Star Wars: The Dark Empire Trilogy (1991-1995) Comic Book Discussion

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing alright. I'm back for the first comic book post in the new format. This week I'm talking about the trilogy that relaunched Star Wars into comics, Dark Empire. I'm talking about the entire 14 issue run, starting with Dark Empire in 1991 and wrapping things up with Empire's End in 1995. So let's get into it.

On December 12th, 1991, Dark Empire #1 was published by Dark Horse Comics, a fledgling comic book publisher which had only been around for five years, but quickly established itself as the home of comic book adaptations of pre-existing movie and TV show franchises, as well as serving as an alternative choice for not just readers, but for creators as well, long before Image Comics was founded. Strangely enough, it had been five years since Marvel's original Star Wars comic book run had ended after 107 issues, several annuals, and several movie and TV show tie-ins/adaptations. At the same time Bantam Spectra had hired Timothy Zahn to publish a trilogy of novels that would act as an unofficial sequel trilogy since George Lucas probably wasn't going to get around to doing an actual sequel movie trilogy anytime soon, if at all. The series told the story of a resurgent Empire under the control of a resurrected Emperor Palpatine and Luke's decision to turn to the dark side and become his new apprentice as Darth Vader had done many years earlier. The final issue came out on October 20th, 1992, nearly 11 months after the first issue came out.

The only individual issue I ever owned of this series was issue #3, where Leia and Han discover that Luke had turned to the dark side and was in command of the Imperial forces attacking Mon Calamari. I like this story alot, however, despite it being produced at the same time Zahn was writing Heir to the Empire and Dark Force Rising, it very much feels like a contradiction to what Zahn was doing in the novels. They make work well enough by having Dark Empire take place a year after the Thrawn Trilogy, by making the characters think they'd defeated the Empire following the death of Thrawn in The Last Command, as seen in book eight of the X-Wing novel series, Isard's Revenge. However, because The Last Command didn't get published until April, 1993, only a few months after this series ended, we just know that Thrawn has been defeated, though Thrawn isn't mentioned at all in the opening crawl of the first issue. In fact, Zahn's books aren't even mentioned at all in the comics themselves.

One of the things that I like about this series is that it actually sets up much of Han's past for the first time with the introduction of Salla Zend, Shug Ninx, and Mako Spince, three characters who would return in the second and third novels of the Han Solo Trilogy by A.C. Crispin. It also establishes that Boba Fett somehow managed to escape from the Sarlacc pit not long after Han, Leia, and Luke left Tatooine in Return of the Jedi. 

I'm not as big of a fan of Palpatine being resurrected as a clone. Mostly because we had clone stuff going on in Zahn's novel trilogy, and this was a decade before George Lucas would be developing and writing Attack of the Clones, therefore expanding on the whole concept of clones and doing away with all the stupidity of adding an extra letter into someone's name to distinguish themselves as clones i.e. Joruus C'baoth and Luuke Skywalker in the Thrawn Trilogy. Plus it kinda undoes Vader's sacrifice in Return of the Jedi given that Luke and the rest of the gang from the movies were still alive, and only six years older than they were in Return of the Jedi compared to the 30 years older they were in Disney's Sequel Trilogy. I mean, by this point, Leia is concerned that because her children are the grandchildren of Darth Vader, and are very powerful in the Force, they'll follow the same path as their grandfather did. Especially their youngest child, who they stupidly named Anakin, after Anakin Skywalker a.k.a. Darth Vader. As we know now, from the Legacy of the Force series, Leia has every right to be concerned, though clearly she was worried about the wrong child.

The other thing I don't like about this series is Cam Kennedy's artwork. Alot of the time the colours are completely off and he has way too many closeups outside of space shots that it can get distracting at times. Especially if you're reading this comic book series for the first time and aren't used to his art style. The story is still pretty good though, and it easily could've been the alternate version of the sequel trilogy rather than a sequel to Zahn's novels. 

In May 1993, Dark Horse published a trade paperback edition, which collects all six issues of the series. This is the version that I have in my collection. The opening crawl for the trade does mention the New Republic's war with Grand Admiral Thrawn though, because the trade came out in 1993 and was re-released in January 1995, Michael A. Stackpole hadn't yet created the events of Isard's Revenge yet, so there's no mention of Ysanne Isard or her collaboration with Prince-Admiral Krennel. Because of this, the sudden coordinated attack on the New Republic by the surviving Imperial leaders happens mere days after Thrawn's defeat rather than months after the fact. Again, this was at the very beginning of what the original Expanded Universe would become in the '90s and 2000s, so some of what happened in Zahn's novels, and this comic book series ended up being retconned by subsequent novels and comics that take place earlier in the timeline.

On August 27th, 2003, Dark Horse published a brand new edition of the trade paperback. I've never seen this edition in person before, as I own the second printing of the original edition, but according to Wookieepedia, the endnotes that expand on the background information, including stuff that would later be used by Kevin J. Anderson in the Jedi Academy Trilogy novels, and the Tales of the Jedi comic book series, and were in both the original individual issues and the original trade paperback release, were removed for this release for some reason. I don't know for sure, but I think the new edition includes chapter stops that the original trade lacked, be it title pages for each issue or the original cover artwork from the individual issues. 

Then on September 17th, 2008 a hardcover compilation containing all of the major comic book stories featuring Luke Skywalker, including Dark Empire and a few issues of the original Marvel Comics series, was published. I've never seen this hardcover either, so I have no idea whether cover artwork is included or any of the endnotes are or not.

From December 20th, 1994 to May 23rd, 1995, Dark Horse published a six issue follow up called Dark Empire II. While not as good as the original, Dark Empire II is a pretty good story. It introduces the concept of Palpatine having a group of Dark Side Users who lead the Empire in his absence, being that he was having his next clone readied following Luke's return to the light side, similar to the Inquisitors that we see in the shows like Rebels and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Though, unlike the Inquisitors, the Executors don't hunt wayward Jedi. The thing is, this series feels tacked on and unnecessary. Dark Empire feels like a fully self-contained stories that had lasting consequences in the Expanded Universe, particularly the novels published by Bantam Spectra. So this series just feels a bit extra. Like a bonus story so that we could get the birth of Anakin Solo, the third child of Han and Leia. Personally, I don't have any real connection to this story as I only got the trade as an adult and have never owned any of the individual issues.

On September 5th, 1995 Dark Empire II was published in trade paperback form. It includes a foreword by Ralph McQuarrie, the original art designer for the Original Trilogy, and an afterword by series writer, Tom Veitch. Also, interestingly enough there's also a cover gallery featuring all of the cover art for both Dark Empire and Dark Empire II by artist, Dave Dorman, who did alot of cover work for Star Wars in the '90s, including various comic books and novel covers. A second edition was eventually published, but I'll be covering that a bit later.

Then in October and November 1995, a two issue epilogue, detailing the final defeat of the cloned Emperor Palpatine, which involves Han simply shooting him, was published. Yeah, this feels even more tacked on than Dark Empire II does. Tom Veitch returned as the writer, but Jim Baikie replaced Cam Kennedy as the artist, for a reason that I don't remember. Baikie's artwork is slightly better being that it's not all a singular colour in each panel the way Kennedy's was. At least they didn't try to expand it beyond the two issues, because as it was the story was already stretched pretty thin with Dark Empire II. I also don't have any history with the individual issues of the series, being it was only two and I didn't know much about Star Wars comics in the mid-'90s other than I had Dark Empire #3.

On September 10th, 1997 Dark Horse published a very thin trade paperback edition, collecting both issues of the series. The trade contains an epilogue that details the reorganization of the New Republic, including the dissolution of the Provisional Council and the creation of the new Galactic Senate following Palpatine's dissolution of the Imperial Senate in A New Hope.

On September 13th, 2006 Dark Horse published a second edition trade paperback of Dark Empire II, which includes Empire's End. Like with the third edition trade for Dark Empire, I've never seen this edition of Dark Empire II, though I do remember when it was announced in Star Wars Insider earlier that same year. And oddly enough, despite the movie taking place in late 1998, they used this edition, along with the 2003 edition of Dark Empire in the background of the comic book store scene in the 2009 comedy, Fanboys.

On September 15th, 2010 a hardcover edition collecting Dark Empire, Dark Empire II, and Empire's End under the title, Star Wars: Dark Empire Trilogy, which uses Dave Dorman's cover art for the original trade paperback for Dark Empire. Again, I've never owned this edition, though I have seen it at various comic book stores over the years.

Sometime in the mid 2010s, Marvel Comics published a Legends banner edition of the 2010 trilogy hardcover. I'm not sure when exactly, but I'm pretty sure it's actually the digital edition that Marvel published, because I don't remember ever seeing a Legends banner edition of this hardcover on the rack at the comic book store. 

Then on March 23rd, 2021, Marvel published Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The New Republic Volume 5, which contains the entire Dark Empire Trilogy as well as material from issues 8, 11, 16, and 17 of the non-canon, or Infinities, comic book series, Star Wars Tales and the first and third volumes of the Star Wars Handbook comic book series, which acted as supplemental material for Dark Empire, Crimson Empire, and X-Wing Rogue Squadron. Also, according to Wookieepedia, the endnotes from Dark Empire are included for the first time since the 1995 reprint of the original 1993 Dark Empire trade. I've seen this volume around, but I can't afford Marvel's Epic Collection series, so I've never purchased it.

Finally, on June 11th, 2024, Marvel will release Star Wars Legends: The New Republic Omnibus Volume 2 in hardcover. This will collect all three parts of the Dark Empire Trilogy, all three comic book adaptations of Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy novels, The Jabba Tape and a bunch of the Boba Fett comics that Dark Horse had published in the '90s, along with the Star Wars Handbook and Star Wars Tales materials originally collected in the Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The New Republic trade paperbacks.

Overall, the Dark Empire Trilogy is a good story. While I feel like Dark Empire II and Empire's End feel tacked on and their contributions to the Expanded Universe are minimal, the entire series is still significant. Not only was Dark Empire the launch point for Star Wars comics following the end of Marvel's original run in 1986 and the end of their series based on the Droids and Ewoks cartoons in 1987, but it firmly established the comic book side of the original Expanded Universe as well. Plus the consequences of Luke turning to the dark side and becoming Palpatine's apprentice were felt throughout the rest of the novels published in the '90s and well into the Del Rey series such as The New Jedi Order and Legacy of the Force in the 2000s as well

And that's my look at Star Wars: The Dark Empire Trilogy. I hope you guys like this new format. It works alot better for me because I can talk about any book, comic, movie or TV show, as long as I've read or seen it, anytime that I want without having to take the time to read or watch it simply to review it. I can now just read and watch things for my own personal enjoyment, while still talking about them on here. 

That's it for me for today. I'll be back soon with another post. I originally planned to do my Home Alone franchise discussion post tomorrow, but I think that's something I'm going to plan to do next week. My goal for the new year is to have three posts a week, aiming to post on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but for now, I'll continue the randomness of my current schedule. Also, next week is the last week I'll be posting for 2023. With Christmas being on a Monday this year, I've decided to take a couple of weeks off for the holidays. Though depending on how things are going in January, I might take all of January off too. We'll see though. So until then have a great night and I will talk to you all later. Take care.