World Famous Comics: Empire's End (Star Wars: Dark Empire Series)
Empire's End (Star Wars: Dark Empire Series)
By: Tom Veitch Publisher: Dark Horse Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Dark Horse Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 56 Publication Date: September 24, 1997 Reading Level: Young Adult
Product Description: Emperor Palpatine has a new weapon -- one that can annihilate a planet. But he's not targeting a planet -- he's targeting the future of the Jedi, Leia's children. It looks like a hopeless situation for Luke Skywalker, who has the critical task of protecting the children. But it's not the first time Luke has found hope where none existed. The finale to the Dark Empire trilogy is collected here.
Empire's End, Please This story line picks up following Dark Empire II. With the exception of the Galaxy Gun being put out of action, as well as the final incarnation of the Clone Emperor, very little sustenance if offered here.
AWSOME! I LOVED it! I think that it was terrific because it seemed real. In any other book, the bad guys would always become these killing machines, but in this one, they are more natural. I also like how the emporer fought in the final duel! I think that it is terrific!
Brilliant Empire's End is a brilliant piece of Dark Horse's Star Wars line of comics. Jim Baikie's art is sensational. I like the drawings of lightsabers, Rayf, Brand, Solusar and the Darksiders. I really like how the Darksiders' lightsaber colors are red. I didn't like how weak the Darksiders were. I would have like to see them put up a better fight. Those are my only problems. I also love the climatic lightsaber duels. Empire's End is highly recommended.
So so The story was rushed first of all. The artwork was pretty good, but changing artists was a bad choice. The fight sequences were way to short, especially the one to get to the emperors personal ship in EE2. Besides the rushing, the storyline was pretty good, and Brands sacrifice was a nice end to the series.
If this is the Empire's end then where does Pellaeon fit in? As some of you may know, there was originally supposed to be a "Dark Empire III", and this is the end result of that project. Overall it's not a good result. However, the downward trajectory was already evident in Dark Empire II (IMHO). At this point in time, I even feel ambivalent about the first series.
However, archaeologically speaking ( in terms of its legacy in the Star Wars expanded universe ), the first Dark Empire is very important. It's those text sections at the end of the comics, a feature that was missed in the sequels. These pages first described such things as Adegan crystals, Ulic Qel-Droma, the Krath, etc., and also featured the exploits of Sate Pestage. All in all, a very influential set of text pages. Also, in the first series the "acquired taste" of Cam Kennedy's artwork had yet to become overdone and grating; some panels were actually rather beautiful ( Leia looking at the hologram of Bodo Baas, etc. ).
By Empire's End, though, even Kennedy isn't involved. The interior artwork has been handed over to someone wholly inappropriate. Even the traditionally impressive Dave Dorman covers have somehow gotten screwed up. I mean, look at the image that's supposed to be Han Solo, on the cover of the first issue. It looks more like a chipmunk-Solo kewpie doll.
The other problem is the story. By the time this comic came out, the readers of SW EU material had already had it up to here with all the superweapons, and now.... yes, another superweapon. Also, the annoying fact that the clone Emperor seems to be unkillable as long as another series is planned. But the worst bit is about Empatojayos Brand and a "lightning gun" attachment to the Falcon. It's all well and good to rationalize weak points in a book, but here we begin to go into the "Help, I'm retarded" zone. Does Tom Veitch know what lightning is? Does that sound like any tech that's already been established in the SW universe? COME ON!!!!
In fact, I had forgotten that Byss got destroyed in this series, until I went on a mission to Byss in the game Jedi Academy and found that it was "the remains of the planet".
The only part of Empire's End that I liked was when the Emperor goes to Korriban and is taunted by the sneering ghosts of the ancient Sith. "Emperor of a thousand worlds" and all that. It puts things into maybe a little bit more prespective to realize that they don't see Palpatine as their superior.
One last thing: about the title of this review. I believe that the question of EU canon really comes down to what you like vs. what you don't particularly care for. Since I like the book Vision of the Future ( somewhat more than I did when it came out ), I tend to think the real end of the Empire as a significant threat was the peace treaty with the New Republic. After that there's the so-called Empire of the Hand...
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
