Customer Reviews

Dark Empire (Star Wars)

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

For everybody's information (this is from published interviews with Veitch), when George Lucas asked Tom Veitch to write Star Wars: Dark Empire, Veitch said he thought the Empire would try to keep the fear of Darth Vader alive by putting somebody else inside the costume. Lucas told Veitch, "You can't use Vader, but you can bring back the Emperor if you can figure out how to do it." Veitch proposed that the Emperor had been cloning himself for some time, and Lucas said "great!" ...People need to understand that during the Star Wars revival of the early 1990s Lucas personally ok'd everything, including the plots of the comics. Veitch invented the two-bladed lightsaber (TPM) and the Jedi Holocron, among other things, and these were approved by Mr. Lucas. Cheers.

It is a time of peril for the New Republic. Six years after the Battle of Endor, the destruction of the Empire's second Death Star, and the defeat of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, the war for control of the galaxy still rages on.

Despite their victory over the infamous Grand Admiral Thrawn a year before, the former Rebels have been forced to evacuate Coruscant after a successful invasion by resurgent Imperial forces. But when the Empire's "leaders" begin to fight over the right to govern, civil war breaks out and gives Luke Skywalker, Lando Calrissian and Alliance troops an opening to carry out a daring raid on Coruscant itself. But the mission goes awry and Skywalker and Calrissian crash-land their captured Star Destroyer at the heart of the Imperial City.

But when Han Solo and his wife Leia, accompanied by Chewbacca and C-3PO, attempt to rescue Luke and Lando, they are taken aback by Luke's refusal to go with them back to the secret Alliance base known as Pinnacle. Instead, he allows himself to be whisked off by a dark side storm, leaving his twin sister and her husband to wonder if the burdens of being a Jedi Master are too heavy for Luke to bear alone.

When this new chapter of the Star Wars Expanded Universe was first published as a six-issue comic book series by Dark Horse, I had mixed feelings. The concept was daring...Luke falls to the dark side of the Force (or does he?), the Emperor, thought to be dead at the end of Return of the Jedi, is back, thanks to the power of cloning technology...heck, even Boba Fett is revealed to having not being found "digestible" by the Sarlacc. All very fascinating, but wasn't Tom Veitch pushing things a bit too far? So even though I read my friend Geno's six issues from cover to cover, I thought, "Nawww....I'm not buying this. It doesn't fit into the Star Wars saga...."

Ah. Silly me. When I read Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Search, the first installment of the Jedi Academy Trilogy, I noticed certain references to the reconstruction of both Coruscant and Mon Calamari, which had been subjected to battle and siege in Dark Empire. There were also passing references to the reborn Emperor. Later, when I broke down and bought this one volume collection, I read the introduction by Anderson and realized that the changes Veitch made in the Star Wars storyline were just too big to ignore. Even though as a Star Wars fan I know the only "official" version is the six-Episode film saga as written, produced, and/or directed by George Lucas, I lightened up and came to accept Dark Empire and its two sequels as an integral -- and fun -- part of the Expanded Universe.

The story by Veitch (once you get over the "how dare he?" reaction to it) is so well-written that you wish it had been a pure prose novel. The artwork by Cam Kennedy is innovative and at times almost impressionistic....as far as comics art is concerned I prefer the photo-realistic style of the prequel adaptations, but that doesn't take away from its beauty.

this was the very first star wars comic i have ever read, and i look forward to getting the sequels. yeah sure, the pictures weren't the best i've seen and the color was different(still interesting), it gave a lot of information on what happened between "the last command" by zahn and "jedi search" by anderson. being one who absolutely loves star wars and reads every book (and comic) that looks interesting to me, when i read the books they would sometimes talk about luke's time on the dark side, and i would be totally lost. when i saw this comic book in a book store, i quickly flipped though it, liked it and then bought it. needless to say, i am no longer lost when reading star wars. besides the fact that most people doing these reviews didn't like it, I DID, i loved it, and so did some other people. just remember if you DO get and really don't like it, amazon.com lets you return a book if your not fully satisfied. thanks

This book may have been well received in 1992, when the only thing you could compare it with was Marvel Comics nine year oeuvre. Fifteen years and several excellent Star Wars comic series later, Dark Empire holds up rather poorly. With a story structure nearly identical to Return of the Jedi, the book is over long on subplot, anemic in its main narrative, and soporifically overwritten. It also commits the worst sin of the comic book convention - reviving dead villains.

Back in 1992 this graphic novel was something of a major publishing event, one of the first wave of new novels and comic books after a decade when it seemed Star Wars was a dead and forgotten property. It was Darkhorse Comics first project on taking over the comic book license from Marvel, which stopped publishing Star Wars in 1986.

To make a big a splash as possible in marketing their new series, Darkhorse and writer Tom Veitch came up with the idea of turning Luke Skywalker into a villain. Or at least that's what they would like you to believe.

As the story unfolds, we find that Palpatine didn't really die at the conclusion of Return of the Jedi. He simply shifted his consciousness into a clone. And now he's back to threaten the galaxy with yet another giant super weapon. Actually, a whole fleet of superweapons, huge pulverizers and vacuum cleaners that scour the surface of planets and suck up their minerals, metals, and other valuable resources. (Which seems rather silly as then you'd have to take those resources and build new factories to produce new manufactured goods. It would be a much better use of the resources to simply control the planets and labor in situ and be able to confiscate their output.)

Not realizing that the Emperor is still alive, Luke follows a pulse in the Force that leads him to Palpatine's lair, where we have a complete rehash of the throne-room scene from Return of the Jedi. This time the Emperor holds out the possibility that the only way Luke can possibly defeat him is through the use of powers of the Dark side. And in one of the many examples of Veitch's purple exposition, we read:

"The Emperor's words blaze like lightening across Luke's mind . . The Dark side has spoken . . . And for once it speaks the truth. A moment of greatest peril has arrived . . But it is the moment for which Luke was born . . .He must challenge the Dark side from within . . . He must penetrate the power of the Dark side, and he must learn its secrets . . There is no other way."

Exactly _why_ Luke believes using Dark powers is the _only_ way to defeat Palpatine is left to the reader to imagine. His sudden capitulation smacks of nothing more than a cheap contrivance, a way to make a cool story with lots of menacing-Luke drawings without having to write a real story. The climax is equally vapid, with Luke having learned from his dalliance with the Dark side, "powers of control and destruction, . . . feelings of great isolation and sadness . . . [and] fear." How these powers differ from a Jedi's power to control and destroy, how these feelings differ from a Jedi's feelings of isolation, sadness and fear - Veitch obviously has no idea.

As in Return of the Jedi, there is an overlong and tiring subplot in which Mon Mothma, Admiral Ackbar, and Generals Calrissian, Madine, and Dodonna plan and execute massive space battles against the Imperials. There's also a completely fatuous and improbable sublpot involving Han and Leia visiting the Hutt world of Nar Shaddaa so that Veitch could work into the book Boba Fett, miraculously revived from the stomach of the Sarlacc into which he fell in Return of the Jedi.

About the only redeeming feature of Dark Empire is Cam Kennedy's art, done in a color style not typically associated with Star Wars. Using a pastel pallete, he paints in water colors outlined by black inks. Many pages are done in various shades and hues of one main color, with perhaps just a touch or two of a contrasting color for effect. (See sample images.)

Altogether this is a book worth missing. And if you want to not waste more of your time and money, you'll also skip the sequel, Dark Empire II, which unimaginably worse. For a much better Star Wars comic experience, try the more intelligently written Republic (published in book form under the Clone Wars) or Legacy series.

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Ok, this isn't a review of Dark Empire, but rather a counterpoint to the people who are blasting a very good peice of Star Wars expanded literature. Quite frankly, the Dark Empire trilogy is not the shipwreck that many people are making it out to be. Ok, the "Galaxy Gun" wasn't a very good name for a superweapon (cannon would have been better), but for the sake of Starwars fans everywhere, I'll just deal with the two biggest problems people seem to be having, the return of the Emperor and Luke's supposed switch to the Darkside. Considering you scrolled down this far, you already know the basic plot.

Yes, Vader's killing of Palpatine was a great ending to Lucas' saga. But the idea in Dark Empire is Palpatine and his empire were an evil so great that no one person could destroy them. It took Vader and his children, Luke and Leia, to finally put an end to Palpatine reign. Eventhough Han, in typical fashion, blows away the emperor's last (weak and genetically unstable) clone in Empire's End, it was stated that by Palpatine's doctor that he would die forever very soon unless he found a jedi to posses after his defeat and loss of aceptable clones in Dark Empire and Dark Empire II. So technically, it was Luke and Leia who "defeated" Palpatine. Luke also does the impossible by defeating the Emperor himself in physical combat (Which I felt was lacking even in the movie trilogy), something no jedi had ever done, and destroyed Palpatines best clones (with a little help from a revolting warrior or two). All these grafical novels do is expand the confict with Palpatine from Vader, down to the next generation, Luke and Leia, which is quite appropreate if one is familer with the Star Wars universe.

There is also a crystal clear explanation which is stated several times why Luke "turned" to the darkside. It was stated that Luke was trying to learn all of Palpatines dark secrets and then use them to destroy him and his empire once and for all. Come on! If Luke really turned to the darkside immediately why would he give the New Republic the codes to beat the invincible world devastators? Later on though, Luke does go too far into the darkside and Leia has to save him, like Luke did with Vader. Luke also did it to understand his father better, he needed to know why his father became Darth Vader. There's also a dozen pages in the back of Dark Empire which runs through the whole plot again! For crying out loud! Did these critics even read the book! Anyway, don't be put off by a few naysayers, the Dark Empire trilogy is better than bad, its great!

I have read all the Star Wars novels and figured that the only thing left was to fill in the gaps by reading the comics. The novels keep on alluding to the time he turned to the Dark Side and the Emperor returned so i figured that that was a good place to start.

Well I was wrong. This had to be the most poorly written, poorly illustrated work I have ever read. It was such a strain to get through it. Well where should I start?

The illustration actually wasn't that bad. The ships themselves were great pictures, but the illustrator could not for the life of him draw people. Han and Leia were extremely ambiguous and Luke was just horrible. But that alone didn't make this comic a 1 star.

The story itself was just really...wow...i dont have a word. Palpatine has incarnated himself in a clone body. At first I thought it was just a clone but then I found out it was REALLY the Palpatine we see on the Death Star II. To bring back this character is just a huge slight to Lucas and the myth he told in the trilogy. Bringing back the emperor basically undermined the whole vision that Lucas put into movie form.

Then Luke turns to the dark side? Why? No good reason was given. After fighting so hard on the Death Star not to give into the Dark Side, in this comic Luke walks up to the Emperor and simply kneels before him and declares himself a Dark Jedi. Talk about doing all that work for nothing!

In the novels and the encyclopedias after hearing so much about the Devastators and the Eclipse Star Destroyer I was again setting myself for a rude awakening. The Devastators are claimed to be even more lethal than the Death Star. The illustrations make them look like little toys in comparison and all they have to do to stop them is have artoo beam a code to them to shut them off. Very disappointing. The Eclipse is never used and the only time you see it is when it blows up due to a "Force Storm" created by the emperor. Jesus. If the Emperor could cause these "Force Storms" he should have been able to single handedly destroy the fleet at Endor.

In an anticlimatic battle Leia is pitted against evil Luke and all Leia says is basically, "dont me mean. Be nice Luke" and Luke turns back to the lightside and they both turn on the Emperor. How is the Emperor killed? Well it had better be better than in ROTJ, right? No it wasnt....

Oh yeah...several other things bugged me too. You would think that Coruscant falling over into Imperial hands would be part of the story. No...they skipped that part and the comic begins after the Empire captures it. Han and Lando are generals and luke is a commander again despite having withdrawn from the military all those years ago. Those dumb little Ixlls that look like they are wearing backpacks on their mouths. How the Emperor is able to suck Luke off of Coruscant using the Force. How this is the comic that officially brought Boba Fett back but he had only a one pager. Oh yeah...and how there are two more Dark Empire stories after this. Do yourself a favor. If you want to read a good comic. Read Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand. Much better.

No matter what I or anyone else thinks about DE, I must give it credit: Without it, the Star Wars comic franchise would not exist. And for this Star Wars fans indeed do need to be grateful to Tom Vietch.

Onto the book itself. It's somewhat of a mix, really. The story, writing, and so forth is pretty good on its own, althugh not stellar. Cam Kennedy's art is, as always... um... unique. The coloring can be dramatic at some times and annoying during others. Alas, the people don't tend to look all that much like their original selves and I, for one, find it to be a bit distracting. I must say, though, that Kenndey does thrilling, complex battle scenes the likes of which have not even been matched by the likes of John Nadeau. The Battle of Mon Calamari looks glorious, as does the two-page spread for the warzone on Coruscant.

However, my qualms with the DE series is much like those I have with the New Jedi Order novel series. In truth, it really does kind of tear away a lot of past significance. Indeed, it pretty much knocks everything in past SW history down a notch to place it on its own pedestal. And that, in my opinion, is just plain wrong. The SW universe should be no means become a place where authors try to outdo eachother with their 'galactic menace of the month'. Instead it should flow together, more like a history than an ongoing Saturday morning series. The Palpatine cloning concept opens the pathways for numerous tired repetitions like DEII and Empire's End, a.k.a. DEIII. The idea of Luke turning to the dark side is an interesting one, while the one that the Dark Side takes a physical toll os one that I, personally, like quite a bit.

So it's a mixed package. An interesting story on its own, but when taken into context it does cause problems. Still, the DE series is responsible for the rest of the SW comics, and without it we would not have excellant arcs like 'In the Empire's Service' and 'Mandatory Retirment'. I can't really say I reccomend it, but feel free to give it a try.

I'm not too much of a Star Wars fan , but I do know the plot , characters , ect. I haven't really read any other of the Star Wars comics , but I do know good work when I see it........ AND THIS IS FAR FROM IT ! The colors were murky , and tasteless. The plot........... well, I could have written something better . World Devastators?! A resurected Emperor Palpatine ?! WAY TOO TYPICAL ! @_@ - blahhh ! The people that made this probably wanted to create a brand new universe in the Star Wars world but they failed MISERABLY . ...... SEE KIDS , THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU AREN'T ORIGINAL !

This story line shouldn't have even been allowed to enter the Star Wars galaxy. The problems I have with this story start from the beginning, the dialogue is too jerky. The characters say need less things and that interrupts the flow a real conversation would have. My next problem is the "hyperspace wormhole" that just sounds like Star Trek not Star Wars to me. My last two specific problems are with the illustrations, first they just look bad. The characters look totaly different than they do in the movies. The only one that looks similar to the movies is the cover. My other problem with the illustrations is that they all have a green or red tint. The story line just doesn't feel like Star Wars!!!

I will never again read Star Wars comics. I hated the character abuse portrayed in Dark Empire, and I can't see how George Lucas could let trash like that bear the name STAR WARS. Thank God I didn't waste my money on the book. All I can say is I would have given it zero stars, but that wasn't an option.