Dark Empire I (Star Wars)

Dark Empire I (Star Wars)

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Editorial Reviews

Join Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie as they battle the Empire's latest super-weapons: the gigantic, planet-destorying World Devastators! Six years after the Battle of Endor, the Empire has been reborn, guided by a mysterious new leader. With a price on their heads, our heros are on the run. Han and Leia struggle to protect their unborn child from the bounty hunters and Imperial troops that dog their steps. But their greatest danger my lie in the troubled heart of a hero - as Luke succumbs to the lure of the dark side!

Tom Veitch's original comic strip story traces Luke Skywalker's entrance into the Dark Side in the years after the fall of Darth Vader. The Empire is fragmented, and the Rebels seem on the verge of winning their long struggle when the sinister power of World Devastators emerges from the galactic core. These Devastators chew up worlds and manufacture robotic war machines out of the resources they consume. Luke's dark journey seems the only way to halt the massacre. But despite the importance of Luke in Dark Empire, the portrayal of Leia as an emerging Jedi is really the centerpiece of this volume. Married to Han (who goes flat in Veitch's hands) and with two children, Leia is torn between her role as mother and her role as Jedi warrior. While the story sometimes jumps too quickly between major scenes, Veitch does a good job of capturing the epic feel of George Lucas's masterpiece trilogy. Cam Kennedy's artwork is mixed in quality. Some of his drawings of the Millennium Falcon, hunter-killer probes, and robotic TIE-fighters seem to leap directly from the movie screen, while his human figures (especially of Han and Luke) can appear generic. Also, his style of coloring, using washes of similar colors on each page, is good for capturing moods but tends to obscure details. Despite these occasional shortcoming, this comic is recommended for one simple reason: once you start reading it, you won't be able to put it down. The other two parts of the Dark Empire trilogy include: Dark Empire II and Empire's End.--Patrick O'Kelley

Customer Reviews

Star Wars Dark Empire I: Read Before Judgment...

Reviewed by Joel E. Lancaster, 2010-01-22

Okay, I know there's currently a lot of heated discussion over this comic book series. There are those of us in the wonderful world of Star Wars who think this collection was the biggest waste of time and money in the history of the Star Wars universe. And on the flip side, there are those of us who think that this story is a gem that should not be overlooked. Sorry all, I happen to agree with the latter group. Dark Empire is, in my opinion, a great novel. Does it have its flaws? Yes. But for all you cynics and naysayers out there, just let me ask you this: can you name a series that is absolutely, positively, one-hundred percent perfect? I rest my case. And now back to the book.
Dark Empire is a continuation of the Star Wars saga, taking place six years after the Battle of Endor, where Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine met their deaths. Or did they? As the story continues, we discover that Palpatine is, in fact, not dead as we had all thought, but has been reborn through the use of cloning. But I'm getting side-tracked here. We'll get back to the Emperor later. As the story begins, Han Solo and his wife Leia Organa Solo are en route to Coruscant, heading to rescue a group of Rebel soldiers that have crash landed on the Imperial controlled world. Among the group of stranded troops are Lando Calrissian, Wedge Antilles, and Luke Skywalker. But as Han and Leia soon discover, there is more going on on the surface of the planet than they realize. After Luke refuses to return to the Rebel base with them, he forces them to leave him behind, and is abducted by the power of the Emperor, who is, as I've already stated, among the living after all. And now Luke is faced with a decision: can he murder the man who holds him captive, in the end becoming the very thing he just destroyed? Or must he leave the Emperor alive, in the end endangering everyone and everything he cares about? Or is there another choice, the choice to challenge the Dark Side...from within? You heard right. Twisted by the unbelievable power of the Dark Side, confused by the Emperor's lies and truths, made to believe that he must save the galaxy alone, Luke Skywalker follows in the steps of his father and succumbs to the Dark Side. Now it is a race against time for Leia, who, feeling her brother's descent into darkness, is determined to find him and save him from the Emperor's grasp, despite the fears and misgivings of her husband. But will she be in time to save Luke from himself? Or has he fallen too far to be saved?
This novel is filled with a wonderful story. As I am a huge Original Trilogy junkie, I was ecstatic to hear of a comic series that prominently featured my favorite characters. One of the things I loved most about the series was the way each of the characters was presented in a different light. Everyone is used to Luke being a shy, sensitive, farmboy-turned-powerful-Jedi. Who could ever envision him as a Darksider? Certainly not me. And Luke is not the only one to be shown from such a different viewpoint. Leia is also seen in a different light as well. We're used to seeing the headstrong, fiery-tempered but still humanitarian-minded former Princess of Alderaan. Now, however, Leia is not in total control of the situation around her, and is unable to prevent her brother from falling to the Dark Side no matter how hard she tries to talk him out of it. She has to deal with the fact that Luke has followed the footsteps of their father, even as she tries to deal with a skeptical Han and fight her own self-doubt. And, if all this wasn't enough to begin with, did I mention the fact that she's pregnant? Definitely a side of Leia we hadn't seen before. But it adds a richness to the story, a realism, and it finally introduces the character of Anakin Solo, even though he technically isn't born until the second installment of the comic series. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to the here and now. All in all, I really liked the story. The idea of a redemptive tale that hearkens back to the Original Trilogy itself really made an impression on me. And I really liked the fact that the characters of Luke and Leia are explored a little more. In the end, I loved it.
But, like all stories, Dark Empire has its flaws. First off, the artwork. Umm, am I the only one to notice that, while the ships and battle scenes look great, the characters themselves look like--let's face it--crap? Sometimes you have to wonder exactly who the artists were modeling the characters after. And what is with the color scheme? We don't get any flesh tones on the character's faces until the last installment of the series, Empire's End. Sorry, but I'm not a fan of the artwork. I won't knock you if you are, but I'm not. End of story. Now the next problem I have with this novel is the dialogue. Okay, I realize a script has to go through some condensing to make it into a comic book, but this was just...strange. Some of the lines sound nothing like what the characters would actually say. And I have to say, Han really suffered in this department. He came off the entire time as a completely different person than he was in the other books and graphic novels. The entire story he's either mad at Luke or Leia, being snippy with the aforementioned characters, or just not himself at all. Were there some good lines in there for him? Yes. But those could be counted on one hand basically. Okay, moving on. Third problem I have with this story: cloning. I'm going to tell you right now that I have never been, nor will ever be, a fan of the Emperor. Vader has always been by favorite villain, mainly because he still has a speck of good inside him, so he's not completely corrupt. But the Emperor? I could have dealt with a clone faker, like we got with C'Baoth or Thrawn, but transferring consciousness into a clone? It seems a little farfetched for me. But the whole idea of having a clear Dark Side vs. Light Side fight made it all worthwhile. Next problem: what is with the World Devastators? A walking wrecking ball/factory is supposed to be more lethal than the Death Star? Tell that to Alderaan! I'm sure they'll disagree.
Well, I realize that there is a lot of controversy surrounding this story, but all in all, I think it's a good read. Just keep in mind the way you've always seen the characters in the past, and I think it will help you immensly when you read. Don't just take all the criticism at face value; really pick up the comic before you make your decision about whether it's trash or treasure. In reality, it truly is an amazing story. But I think that it would be much more widely accepted and loved and just plain understood better if it were to be released as a novel, and I'm not talking graphic novel. I mean real-deal book. I heard that Lucas had no plans to make a novel of Dark Empire anytime soon, but I'd be more than willing to be the novel's author if he ever decides to put the project in the works! So all in all, give Dark Empire a try. If you're like me, and are totally in love with Han, Luke, and Leia, I think you'll enjoy it. And if you love the Original Trilogy, I think this story will help you recapture that time when we first laid eyes on a galaxy far, far away...
I'm Leah and I'm fifteen years old. And yes, I did write this review. If a female Star Wars addict can love this story, can't we all? So may the Force be with you.
Always...

Comic full of Holes and without the Fun of Star Wars

Reviewed by Enrique Trevino, 2010-01-05

Dark Empire is one of the first Star Wars stories outside of the movies. It came out after the first non-Lucas Star Wars book, but before the sequels (the first book was part of a trilogy called "Thrawn Trilogy" written by Timothy Zahn). Dark Empire was a big hit and it had positive reviews. However, I didn't like it. I think the most important aspect of Luke Skywalker is that he rejected the dark side of the Force. To have a book where that part of the character is taken away just doesn't make sense. However, even if we allow that nonsense, the book is full of completely illogical sequences, such as the Emperor (who is alive because of cloning) making Skywalker a commander. It seems like someone as bright as the Emperor, wouldn't do something so foolish, specially without making Skywalker do some kind of test. He should have also put limits to the power he gave Skywalker over his forces. I understand that Emperor Palpatine is a very arrogant person, so arrogant that it led to his downfall in the movies, but to also have to accept that he is stupid is too much for me.

I also had some problems with the artwork. The characters are not close to how they looked in the movie, and while I understand that in comics one has to give the artist a chance to bring his style into the mix, I had an issue with how different Leia would look between panels.

One thing I would rescue out of the comic is the interesting information regarding the other Jedi who have tried to learn about the dark side. It made me want to learn more. I liked those bits with the Jedi cube.

Overall, I would recommend avoiding this comic book. There are a lot of better Star Wars stories to read (such as the Thrawn Trilogy).

Awesome!

Reviewed by Athanasiadis Efthimios, 2009-07-09

By far the best SW comic I ever read, the only one that perfectly delivers the glory of the films.

Artwork-5 strs
Story -5 strs
Dialogue-4 strs
Characterization -3 strs
Style -5 strs
Star Warsness- 5 strs

Average: 5 STARS!
The most must have SW comic of all!

Pure magic- a living Star Wars masterpiece!

Reviewed by Efth Athanasiadis, 2009-07-09

Dark Empire is considered to be either the best or the worst by people (the best by me). The sure thing is, it is arguably the greatest, most influential, most famous and most must-have SW graphic novel/ comic book.
The one that brought SW its lost glory. This is for comics what Thrawn Trilogy is for novels. It has its own, dark, magical artwork, its one-of-a-kind concept (the Emperor reborn) and the best part about it is the very fact that this book does not try to prevail over the SW that Lucas made. In every SW comic book you will see author always trying to be smarter, writing complicated dialogue, weird storyline etc. For example, TTT is considered to be a great EU work, but to me, it looks like it's rather like a Detective Thriller as far as complication is conserned-half of the time you don't know whats going on, and all that because the author is showing of. Not in Dark Empire-the bestselling and most Star Warsy comic book of all!

Luke Joins the DarkSide Like Daddy Darth.

Reviewed by M. Gaudet, 2009-03-31

He wears all black Just like Darth Vader and serves the emperor. This is for those who wondered what would happen if Luke fell to the darkside and fallowed his fathers path.

Still was before prequel era so Luke was a Dark Jedi but not knighted as a Sith Lord. This is something they should fix if they wanted to rewrite this book.

The art is hard t get used to and the writing is very fan fic ish. But this back in the day was for those who wanted a sequel to return of the jedi and little things like EU consistency or accuracy to George Lucas prequel vision were not in the picture.