Product Description: Kir Kanos is the last surviving member of the elite Crimson Guard. He's on the run -- and the Empire will stop at nothing to destroy him! The story details an amazing encounter with Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine and reveals at last what happened to the Crimson Guard after the death of the Emperor in Empire's End! The final battle of the last of the Royal Guards is about to begin -- and you have a ringside seat! Combining the dynamic artistic talents of Paul Gulacy and P. Craig Russell (winner of the 1998 Harvey Award for best artist), and featuring a cover painting by renowned Star Wars illustrator Dave Dorman, this is a Star Wars collection no fan will want to miss!
One of the best starwars comics Starwars Crimson Empire is prehaps one of the best starwars comics darkhorse has created . It had a really great storyline Amazing action and some nice artwork too. Another reason Starwars CE is so memorable is because IT's characters are truly unique . Kir Kanos is probably one of starwar's most complex and mysterious characters and never have I seen a villan as fascinating or as diabolical as Carnor Jax . In conclusion Starwars Crimson Empire Is MUST_READ!
SOLID SOTRY WITHOUT THE CORE CHARACTERS I've long considered Dark Horse to be the smartest and most resourceful comic book publisher. When they started out over twenty years ago, they made the conscious decision to not try to take on Marvel and DC at their own game. Instead, they published truly unique titles such as Concrete and Hellboy and were aggressive in obtaining the licenses to popular movie franchise like Aliens, Predator, and, their biggest coup, Star Wars. Let's not forget that Marvel had the Star Wars license in the 1970's and while they concentrated on the central characters from the first trilogy, Dark Horse has delved into the expanded universe, telling stories that were set thousands of years before the events in the first Star Wars film, as well as tales set well after Return of the Jedi, not to mention filling in gaps between the films.
This tale takes place about ten years after the destruction of the first Death Star and after Luke Skywalker has defeated the last of the Emperor's clones. The empire is fractured and looking for new leadership, and still looking to crush the rebellion. Stepping forward, and nominating himself as the new ruler is Carnor Jax, a member of the Emperor's Royal Guard.
The book sheds some deserving light on the members of the Royal Guard. These Crimson cloaked warriors were always shrouded in secrecy. A back story takes readers to the distant planet of Yinchorr, a desolate planet with no strategic value. It was here were potential Royal Guardsman received their harsh training. Often having to fight to the death to prove themselves worthy to the Emperor as well as Darth Vader. The Guardsman's training was perhaps even more strenuous than that of the Jedi.
On the planet of Phaeda, a mysterious man has just entered a local watering hole and is confronted by several soldiers and Stormtroopers, killing all of them single-handedly. This man turns out to be Kir Kanos, a former Royal Guardsman marked for death by Carnor Jax. Kanos uncovered a plot by Jax to have inferior clones of the Emperor, thereby sealing his fate. Still loyal to the Emperor, Kanos and other loyal Guardsmen battled Jax's forces but were overwhelmed by superior numbers until only Jax remained. Now, on this insignificant planet, Kanos finds himself in a strange alliance with local Rebel forces when Jax tracks him down and is willing to destroy the entire city to kill his enemy.
Here is a great example of an outstanding Star Wars story with little reliance on the core characters. Luke Skywalker and Vader make brief cameos in flashback sequences only. The book holds it own on the strong plot and the powerful enmity between Carnor Jax and Kir Kanos, two mortal enemies. You just know that one of them is not going to survive; it can be no other way. The art is by two veteran artists, and two of my favorites: penciller Paul Gulacy and inker P. Craig Russell. I've been a huge Gulacy fan ever since he worked on The Master of Kung-Fu in the 70's and his pencils are perfectly rendered by the poetic inks of Russell.
REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON
A review of the audiobook I have not read the graphic novel so the audiobook is my only experience with the story. I think this is important to note since it has to be difficult to convert a graphic novel, with its emphasis on visuals to move the storyline, to a completely audio format. Audiobooks from regular novels don't have this isssue.
This point is important - the audiobook depends rather heavily on sound effects to cover up for this visual to audio conversion. Sometimes it works quite well while at other times it becomes a jumbled mess of various punching sound effects that the listener has to wade through until the story picks up again.
In general though the sound effects, the use of multiple actors (like an old-fashioned radio play) and the inclusion of snippets of Star Wars music from the movie soundtracks is a great help. But, it fails to make up for the often adolescent level of dialogue and mind-bogglingly stupid battle tactics used by the remnants of the Imperial fleet at the end of the tape. These combine to make a potentially great work merely average.
Comic and Star Wars fans alike This graphic novel is superb. The art is incredible, the story amazing, and the sheer fact that it engrosses you is wonderful. Once i started reading i couldn't put it down. It reveals many empty voids left after the emperors death at the hands of vader, as well as give a story to the uber awesome red cloaked guards aka the royal guard. If you have never read a graphic novel this is is probably one of the best to start with.
TOO MUCH VIOLENCE This is a good illustrated novel, I as an adult enjoyed it very much. But if you are thinking about giving it to your kid or teenager I wouldn't recommend it. It has too much graphic violence .
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