Dark Empire: Issue 3: The Battle for Calamari

Things look bad for the New Republic/Rebels. The Empire's World Devastators have begun attacking the homeworld of the Mon Calamari. Lando and Wedge lead a desperate attempt to save the planet. Meanwhile, Luke, heavily under Palpatine's influence, sends a vision to Leia warning her that he's following his father's destiny, since its the only way to defeat the Dark Side.

Leia calls him out on how stupid that is, and resolves to go get him, but they have to find a way to the Deep Core. For that, Han takes her to find some of his old contacts on Nar Shadda, the Smugglers' Moon where Leia has a chance encounter with a crazy old woman named Vima who called her the spark of a new generation of Jedi.

And then Han hears from an old...acquaintance.

The third issue is an odd place to dump a bunch of new introductions, but after opening with action, the Leia & Han plot takes center stage, with Luke effectively taking up one page.

Luke's gotten himself in trouble, and Leia is going to get him, even if it means finding a way into the Galactic Deep Core and flying there herself. This is in-character behavior.

NO, NOT THAT WAY

The big addition is Nar Shadda. Orbiting the Hutt homeworld of Nal Hutta, Nar Shadda is one of those rough-and-tumble dens of scum and villainy, only instead of a dusty desert, its a dingy, rusty, crowded metropolis. Han's two old smuggler buddies, Shug Ninx the half-human mechanic and Salla Zend, an ex-girlfriend with a killer afro, are solid additions to his checkered past.

Dark Empire Issue 2: Devastator of Worlds

The second issue of Dark Empire picks up on the fifth moon of Da Soocha, where the Rebels/New Republic have regrouped their forces. Someone is pulling together and consolidating the Imperial remnants in the Galactic Core, and they're not sure who or what is behind it, but a massive war fleet is on the move, and they're equipped with massive ships called World Devastators.

They're a new kind of super weapon designed to destroy planets, but slowly. World Devastators work by consuming matter and planetary mass and converting the raw materials into new war materiel (usually automated by droids) that the Empire can release in battle. A large Imperial fleet with several of these warships included is currently attacking Admiral Ackbar's homeworld of Mon Calamari. Lando & Wedge prepare to lead a force to confront them.

Meanwhile, Leia worries terribly about where Luke is, and has serious doubts about letting him go off like that.

She's right to doubt. Luke and Artoo are imprisoned and taken to the Deep Core world of Byss, a planet soaked in the Dark Side of the Force. Here, in this stronghold, Luke is confronted by the mastermind of this resurgent Empire, none other than Emperor Palpatine himself in a cloned body.

The Palpatine reveal is a huge bombshell, but really isn't all that surprising. Bringing him back after his very definitive death in Return of the Jedi is, but the story justifies itself. He's so powerful in Dark Side abilities that he's able to transfer his essence from one body to another to prolong his life. He he was able to do that from the reactor shaft of the Death Star to Byss is a simple matter of SHUTUPTHAT'SNOTIMPORTANT. (Its kind of a plot hole, but its a cool scene nonetheless).

Luke, deciding to challenge the Emperor and the Dark Side itself from within, kneels before Palpatine. The issue's light on action, but heavy on reveals.

Would you look at that. Not-Porgs

Dark Empire: Issue 1: The Destiny of a Jedi

Taking a break from Vintage Marvel Star Wars for a moment because that's a big long run and variety is the spice of life.

In the early 90s, Dark Horse Comics, a young independent comic publisher founded in 1986, was given the licensing rights to Star Wars. Their first comic in the franchise was released in 1991 with Dark Empire issue 1. Written by indie comics veteran (and former Benedictine Monk) Tom Veitch and illustrated by 2000 AD artist Cam Kennedy, the story was originally developed for publication at Marvel before the license transferred over.

In production around the same time as Timothy Zahn was writing his Thrawn trilogy, Dark Empire is set six years after the Battle of Endor and the opening crawl makes it clear that a resurgent Empire has re-taken Imperial Center and driven the New Republic back into a rebellion. But a Civil War has broken out within the Empire.

It begins with Han, Leia, Chewie & the droids leading a rescue mission to Coruscant to rescue Luke, Lando & a force of Rebel troops that have crashed in the middle of a war zone.

They find Lando and the troops without much trouble, and fend off battlefield scavengers until an Imperial walker shows up. They're rescued by Luke, who solos the walker and warns the rest of them to get off-planet.

Luke taking down a walker on foot after deflecting its shots 

would be pretty cool in live actio--oh, right.

The Last Jedi happened.

He's in an emo phase and warns that something powerful is coming for him and he has to meet his destiny.

The rest of the heroes escape the planet while Luke & Artoo are caught up in a Force Storm that takes them off Coruscant for parts unknown.

There's a lot of stuff thrown at the wall, and the art is strikingly gorgeous. Its radically different from what came before (and after), which gives the whole thing an air of gravity. I remember the original floppy issues were printed on higher quality paper too. As a relaunch for Star Wars comics, it felt like a prestige product.