Star Wars: Mara Jade - By the Emperor's Hand

Star Wars Legends: Comics

by Timothy Zahn, Michael A. Stackpole, Carlos Ezquerra (Illustrator)

Mara Jade is beautiful, intelligent -- and deadly. She is the Emperor's Hand, the personal assassin of the Empire's dark overlord. Mara has destroyed many enemies of the Empire in her time, and has always carried out her missions with forethought and skill. But after the Emperor's death at the hands of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, an unforeseen variable is about to enter the scene of her final mission for her employer: the assassination of the leader of the Black Nebula crime organization. Though her master is dead, Jade must complete her final mission...even if it costs her life

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

117 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1999

About the author

Timothy Zahn attended Michigan State University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in physics in 1973. He then moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and achieved an M.S. degree in physics in 1975. While he was pursuing a doctorate in physics, his adviser became ill and died. Zahn never completed the doctorate. In 1975 he had begun writing science fiction as a hobby, and he became a professional writer. He and his wife Anna live in Bandon, Oregon. They have a son, Corwin Zahn.

Reviews

[Ill D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mara Jade is one of the most beloved characters in what was once known as the Star Wars EU (Expanded Universe) Forging an essential component in Zahn’s seminally crucial Thrawn Trilogy of the early 90’s and the ensuingly ever-expanding universe that is Lucas’ ever ballooning commercial empire, she’s been a well developed and highly likable character ever since. And now, by Stackpole’s design, she got her very own origin story in: By the Emperor’s Hand.

While I enjoyed this immeasurably in my youth, time has done little to retain its standing. In fact, I was initially struck by just how utterly wonky the intro was. More jumbly then well planned, the first act was nothing short of a sticky, hot mess. Even with her ostensibly cool presence at Jabba’s Palace, just like Shadows, her appearance is equally unimportant to the portents of Jedi which were full on display.

Thankfully, the story gets off on its own tracks soon enough. Following on its still jumbled tracks, it rumbles this way and that across its increasingly disastrous levels of self-convolution. Sure enough, her hit job is riddled with odd musings on compassion and the breakdown of state imposed order as bodies drop and lazers scorch.

With the hit job concluded, no matter how messy, we become privy to an odd sequence of filler of the oddest depiction. Ever asked yourself what cold-blooded killers in the Emperor’s personnel employment panel do for R&R? Well this comic tells you: museum visitations, nature hikes, and fine dining. The banal length of filler fills the pages until we get to the next crux of the tale. With The Emperor dead, our anti-hero is taken into custody and the story jumbles forth upon another set of not-so-well laid down tracks that its haphazardly switched toward.

In tried in true comic tradition, the ever-hackneyed escape unfolds and Jade creeps and crawls her way though a vast network of hidden passages in the Imperial Centre. And even with Issard hot on her heels punitive attempts to thwart her escape are surprisingly worthless. With her escape yet another boring railroad of narrative is yet again switched toward.

Just as flat as her recreational activities of not so long ago, our ex-assassin takes part in yet another mediocre aspect of life that feels unnervingly akin to our own galaxy’s: the minimum wage job. Taking up employment at a local bar to support herself, this not-so-otherworldliness retains its banality until broken up (literally) by a gang assault. With the defeated criminal revealed as agents Black Nebula, our tale takes an odd 180 and is yanked toward its initial conflict.

With a mere issue to go, with credits in her hand and revenge on her mind, Mara Jade trills forth to finally complete her hit job that was evidently left unfinished before. Following the cosmic trail, an intergalactic casino is breached and Black Nebula’s holiest of holy’s is penetrated. While featuring quite possibly the most botched, and unthoughout criminal infiltration in comic book history, this Ex-Empire employee somehow manages to complete her task from before – maybe overbudget but, definitely over-schedule.

In either case, for such an important character in the EU, her origin

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This never quite grabbed me. I've heard Mara Jade is a popular character in the expanded universe, but I'm not familiar enough with the Thrawn Trilogy to know much about that character. She uses the force, but she's not quite a jedi, nor a sith. She's the emperor's personal assassin, and this story focuses on some of the jobs she undertakes. Not bad, I just never really got into it, probably because I didn't know enough backstory.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mara Jade is a pretty cool character from the Star Wars Expanded Universe. She is force sensitive, but her power seems to be connected with that of her master Darth Sidious. Her skill are many - spy, hand-to-hand fighter, demolitions and firearms expert. She employs tactical thinking and has a calm head on her shoulders even in the most stressful circumstances.

During Star Wars Episode VI Mara is the Emperor's hand. She fails at killing Luke Skywalker during the Jabba the Hutt scene, so she is given a new mission on Svivren. Her target is Dequc, the leader of a criminal organization called Black Nebula which is intended to be a resurrection of the defunct Black Sun. Though successful, she soon learns that the being she killed was Dequc's double. She returns to her mission, determined to get the right target this time. While she ponders her next move, she feels through the force that Skywalker and his father Vader have killed Sidious.

Her link with her master is violently severed and her force powers weaken. Worse, she is imprisoned by Ysanne Isard on suspicion of betraying the emperor. She manipulates a guard into allowing her to escape and uses the Emperor's codes to leave Imperial Center behind. Isard loses her trail, so Mara is safe, but a chance encounter with Black Nebula thugs reminds her that her mission is not over.

She visits a casino she suspects is run by Black Nebula and uses the force to earn a pile of credits. This draws the attention of the casino manager, but it's also part of her plan. She claims to be selling new electronic devices for cheating and eventually gets an audience with Dequc himself. She is forced to adapt her plan several times, but she is successful and gets away without a scratch. She uses Dequc's own getaway ship which she then leaves for Imperial forces together with proof that will be used to deal a heavy blow to Black Nebula.

[Cudahy Family Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mara Jade, one of the best EU characters created. This comic shows the story of just before and after the death of the Emperor when Mara’s whole life turns upside down and she receives the ultimate final order “You will kill Luke Skywalker.”

After Palpatine’s death, Mara is held captive by the director of Imperial Intelligence, Ysanne Isard, as a possible threat to the Empire. Eventually escaping, she discovers a job she had done was not actually finished and sets about putting things right; while finding her Force powers have severely diminished.

Throughout this comic, you see Mara as one who truly believed in her work and service to the Empire and to Palpatine; she was removing threats to the peace and security of the galaxy. She also saw how the Rebels caused death and destruction wherever they went in the gunfights that inevitably ensued with Imperial forces, oftentimes innocent civilians caught in the middle.

This is a good comic with appealing artwork. The only thing I was left wishing was seeing how Mara eventually ended up with Talon Karrde.

[Kyisha Walter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have yet to read anything else with Mara Jade but she is prolific in the Star Wars universe. I personally thought that this comic was boring and I did not enjoy her characterization. It is great to see a female lead but she is still over-sexualized and does not feel well fleshed out. I will say that I am not a huge comic book fan and I still do not know much about her so that definitely colors my experience. My edition I bought for $1 out of a bin and the cover is separated but it has different art so I wonder if it is an older print? One thing about this print that almost made this 3 stars for me was the inclusion of feedback from readers. It really felt like a little time-capsule. Overall cool but I don't particularly care for it.

[Logan Harrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10:
I love that this entire 6-issue run is solely dedicated to Mara Jade, detailing the events she experienced following the death of the Emperor, destruction of the Death Star II, and betrayal of Darth Vader. To know that she truly believed in the “good” the Empire was doing is so interesting and showcases that not everyone who was a member of the Empire was truly a member for the wrong reasons.

This has some of the coolest art of Mara that I’ve ever seen, the subtleties work so well for her mysterious character and simply play into her characterization. I would love to see more of Mara Jade, and I’m sure I’ll read more eventually, but this is definitely a perfect place to start!

[Rachel Adiyah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this but it just dragged on past the point of being interesting. Personally, I wanted to see Mara Jade at her zenith as the Emperor's Hand, or perhaps as she attempted to kill her future husband prior to the Thrawn Trilogy, not as she hovered on the point of irrelevance. The story line with Black Nebula just didn't hold my attention. Also, I wasn't crazy about the illustration style. This was good, but not great. Good thing I didn't pay very much for it.

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

this felt sooooo dated and didn't do Mara justice imo. if I had to look at one more male gazey drawing of her ass I was going to scream. also I did not need to know her thought process in every action scene. the narration of this was odd, I did not like the art, and the species trying to revive Black Sun looked like the poop emoji in robes.

[Evey Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muchisimas ganas de indagar y saber más sobre Mara Jade.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ABY

This is an interesting story told from Mara Jade's perspective. The reader is given both narrative of Mara Jade's adventures as well as direct monologue and dialogue. This series is about Mara Jade when she is working as the Emperor's Hand. Mara must assassinate whoever gets in the way of the Emperor, whether it be a crime lord such as Dequc or Luke Skywalker. When Mara gets word of the Emperor's downfall, her whole world turns around, and the last command Emperor Palpatine give her is "Kill Luke Skywalker." Captured by Isard as a potential betrayer to the Emperor, Mara's only desire is to escape and exact the Emperor's will, and her revenge, by killing Luke, but is then sidetracked by a different mission. When Mara escapes, she sets out to find herself. When she takes up a waitressing job in a cantina, she finds out that Dequc is still alive and makes her new goal hunting him down, since her failure to assassinate him was a failure to serving the Emperor.

This series is nearly 20 years old, so the art is a bit dated, but it's not too bad to look it. The art has an average American comic appearance and the story is pretty interesting and is full of great lightsaber action, so I would suggest getting your hands on this is you can.

[Yves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mara Jade était, avant d'être une contrebandière et ensuite une Jedi et la femme de Luke Skywalker, la Main de l'Empereur. Palpatine lui offrait des tâche qui de mandait plus de subtilité que Darth Vader était capable. Son univers s'écroule lors de la mort de l'Empereur. Elle doit rebâtir sa vie à zéro. Son passé ressurgit lorsqu'une organisation que devait avoir supprimé refait surface et tue son nouveau patron. Son objectif est maintenant simple : éliminer les dirigeant de la Nébuleuse Noire.

Je suis un amateur des écrivains Timothy Zahn et Micheal Stackpole. Cependant, cette BD n'est pas vraiment à la hauteur de leur talent. Par moment, l'histoire est un peu ennuyante, surtout la partie avec Ysanne Isard. De plus, les dessins ne sont pas extraordinaire. Je trouve qu'ils manquent beaucoup de détails. Pour le positif, c'est que j'ai bien aimé voir Mara Jade en tant que Main de l'empereur. Mara Jade est une des meilleurs personnages de l'Univers Étendu de Star Wars et méritait mieux comme histoire selon mon avis.

[Suden Käpälä · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with the other series that I have in which she features heavily, I don't like the way Mara looks in these comics -- not in the least her expression. She wears a perpetual scowl of hate on her face. However, I do love everything else about this series. The plot is tight and interesting. The protagonist is pretty benevolent for a 'bad gal' -- or vice versa; and I like my grayscales. The villain is acceptable; and her tech-savvy henchman feels fresh. (Their 'career advancement' dialogue gets a bit so-so after a while; but that's not a big deal.)
If it had been a larger series, I might place it above TotJ or KotOR in awesomeness ranking -- but it certainly comes close. The covers are all spectacularly beautiful, and show Mara as I imagined her -- especially the cover for the trade paperback. Comics at it best.

[Tibbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the eighth comic series on my read-through of all the Star Wars legends books and comics.

This comic series was an enjoyable but lightweight read. Mara Jade is an interesting protagonist to follow -- she isn't a "good guy" but she doesn't quite fall into the tired anti-hero tropes by being overly edgy or pointlessly cruel. She feels like a normal person with her own (often contradictory) opinions on morality who just happens to be a highly trained assassin. A lot of this comic is basically competency porn, watching Mara slowly but surely achieve her objectives, and letting us follow her thought process.

I thought the fight scenes in this were great, and I thought the art ranged from decent to occasionally phenomenal. A couple of the larger panels blew me away with their level of detail. You can also tell there was lot of attention paid to things like outfits and weapons by the artist.

My biggest complaints would be:

a) I know this is shallow, but Mara Jade's face looks completely ridiculous here. Basically every other character looks fine and some of the alien designs were great. But for reason, Mara Jade looks like a blow-up doll. Those lips are ridiculous. I found it so distracting, especially because her face is front and center in the majority of panels.

b) The main villain sucks. There was nothing remotely interesting about him, and I didn't care about whether Mara took him down. Believe it or not, despite my usual dislike for her, I thought Ysanne Isard was great during her appearances. But unfortunately, she leaves the comic halfway through, leaving us only with boring crime boss #532 whose name I can't be bothered to look up.

c) The comic series flirts with but doesn't properly explore Mara's transformation after the death of the emperor. She's had her entire life flipped upside down, turning her from one of the highest-up people in the Empire to a nobody, on the run from both the good and the bad guys. It should be a huge turning point for her, but she seems barely affected. It felt like a big missed opportunity.

Easily my favorite part of the series was the comic where Mara finds herself serving as a waitress in small-time bar, which came the closest to exploring Mara as a character. The rest of the series is content to be dumb fun entertainment and it succeeded at that, but nothing more.

6.5/10

[Amina D'Anima · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alors je ne sais pas si c'est le seul comics à propos de Mara Jade et si c'est l'un des premiers mais j'ai trouvé qu'il manquait de profondeur. On ne sait rien ou presque sur le passé de Mara à part qu'elle est " La Main de l'Empereur" et son parcours pour arriver jusque là est flou. Du coup, je n'ai pas pu m'attacher à ce personnage alors qu'elle a beaucoup de potentiel. On ne connaît ni ses objectifs, ni ses motivations. J'avais l'impression de la suivre comme ça sans intérêt sauf à partir du moment du bar où là j'ai compris qu'il y avait une part de vengeance et aussi de quête de justice. Niveau caractère et personnalité elle est très froide néanmoins j'avoue que c'est une tacticienne hors pair et c'est son gros point fort on ne peut pas le nier. Mara Jade est effectivement un personnage badass cependant elle ne m'a pas plus touchée que ça car j'avais toujours l'impression qu'elle agissait comme un robot et de façon automatique. Si bien que j'ai cru dans une scène que ça serait la révélation mais non c'est bien une humaine. Enfin bon, passons au niveau graphisme je dirais que c'était plutôt pas mal mais pas fou fou.
Pour terminer quand même avec un petit point positif : j'ai bien aimé retrouvé des scènes de l'épisode 6 et je trouve que ça aurait pu être mieux exploiter en faisant le parallèle entre l'apprentissage de Luke et celui de Mara par exemple mais c'est que mon avis ^^
Pour mon premier comics j'ai trouvé ça pas mal mais il n'est pas nécessaire forcément de le lire car on n'en apprend pas beaucoup sur le personnage :( Dommage

[Quinlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand #0-#6

When you grab an older Star Wars book, you often have no idea what you're going to find. Sometimes it disappoints, but other times it perfectly hits the spot. This mini-series covers the life of imperial operative Mara Jade before and after Emperor Palpatine, the man she has devoted her life to serving, is slain. Without the protection and resources of her patron behind her, Mara is forced to rely on her instincts and forge a new path for herself outside the system. I usually wouldn't find myself rooting for someone on the side of the Empire but the way her character is written really makes you empathize with her situation. Although it's a bit risky, the panels often write out exactly what Mara is thinking which actually adds to story since she is often pretending to be someone else or considering how to get out of a sticky situation. Seeing her thought process as a top level imperial agent is usually quite rewarding. I highly recommend this prequel which provides a compelling backstory for Mara Jade and future Mrs. Skywalker in the Legends' continuity.

[Graham Barrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Read in 2020, review from 2024)

After Grand Admiral Thrawn, the best Star Wars character created by Timothy Zahn is Mara Jade, Luke Skywalker's enemy turned wife. This graphic novel is a short peek into her life at the end of her service to her master Emperor Palpatine and before she joins up with Talon Karrde's smuggling crew. The post Battle of Endor power struggle amongst Imperials is interesting enough but Mara Jade's efforts to wipe out a criminal syndicate's leadership is incredibly forgettable. Star Wars fans that like 90s Star Wars comics will like this but most others (including some Timothy Zahn fans) may or may not care for it. Personally I just find there's other Mara Jade stories out there that are much better.

[Andrew Alvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it, so much backstory for Mara between the Empire's fall and her hunting Luke Skywalker.
Ezquerra's signature style looked great as always, each character looking distinct amongst one another and Mara herself standing head and shoulders amongst the others, her striking poses and expressions perfectly captured by Ezquerra to convey her mixed emotions throughout the collection.

I should also acknowledge this tale that both veteran Star Wars writers a Mr's Zahn and Stackpole weaved, dropping familiar faces in as and when the story called upon them and tying this up nicely where it places in Mara's history. Funny to think that she'd eventually go on to marry the Jedi she later swore to kill...

[Alexander Röck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great mara jade story, that shows us how she operated as palpatines assassin, as well as how she deals with the events of return of the Jedi, and transitions more into the mara we see in heir to the empire. I loved almost everything about this book.isard was great to see, the artwork was amazing, and mara was written wonderfully (it's zahn what do you expect) the only critism I have is that it ends very suddenly, there's no real ending, it just sort of ends, which leaves you a little unsatisfied. Other than that a great comic book series, by zahn and stackpole!!

[David Carmona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un comic de leyends que sirve de puente entre "El retorno del Jedi" y "Heredero del Imperio". Explica donde estaba Mara Jade durante el rescate de Han Solo y justifica por qué no aparece en la película. Hace un buen trabajo enseñando como el imperio se fue dividiendo poco a poco tras la batalla de Endor debido a la desconfianza y traiciones entre oficiales y Moffs, lo único que tengo que reclamar es que podría haber explicado un poco más sobre la infancia de Mara y podrían haber conectado mejor el final del cómic con el inicio de la novela.

[Aline Job · Rating 5 out of 5]

O grande valor do universo expandido de Star Wars são as histórias que não só complementam determinados episódios, mas que apresentam nuances que a trilogia original dos filmes não conseguiu desenvolver, mantendo as estruturas apenas em oposição do bem contra o mal. Mara Jade, como Mão do Imperador, nos mostra o quanto isso é verdade, pois ela está no limiar. Imperdível.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

accentuates the difference between a simple bounty hunter and an assassin in the star wars universe-hired muscle v. cold blooded killers working with an organization they chose to work with

has some weird fillers as the top reviewer has mentioned-but they aren't a big deal as they only fill up a few panels

[Caitlin DeGrave · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. it's my first comic book, so it took a bit to get used to. It was strange to me that there were no transitions, to the point I thought I was missing pages, but I guess not. By the end I was enjoying itb will enough!

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to one of the EU’s most beloved characters, set post Return of the Jedi.

[Kai Charles(Fiction State Of Mind) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun rereading of some Legends Mara stories

[Timo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fun. So much better than I expected. Good space fun. Cool main character and as usually, Esquerra art is pure enjoy to see.

[Kathrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting comic and I loved to learn more about Mara Jade.

[Jay DeMoir · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the best parts of the Star Wars EU (now legends). Mara will always be missed 🖤✊🏾💯

[Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mara Jade is a such a badass

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this comic. Mara Jade is one of my favorite old Expanded Universe characters.

[liv · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5!