Star Wars: Dark Empire

Star Wars: Dark Empire by Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy. 152 pages.

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).