of the planet. It's a super weapon that makes more sense IMO than a Death Star or Starkiller Base. But I'll touch more on the onscreen impacts Dark Empire made in another blog post, as this will not be my only blog post about Dark Empire.
Schedule:
Next Sunday will be part 2, the sequels (Dark Empire 2 & Empire's End) along with how not only George Lucas but Disney have borrowed story elements from Dark Empire and put them onscreen. Also, I'll add a link to the Dark Empire animated adaptation being done on YouTube.
In 2 weeks I'll conclude my "Dark Empire Trilogy" by focusing on the cover art, and the toys! Of all the non film material, Dark Empire has a lot of collectables! I'll cover them all, including the only 2 SA 3.75 inch figures done in the modern line.
This article from the main Star Wars webpage from a few years back is a good read!
https://www.starwars.com/news/how-dark-empire-kickstarted-star-wars-comics-for-a-new-generation
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