MG Reads Dark Empire #3

[masterghandalf]

Dark Empire #3

On the bridge of the Star Destroyer Emancipator, an officer reports to Lando Calrissian that they’ve intercepted a transmission beaming images of Mon Cal’s destruction to the Deep Core. Lando has the crew latch onto the signal so they drop from hyperspace into Mon Cal orbit right on top of the Super Star Destroyer that’s transmitting it and destroy it. Lando gives the order to inform Pinnacle Base that they’re in position and to begin the attack. As the rest of the fleet holds the Imperial Star Destroyers back, Emancipator launches fighter squadrons to take the fight to the World Devastators on the surface.



On the bridge of Silencer 7, the lead Devastator, an officer reports to Commander Klev that they’re under fighter attack. Klev correctly deduces it’s the Rebels, launching fighters from a captured Star Destroyer. His subordinate thinks the X-wings are antiques that stand no chance against them, but Klev orders him to send a report to “Supreme Commander Skywalker” on Byss anyway, while they show the Rebels just what they’re up against here. On the surface, Mon Cal fighters are heartened by the arrival of Rebel forces – Ackbar hasn’t forgotten them! But the World Devastators start launching the drone TIE Fighters they’ve been producing, while Silencer 7 rises into orbit to confront Emancipator. Though the Star Destroyer fights back, Emacipator is swallowed by the Devastator’s maw. Lando opines that things haven’t been this bad since Vader was alive.



On Pinnacle Base, Leia is suddenly confronted by what appears to be an image of Darth Vader himself. The apparition says that it’s not really Vader, who has become one with the Force… and then transforms into Luke. He warns Leia not to follow him; he’s taken their father’s path, which was the only way to save the galaxy from the dark side. Leia says that if Luke follows that path, he’ll only destroy himself, and everyone else; before Luke can respond, another voice breaks into the conversation, gloating that Luke has risked all… and lost. Leia collapses and is discovered by Threepio. In the base’s main hangar, Han is instructing some Alliance pilots – a major weapons factory just defected from the Empire and brought a bunch of new E-Wing fighters with them, and these pilots will be flying them. They’ll be going up against the World Devastators, which Han has heard are worse than the Death Star, so they’ve got their work cut out for them. Han is suddenly approached by Mon Mothma, who tells him that Leia has collapsed and is in the infirmary, and Threepio, who says she was babbling about Master Luke.



In the infirmary, Leia tells Han that Luke is being swallowed by the dark side, and they have to find him. Han grouses that they’ll only have to search the whole galaxy, but Leia says the Force will lead her to him. Mon Mothma says that losing Luke would be a disaster for the Alliance, but Han complains about having to keep saving him. Leia scolds him and Han apologizes; he was getting bored playing professor anyway, but they still don’t know where to look. Leia says she thinks Luke is somewhere in the Deep Core, but that region of space has been cut off from the rest of the galaxy by the Empire for decades. Luckily, Han knows some people who’ve bought permission to travel the Deep Core…



Han and Leia get ready to head out on the Falcon; Threepio wants to go with them, for Artoo’s sake. Han promises General Rieekan to bring Luke back, and they head off. Mon Mothma, watching them go, worries to General Rieekan that if Luke has fallen, the New Republic may be lost. The Falcon sets course for the Nal Hutta system; Leia is not enthused about the idea of going to Jabba’s homeworld, but their actual destination is its moon, Nar Shaddaa, a major smuggling hub. Leia protests that Nar Shaddaa will be crawling with Hutts and bounty hunters, and that there’s no doubt a price on her head for killing Jabba; Han thinks that’s probably right, but he’s got friends here who can help them. He calls up one old friend, a man named Mako, who warns him that the Hutts have indeed quadrupled the price on their heads, but opens the shields and let them in. The Falcon flies through the decaying cityscape and indeed is quickly pursued by bounty hunters, but Han manages to outfly them while calling up another old friend, Shug Ninx.



Ninx is wary of helping, but Han reminds him of some old favors he did him; Ninx agrees to shelter them for a price. The Falcon flies through an advertising holoscreen and down a hidden tunnel to Ninx’s repair shop, followed by one last bounty hunter, but Ninx’s security system takes care of them and the Falcon lands in the garage. Han introduces Leia to Ninx as the one who really killed Jabba, and he’s impressed. He tells them he’s glad to help, but he warns them that things are crazy here, with the Imperials buying up cargo space to run military equipment everywhere they can, which is why Ninx’s companion Shalla is working on a souped-up ship of her own, Starlight Intruder. Shalla and Han apparently have a history, but Han just says they need a run to the Deep Core, for which he’s willing to pay handsomely. Shalla’s willing to do it, once Intruder’s hyperdrive is overhauled; Han introduces her to Leia, and Shalla warns her that Han will break her heart. Shalla can have the Intruder’s hyperdrive ready quickly, but Ninx thinks some of the old power couplings Han kept stashed in his place here might help.



Leia is losing patience – Luke falls farther into darkness every moment they wait! But she and Han set out through the slums to Han’s old apartment. He admits the city is even worse now than when he lived here. Suddenly, they’re accosted by an old woman, who claims she can sense that Leia is a Jedi! The old woman, Vima, claims she was once a Jedi too and begs Leia to forgive her for her crimes. When the Jedi were killed, Vima fled here to hide, and she’s been hiding ever since – but Leia is the spark that will rekindle the fire. She gives Leia something in a small box – once it was Vima’s, and now she wants Leia to have it. When Leia looks up again, Vima is gone. Reaching Han’s old apartment, they find a rundown old droid named ZZ, who Han apparently left to look out for the place. ZZ tells Han that haltingly tells Han that he has a visitor… there’s a Mr. Fett here to see him…

MG’s Thoughts

Once again, this is an issue where a lot happens in a very short time; reading through this series, I’m starting to think that it might have worked to Dark Empire’s benefit had the original limited series been longer, nine or even twelve issues instead of six. Because this one throws a lot at us. We have the opening battle on Mon Cal, Leia’s vision on Da Soocha V and subsequently setting out on her mission, and the extended sequence on Nar Shaddaa where we meet a bunch of new characters. At the same time, I don’t really have a lot to say about most of it; this is very much a middle-of-the-story type issue, that advances a lot of the plot without really resolving anything.

I continue to like the idea of the World Devastators, and we get to see them in action directly and get a sense of just how dangerous they are in the opening battle (though I do find the continued shilling of them as “worse than the Death Star” to be rather wearying; surely we can establish that they’re dangerous without having to transparently one-up the movies like this? Especially since the World Devatastators are a completely different sort of weapon from the Death Star and offer a completely different sort of threat?). Leia’s vision is nicely creepy, and the sort of thing the comic’s art style handles quite well, though it’s notable it’s the only appearance of Luke or Palpatine in the whole issue (and our heroes aside from Luke still haven’t realized just who they’re up against yet, so the Emperor actually goes entirely unmentioned this time around except for when he butts in on the vision). Han’s characterization feels a bit off to me here and has somewhat across the comic so far – I kind of feel like Veitch is making him a bit too cynical and grumpy for where he should be at this point in his arc. Maybe the hopelessness of the situation is just getting to him.

It is a bit nice to see more of Han’s backstory, and the grimy, decaying cityscape of Nar Shaddaa is another element the artwork does well with (though I’m not sure it distinguishes it enough from other locations, when the overall atmosphere of the whole comic is so dreary). OTOH, at least so far none of Han’s friends, or the other characters we meet on Nar Shaddaa, are all that interesting to me. I think it’s telling that while a lot of the supporting characters introduced in the Thrawn books (Mara Jade, Talon Karrde, Garm Bel Iblis, Pellaeon, etc.) would go on to play major roles in further EU storylines, I don’t feel like any of the new Dark Empire characters had the same staying power. Maybe they’ll grow on me as we continue this story. Something else I’ve noticed is that we’re starting to get more explicit references to the time frame in this issue, but at the same time people are talking about events like the Battle of Endor and Jabba’s death like they’re much more recent than they are, so I don’t think the timeline has been quite straightened out yet. And we have our cliffhanger – Fett’s alive! IIRC, regardless of his thoughts on bringing Palpatine back, Fett escaping the Sarlacc was something Lucas himself always wanted to do, and both Legends and Disney have followed through on that.