Star Wars: Empire, Vol. 5: Allies and Adversaries

Star Wars: Empire #5

by Jeremy Barlow, Jeff Johnson (Artist), Joe Corroney (Artist)

Luke Skywalker fights side-by-side with a shipwrecked veteran from the Clone Wars, Han Solo's flirtations with an old flame land him in the fire and BoShek (the galaxy's second-coolest smuggler) attracts a whole lotta blaster fire from Rebels and Imperials alike in this collection featuring some of the most unexpected stories in the era of the Empire Whether it's BoShek transporting an innocent-enough looking girl, Han making a supply run for the resource-strapped Alliance or Luke flying escort for a Rebel Intelligence team on a supposedly deserted planet, these adventures may start as routine missions, but their endings are anything but predictable

Genres: Star Wars, Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Space, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

120 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2006

About the author

Eisner Award nominated writer and editor—and your only hope.

Reviews

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

Star Wars Legends Project #254

Background: Allies and Adversaries, released in February 2006, collects issues #23-27 of Empire (August-December 2004). "The Bravery of Being Out of Range" (#23) was written by Jeremy Barlow and drawn by Brandon Badeaux. "Idiot's Array" (#24-25) and "'General' Skywalker" (#26-27) were written by Ron Marz. The art was (variously) by Jeff Johnson, Joe Corroney, Adriana Melo, and Nicola Scott. Barlow has written a few dozen issues of various things, and was editor for a large portion of Knights of the Old Republic. Badeaux did a few issues here and there of Republic and Rebellion and a couple other things. Marz and Melo both have several issues to their credit, mostly Empire. Johnson, Corroney, and Scott have few to none in Star Wars comics (though Corroney has a long list of art credits for various items of Star Wars merchandise, like trading cards).

Allies and Adversaries is set 6-7 months after the Battle of Yavin. The main characters are Han, Chewie, Luke, Wedge Antilles, and BoShek. Various other characters make minor appearances, as well. The stories take place on Stoga, Void Station, and Lubang Minor.

Summary: A series of routine missions go wildly awry for an array of Star Wars heroes. BoShek finds himself caught between the Rebellion and the Empire when he takes what's supposed to be a simple on-planet transport job. Han finds himself up to his neck in trouble when he runs into an old friend while making a basic supply run for the Alliance. Luke encounters a castaway clone who hasn't heard any news from the wider galaxy since before Order 66.

Review: This is a very middle-of-the-road collection. Nothing stands out as amazingly good or amazingly bad. BoShek (the pilot Obi-Wan is briefly seen talking to before he goes over to Han Solo in the Mos Eisley cantina) is a weird choice to star in his own action-packed comic story . . . or maybe it's just weird that they seem to have mainly just plucked his name and stuck it on this character who doesn't really look anything like him and who has totally left behind the life he was living the last time we saw him. The story itself is . . . fine. I liked the hints about more militant, extremist wings of the Rebel Alliance. It ultimately doesn't go anywhere, but I don't recall seeing this idea even hinted at in the old EU.

The Han Solo story in the middle is probably the most boring, though I can't quite put my finger on why. The Bothan Jib Kopatha has appeared as a villain before, but he's not terribly menacing and this didn't feel like much of a continuation of his earlier appearance. It definitely feels like a 1-issue arc stretched over 2.

The last story, where Luke has a chance to leverage his burgeoning status as a Jedi to recruit a veteran from the Clone Wars. I assume this story was inspired by the history of Japanese holdouts who remained out in the jungles for decades after Japan's surrender in WWII, although this is ultimately quite different from those accounts. It's an intriguing idea, and it's pretty well-executed, though mostly it's exciting for the possibilities that it sets up. I hope this isn't just left dangling. It definitely deserves some more follow-through with this character.

I guess I might recommend this on the basis of that final story, particularly if there's more to come with the new character. Beyond that, I'm not sure I have strong enough feelings to advocate either for or against this volume.

C+

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Still no long-form stories in this largely underwhelming Empire series. All of the tales in Allies and Adversaries meet the low bar of "fun Star Wars adventure," so they're perfectly adequate, but they don't advance the greater arc of the Star Wars narrative at all. They barely even explore the characters.

BoShek is introduced, some cool-dude smuggler who gets mixed up with the wrong girl. I'd spend more time with him, I guess. Han gets a smuggling tale that literally begins with him walking into a room and saying "Yeah, I'll do it" to a mystery assignment from the Rebellion. He too gets mixed up with the wrong girl. The best story might be Luke's, one of the many tales of a clone trooper left for dead long after the Clone Wars ended. There's excitement aplenty, but again, it doesn't even pretend to matter in the grand scheme of things. Overall, the art is sufficient, hovering between pretty good and "whoa what is going on with Han's haircut."

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read - maybe I didn't go to the library but actually collected the individual issues?

Please note that this comic series is now part of Legends, and is no longer canon within the Star Wars expanded universe.

We have three short tales in this volume:
1) Random cool guy rescues a hot chick from the Rebels (you heard me). We know he's cool cos he has a toothpick in his mouth during an intense vehicle chase scene. Name drops General Bel Iblis, from my fav Star Wars novels yaaaas;
2) Han meets an old friend. The art for the first half of the story is not my cup of tea (Han is unrecognisable) but it appears a different artist illustrated the second half. Events in a previous volume are referred to - I always like to see continuity;
3) My boy Luke encounters a Clone, tying the original and prequel trilogies. Stories involving Luke get extra points from me so no surprise I liked this.

As usual, I generally liked the mix of stories and art styles. On to the next volume!

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average stories mixed in with truly mediocre ones. The only highlight in this volume is the introduction of Able, who I'm quite fond of. His character provides a bridge between two distinct Star Wars eras.

[M.i. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool collection of short stories, giving us a perspective from the lesser known perspective of the empire and alliance.

[Sean Goh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun buddy tales, though largely self contained. Nice to see Abel pop out of his time capsule though.

[Charlie Mac]

good

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Friendship and comradery have always played a big part on the Star Wars franchise, and teamwork definitely takes center stage in this collection of short stories.

The first kicks off with BoShek, a smuggler hiding out from the Empire on a backwater desert world. His every desire is to just go it alone, but that all changes when he meets a mysterious woman named Rasha Bex, who seems to have attracted some Rebel attention upon her arrival. Besides being less-than-thrilled that his seclusion has been broken, he decides to step in to help her out only to learn that her secrets are even bigger than he ever imagined.

Han Solo takes the stage with the second story, which has him and Chewie off on a a run to get some much needed supplies for the Rebel Alliance. Upon arriving at their desitnation, Han bumps into Sheel Odala, an old flame. Unfortunately, tangling with her gains the attention of an Imperial spy, and Han and Chewie are going to find themselves fighting their way back to safety.

The final story has Luke Skywalker and his squadron of X-wing fighter pilots landing on a jungle world, where they have their own run-in with imperial forces. The situation turns out to be quite difficult when they are outnumbered, but things change when they run across a marooned clone warrior from the Clone Wars who decides to give them a hand.

These stories were a great mix of humor and action, keeping the storytelling flowing nicely. They really capture a lot of the elements that made the original films, and the whole franchise, so popular. I liked it enough that I read the whole thing in one sitting.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first story, The Bravery of Being Out of Range, was action packed and a great read. I liked the illustrations as well. My only disappointment with it was the ending. I would have liked to know more about what happened to Boshek. He was a great character. That story could have definately gone on longer!
Idiot's Array also had a great story line, but the illustrations just weren't that great. Chewbacca looked good, but Han and the others... not so much. I did like seeing Han with some of his aquantances that he had before the rebellion and how he could influence others to do the respectable thing :)
"General Skywalker" was a really fun story line, but the illustrations seemed hit or miss. Sometimes they looked great and other times they looked weird. I liked how they stumbled apon the ship wrecked clone! That was cool. And that he had been working under General Shaak Ti - she is one of my favorite female Jedi! It would be cool to have a comic devoted to his time now that he is working with/for the rebellion.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Bravery of Being Out of Range - 4 stars

BoShek is definitely on that list of background characters who probably didn't need a backstory. Fortunately I've never entirely understood why people object to that tendency, and this story does some more interesting things with the character than explaining how he ended up in the cantina that day or something. This story isn't particularly dumb, but it also isn't particularly interesting, compared to the generally experimental and intentional project of Empire generally. It hits a nice tone, though, with a lot more downtime than its premise should really have, and fits neatly in the confines of its single issue.

[Daniel Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had three intersting stories. The first story was one that seemed to add some insight into Han Solo and his change from a rogue/scoundrel to a guy whole stole a princess's heart. A story about Luke meeting a clone warrior who got stranded on a planet for twenty years was very interesting.

The tidbits of the side stories that you gain through the graphic novels as well as the ease of reading along with the pictures makes them enjoyable astetically pleasing and informaitional.

[DC · Rating 1 out of 5]

Three mediocre, go-nowhere stories are compiled in this volume. The art in the first story is passable, but the art in the 2nd and 3rd stories is... no good. At. All.

I was impressed with Vol. 2 of this series (Darklighter), but everything else has been pretty disappointing. Stick to other Star Wars comics if you actually want a story arc. Or... you know... a story.

[Hillingdon Libraries]

Find this book at Hillingdon Libraries

[The Third Place A Teen Library]

SW empire v.5

[Daniel Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly fun. A series of short stories in the period between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Props to the first story, "The Bravery of Being Out of Range," for being a short, fun read with nice artwork. The rest of the book can be skipped.