Customer Reviews

Star Wars: Dark Empire II 2nd Edition

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This second volume of the Dark Empire series is worse than the original. Far worse. And that's quite an accomplishment given how horrible the first one was.

The Emperor was killed in Return of the Jedi, revived and killed in Dark Empire, and returns yet again in Dark Empire II. As in previous incarnations, he's miraculously got another superweapon up his sleeve, this time a long-barreled ship that fires intelligently guided projectiles shaped like rifle ammunition, a weapon for which writer Tom Veitch could not come up with a better name that the Galaxy Gun. As the newly cloned Palpatine remarks, "Marvelous. It's a wonder we didn't think of it decades ago."

The Emperor also has a new elite force of Dark Jedi who bumble around and manage to get knocked off one by one. The Empire fires its Galaxy Gun and destroys the moon housing the Rebel Alliance - but not before everyone escapes. A new space-faring race is discovered, one that employs old but tested technology to power its ships - steam engines. Luke discovers ancient Jedi texts, along with a few lost Jedi, and begins the process of reorganizing the Jedi Knights. Leia has her third child, which she names after her father, Anakin. And once again there is a useless subplot involving Boba Fett.

But this time the ending is worse than you can possibly imagine. The Emperor escapes, leaving you with the sense of impending boredom in future volumes from Tom Veitch.

#

Excellent edition, highly recommended.
This edition includes the Hard to find out of print "Empire's End"

I wasn't crazy about the first Star Wars: Dark Empire Trilogy HC (Star Wars (Dark Horse)), but thought it had some redeeming value. By contrast, Star Wars: Dark Empire II 2nd Edition is just bad. The main villains are a bunch of Dark Jedi working for Palpatine who can't seem to do anything right. There really isn't much of a plot. The worst part is the Galaxy Gun. If you're sick of super-duper weapons, you'll hate the plot device. The Galaxy Gun can just fire a single missile and take out any planet. It makes being a dictator all the easier. But it's also pretty unrealistic and silly. After all, if such a weapon were possible Star Wars, why wouldn't anybody else build one? Rather than conquer the galaxy, why not just destroy any planet that puts up any resistance? And why didn't Palpatine use the Galaxy Gun to destroy Mon Calamari? Unfortunately, superweapons in the Star Wars universe have become a substitute for a good plot and character development.

This collection is is the second part, and conclusion, of the Dark Empire story arc. The Dark Empire series is by far the most influential and well received Dark Horse Star Wars publication to date. In fact, if it wasn't for Dark Empire and the Thrawn Trilogy, written by Timothy Zahn, George Lucas would have never worked up the nerve to produce the Prequel Trilogy, and Star Wars would have probably died in the early 90s.

Despite the "historical importance" of this series, it is an awesome series on its own, and I defenitely recommend that anyone reading this review check out Dark Empire I. Dark Empire II is the second part of the series, and this new release also includes "Empire's End", which is the conclusion of the series. This addition of the Empire's End is awesome, because in the past this story has been incredibly hard to track down and purchase. In fact I was not able to read it until I purchased this collection about a year ago.

Dark Empire II takes place almost immediately after the events of Dark Empire I. I will not spoil anything by telling you the story, check it out yourself. The artwork is the same as Dark Empire I. The unique coloring, and the impressionistic artwork of this series tends to turn off some people, but in my opinion it is awesome. It is a very creative and expressive way of visually potraying the Star Wars universe. I would almost recommend buying the entire series based on the artwork alone.

Empire's End takes place shortly after Dark Empire II. Again I will not spoil anything by telling you the story. Empire's End is the oddball in the series because the artwork is almost completely different. The seemingly "odd" color schemes are not used in this series. Regardless the artwork is still expressive and impressionistic like the other parts of the series. I do not know the reason for the change of direction, but the artwork is still awesome. Despite the discongruity in the art, the story fits right in with the rest of the series.

In summary buy this collection. You get two great stories for the price of one. You get a rare and hard to find story as an added-on bonus. You eyes will be stimulated with engaging artwork, and your imagination will be stimulated by a very engaging storyline. This collection, just like Dark Empire I, is a must for any Star Wars comic enthusiast or any fan of the Expanded Universe.

Some bad characterization and a bit of foul dialogue aren't enough to ruin this great EU work.

The Dark Empire series has such a unique visual style. The art is just amazing. The story isn't quite there, but it's well worth the read.

Some of the worst artistry I have ever seen. I only read these comics because I got tired of the novels kept citing things that happened in these comics. Did Lucas approve of this? He should already be shot for giving us episode 1? We can just add this comic and the second one to his string of offenses against his fan base.

This chapter of the Star Wars Universe takes place six years after the events on Endor (the events in the Return of the Jedi film). Luke has just recovered from being led by the Emperor and turning to the dark side himself.

This series of books (Dark Empire I, II, and Empire's End) has been widely received by many who follow the Expanded Universe. Events in future books are shaped greatly by what occurs in these books, namely restarting the Jedi Academy on Yavin.

Now, for the first time, Empire's End is included with this re-release of the comic by Dark Horse. This set of both books is a Must Have for any Star Wars fan.

Reading the series in a trade versus single issues really makes it all tie together better. The storyline is a great continuation from the original trilogy.

First off, I got the wrong one, I meant to get the first one. But this one was good too. I'm only giving it 4 stars. Because It was in magazine form on the "Book on Cd" Really gets you into the story much better than just reading the magazine form. I heard the dark empire 1 and two. And, it was awesome on Cd. I'm so glad Leia saved Luke from the dark side. Why couldn't it be in chapter book form. Anyway, nice job!