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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 7, 2024 23:38:17 GMT -5
Next up... Dark Empire II
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on Sept 8, 2024 4:41:48 GMT -5
Next up... Dark Empire II Great! Looking forward to joining in with that. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 8, 2024 20:43:48 GMT -5
Next up... Dark Empire II Force Lightning Boogaloo? |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 11, 2024 21:47:11 GMT -5
Dark Empire II #1  Cover dated : December 1994 Issue title : Operation Shadowhand Script: Tom Veitch Artwork: Cam Kennedy Letters: Todd Klein Cover art Dave Dorman Overall rating: 8 out of 10 Plot Summary: We star with action in progress over Balmorra, where Imperial Executor Sedriss is trying to bully the planetary governor into giving him weapons. As one would guess, attacking the guy that provides your weapons isn't always the best plan... Balmorra's factories have a new model of war droid that demolishes Sedriss' older models. He breaks out the special secret Dark Side drones, but the Balmorrans have a secret weapon of their own and seem to get the upper hand as we change the scene. Luke is arriving home to Pinnacle base with new recruit Cam Solusar. Mon Mothma is pretty excited to have another Jedi as they all go in for a briefing.  We find out what happened in Balmorra through Lando's briefing... the Balmorrans won, which apparently meant they could SELL the new war droids to the Empire instead of they just being taken. Being in the business of war, they gave the Republic the info on where the droids were going so the New Republic can steal them. It seems none of our main characters will be involved though, as Luke and Cam are heading to Ossus to look for Jedi artifacts, and Han and Leia are taking Han's smuggler friends back to Nal Shaddaa so Leia can hunt for Vima, who she is sure is very important. When then shift back to an Imperial base where Sedriss returns in failure. The stuff that happens there is a big spoiler (though pretty predictably):  Sedriss finds two of the Emperor's 'close friends' trashing his secret clone stash to make sure he doesn't come back. After a brief confrontation the man himself (apparently everyone missed one clone) walks in and takes charge... to be continued! My thoughts: This was a really good continuation of the story.. it feels like it's moving forward without leaving loose ends. The trick is it seems ALOT has happened 'off camera' so if feels a bit like I missed something. (More on that in a sec). The new tech feels a bit like someone was watching Babylon 5 (the timing doesn't quite work for that to be for real, but still).. the Empire's new secret weapon is drone fighters with the brains of dead aces flying them with Dark Side-ness. The LOOK suitably dangerous and creepy, that's for sure.  Meanwhile, the war droids can absorb blaster fire and shoot it back... sounds like the perfect foil for a few Jedi  . Overall, especially after Tales of the Jedi, this was like a breath of fresh air. Continuity Notes: : The opening crawler provides both a quick summary of the first series and goes over what's happened since we last arrived. Leia is now 6 month's pregnant, so 3-4 months have passed since the first series. Kam getting found happens in on of the Kevin Anderson novels I'm pretty sure (He appears in 2 of the three in the series), so we have a bit more integration that we did with Heir to the Empire. The crawler also mentioned 'Operation: Shadowhand'.. 7 'dark Jedi' held in reserve to strike in the Emperor's name.. its not mentioned in the actual comic at all, so its not clear at this point if Sedriss is one of them or not. Balmorra becomes a pretty important planet, both in the past and the future after being introduced here as the premiere weapons manufacturing planet in the galaxy. I find it a bit odd that it took so long for this to come out (3 years after the start of the 1st series and 14 months after the end if it).. perhaps Kennedy is slow? Or they wanted the Tales of the Jedi books to start coming out?. Of course we now know who Vima is... and we also know Ossus is pretty important in Jedi History, so it will be interesting to see how it all connects. The ads at the back are mostly Star Wars focused (as they were early in Tales of the Jedi).. with the audio books for the movies, as well as the NPR dramatization advertised, as well as a mail order form for the trade of Dark Empire (which has a blurb that says 'Dark Empire II coming out in December!, which I find hilarious). There is also an advert for a 3rd party selling trades, and the back cover promotes the Droids Special (this was the stuff from the magazine that serves as a prequel to one of the series). It seems Dark Horse feels like book appeals more to general Star Wars fans.. while Tales of the Jedi to more hard core folks? At least that's my read based on the ads . Perhaps that'll change.
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Post by Duragizer on Sept 11, 2024 22:12:29 GMT -5
Kam getting found happens in on of the Kevin Anderson novels I'm pretty sure (He appears in 2 of the three in the series) Kam never got a proper introduction. He was supposed to make his debut in the novella Lightsider, but it went unpublished. starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Lightsider_(story) |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 12, 2024 20:37:20 GMT -5
Very interesting! I wasn't really at the point of 'industry news' in my fandom at that point, so I had no idea. I'll have to read it at some point.
I keep looking stuff up and getting pointed to the Kevin Anderson novels.... making me think, are they really as bad as I remember?.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 12, 2024 21:38:53 GMT -5
Very interesting! I wasn't really at the point of 'industry news' in my fandom at that point, so I had no idea. I'll have to read it at some point. I keep looking stuff up and getting pointed to the Kevin Anderson novels.... making me think, are they really as bad as I remember?. If it is Kevin J Anderson....yes. Yes they are. |
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Post by Duragizer on Sept 12, 2024 23:21:37 GMT -5
The Jedi Academy Trilogy was torture for me to get through. I liked the first novel, Jedi Search, well enough, but Dark Apprentice and especially Champions of the Force were endurance tests. I'd suggest passing them over and read Michael A. Stackpole's I, Jedi instead; it recaps the events of the trilogy within a much better narrative.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 12, 2024 23:30:46 GMT -5
I don't think I ever read that one, or if I did I have no recollection... sounds like almost a sneaky re-write
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Post by rich on Sept 13, 2024 2:37:52 GMT -5
I really enjoyed a few Star Wars comics in the 90s, so it's good to see this thread. Might have to check out a couple more 👍🏼
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,201
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Post by Confessor on Sept 13, 2024 11:34:16 GMT -5
This was a really good continuation of the story.. it feels like it's moving forward without leaving loose ends. The trick is it seems ALOT has happened 'off camera' so if feels a bit like I missed something. Yeah, an awful lot has happened "off camera" since the end of Dark Empire. While it is tempting to see that as a bit of a lazy cop out, writing-wise, it's actually exactly how stuff happens in the SW movies themselves. I mean, between the end of the original Star Wars film and start The Empire Strikes Back the Rebels had abandoned their base on Yavin 4 and set up a new base on Hoth, plus there are references to a bounty hunter that Han ran into on Ord Mantell. That said, it's not like we had random characters like Kam Solusar introduced out of nowhere in ESB, but at least stuff happening while we, the reader, has been away is kind of Star Wars-y. the Empire's new secret weapon is drone fighters with the brains of dead aces flying them with Dark Side-ness. The LOOK suitably dangerous and creepy, that's for sure. I love the idea of drone fighters, piloted by the brains of dead TIE Fighter aces. I agree that the drones look pretty cool from a design standpoint. Overall, especially after Tales of the Jedi, this was like a breath of fresh air. I agree. TOTJ isn't actually bad, but it's just not a patch on these tales centering around the original cast. Kam getting found happens in on of the Kevin Anderson novels I'm pretty sure (He appears in 2 of the three in the series), so we have a bit more integration that we did with Heir to the Empire. I didn't know that. Which Kevin J. Anderson novels does that happen in? Were they out at this point? I tend to think of them coming out a few years later than this. I find it a bit odd that it took so long for this to come out (3 years after the start of the 1st series and 14 months after the end if it). Ahh...that perhaps explains the Kevin J. Anderson thing then. In my mind, I was thinking that Dark Empire II came out in 1992 or something, but a look online says issue #1 came out in late 1994. Also, bear in mind that Dark Empire was originally due to be published by Marvel in 1990, so it really has been quite a while. All in all, this was an enjoyable first instalment of this sequel. It's good to be back in the original trilogy era. Imperial Executor Sedriss seems like a formidable bad guy and the Empire generally still seems like a threat. One criticism would be that the Emperor coming back again in a cloned body kinda came out of nowhere…it could've done with more build up, but I can live with it. I did, however, think that it was interesting that Sedriss interrupted the Emperor's dignitaries destroying any remaining clone cylinders because they didn't want the Emperor to come back or couldn't wait for that to happen (likely because they wanted to rule themselves). There's a lot being set up in this issue, which will make for a pretty exciting series as it progresses. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 14, 2024 8:20:06 GMT -5
Based on what I read online.. that unpublished story was where alot of that happened, and Veitch was clearly thinking that was going to be published, so that's where the issue lies. According to what I read, there is an actual game in story called 'Lightsider' and he apparently thought it would make a great video game and wanted the rights to it, but Lucas refused and it when downhill from there.
Kevin Anderson's book were out when this was published... the three books all came out in 1994... around this time the sci fi book club hardcover of the whole trilogy would probably have been in their ads....in fact, Wookiepedia claims the publisher even ran TV commericals for the Omnibus in November of 1994.
His bio says he was mentioned in the 1st book, and appears in the 2nd book. He apparently is a pretty major character during the New Jedi Order era (I have a bunch of those but I stopped reading about them.. the Yuzhan Vong were too much like the Borg to me and it just annoyed me... I have a bunch of them though, maybe some day)
I think some of it is its nice to see forward momentum in the universe, and to have stories about familiar characters for sure. I do also think the writing is just better too.. though they are setting up for Dark Empire II to be alot like Dark Empire I, I don't remember it feeling like the same story again, so hopefully it isnt (I honestly remember very little)
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Post by lordyam on Sept 15, 2024 9:36:07 GMT -5
I kinda imagined how Dark Empire could be reworked without Palpy. The idea was that the Dark Elite would be the main antagonists and that their endgame is to carry out a ritual to ascend to godhood (Sedriss would be the main leader and he’d put on a “dumb brute” image to trick people into underestimating him
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 22, 2024 21:59:10 GMT -5
I could definitely see that... I'd actually probably prefer it to be honest. The whole infinite clone thing is a bit meh to me overall, but the other aspects are fun and interesting enough for me to not worry about it too much  |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 22, 2024 21:59:29 GMT -5
Dark Empire II #2  Cover dated : Jan. 1995 Issue title : Duel on Nar Shaddaa Script: Tom Veitch Artwork: Cam Kennedy Letters: Todd Klein Cover art Dave Dorman Overall rating: 6 out of 10 Plot Summary: : As Han, Chewie, Leia, Salla and Shug arrive, they find a Star Destroyer waiting for them, and Imperials at Ninx's garage. They fight them off (with Han causing some damage that his smuggler friends are not happy about), and then Han and Leia go off to look for Vima. Just before their arrival, two of the Imperial Dark Side users are tried to shake down Boba Fett to work for free (or maybe just less). Fett is having none of it and blasts his way out when they try to force him. Han, Leia and Chewie get attacked from every side by bounty hunters, but get a tip on where Vima might live and head back to the garage and the Falcon, only to find the smugglers cleared out. They go deep into the planet, only to have Boba Fett trail them in Slave I. They get the better of the dog fight, but he still manages to land. Boba and Chewbacca have a one on one battle, and even though Chewie takes a blaster bolt point blank he gets the better of the fight and sticks Fett's Jet Pack to on and makes him blast off uncontrollably... taking his helmet off in the process.  Meanwhile, Leia finds Vima and gets her to the ship. Han's traffic controller friend Mako betrays him again, but with some fancy flying Han manages to trick the Star Destroyer to lock onto the control tower (and it's very pointy top) instead of the ship and it impales itself. Mission accomplished!  My Thoughts : I liked how they decided to tell one story in this issue, instead of swapping back and forth (as Veitch did in Tales of the Jedi)... it feels more like progress... based on the next issue box being 'the Jedi planet' I suspect we'll see Luke and Kam's visit to Ossus next issue, and prehaps Wedge and Lando attacking the Imperials after that. I thought the fight against Boba Fett was silly... usually a point blank blaster shot to the torso would kill you, but not only did Chewbacca survive, but he still won a hand to hand fight, AND managed to rig the Jet Pack AND steal the helmet, all in a couple minutes. Makes Boba Fett look really bad, IMO. I would think that this was Veitch killing him off, but I know he writes some Boba Fett comics, so I got nothing. I have to say, the Dark Jedi are not very scary looking....they look like middle management beaucrats, not fierce warriors.  I do think it was an effective issue both to have Vima in the picture and to tie off the loose ends left from the first series. This seems to be Veitch putting the toys back they way he found them as far as Han and family are concerned. continuity notes : I thought it was odd Boba Fett was in 'Slave II' previously, now they are calling the ship Slave I again... was the other ship some sort of shared ownership with Dengar? Seems unlikely. There's no explanation that I can see. Nor is there any explanation on how Boba Fett survives getting slammed in the head flying into a what appears to be a pretty high ceiling (40 feet at least) then presumably falling back to the ground... it almost felt like they wanted him to be a good guy with him refusing to work with the Imperial Remnants, but then he's still trying to catch Han for the Hutts, so maybe not. Salla is never mentioned again (though of course Salla kinda morphed into Sanna Starros in the current Marvel stuff). Shug and Mako were both in the Han Solo prequel Trilogy by AC Crispin, which has some action on Nar Shadaa, and they we even set up the apartment Han has there (as seen in Dark Empire I), but I don't think we ever find out what happens to them after they leave Han and Leia's company. The ads continue to be mostly for Star Wars... and this time include an offer to sell back issues as well as the trades for Tales of the Jedi, Dark Empire, and Classic Star Wars.
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