Dark Empire II

Star Wars: Dark Empire #2-3

by Tom Veitch, Cam Kennedy

A full-cast production dramatizes the struggle of the Rebel Alliance as they once again confront the Empire and its evil Emperor, returned from the dead and bent on the destruction of Luke Skywalker and his friends.

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

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Tom Veitch was an American writer, known for his work in the comic book industry. He was also a novelist and a poet. He was the brother of comics writer and artist Rick Veitch.

Reviews

[Jared Bird · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have an idea for the sequel. The Emperor uses the galaxy gun to shoot at New Alderaan, but Luke goes out in a ship to stop the attack by the power of the Force. The Emperor sends a ship with 45 Darkside Warriors to stop Luke, but Han Solo manages to get them to accidentally crash into a nearby moon. The Emperor reveals his real ultimate weapon, a spaceship the size of a planet, that goes to kill Luke, but the Rebel Alliance reveals that they have a space ship the size of a planet too, which is commanded by Lando Calrissian, and they blow up the Emperor's ship. Then the Emperor reveals his real ultimate weapon, a machine that lets him mind control anyone in the universe that he wants, but when he tries to use it on Leia, the rest of the good Jedi help her resist. Then the Emperor reveals his real ultimate weapon, a clone of Leia's baby that he made in the brief time she spent on Byss, which he then possesses and forces Luke to kill a baby in order win the battle. Instead, Luke uses the power of the Force to exorcise the baby and the Emperor's spirit becomes disembodied again. They then use the planet sized ship to destroy the planet Byss, thereby killing every clone on the planet. Everyone goes home to celebrate, and Han and Leia adopt the clone baby so now they have four Jedi children. The book ends with the Emperor's spirit floating through space until it finds his emergency backup planet where he has stored his other cloning facility, and where he has hid his real ultimate weapon, a colony of 8,000 Darkside Warriors trained from birth to kill Luke Skywalker. What will happen next???

The more I wrote this review, the more I realized it was just as plausible as the story elements in this book.

[Nicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The artist, Cam Kennedy, adopts a realistic line for the licensed likenesses of the main Star Wars original trilogy but the coloring technology at the time gives it an stylized hue. Still, that wasn't enough of a detriment to experience the gut-punch panel of Luke Skywalker giving in to the darker impulses hinted in the first issue as he kneels in submission to the clone emperor. Truly, a WTF moment.

[Bradley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utterly pointless sequel to the original Dark Empire. What little story there is takes everything that was weak about the original and maximises to the Nth degree. The Emperor returns again (nullifying the Skywalker confrontation at the end of the first book!) doing nothing but bark orders, Boba Fett returns again and rehashes the same shit he pulled in the first book, and more superweapons return…. again…. There is very little this comic offers. It has the same crap colours as the first, Luke Skywalker has a completely pointless romance that barely lasts a few panels, starships that run on steam power (HAHAHAHAHA TOOT TOOT!) and Leia is running around shooting up Bounty Hunters/engaging in lightsaber fights…. WHILE SIX MONTHS PREGNANT!!! Ugh, I truly don’t know why this exists. Dark Empire II offers up nothing but an opportunity for its creators to con fans out of a few more $$$. Good thing I hired it from the library then, so I can return this tree killer for the next sucker to pick up. AVOID!

[Kendall Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dark Empire II sucks, plain and simple.

Emperor Palpatine jumps the shark into Saturday morning cartoon villainy; the plot is haphazard and the original characters of this sequel are criminally underdeveloped.

This "trilogy" started out with such promise, but I can now safely say that this is one of the DUMBEST things I have ever read in Star Wars.

[Terence · Rating 2 out of 5]

Suffers from a poorly thought out story and not-very-good artwork. Alas, if only they'd let me loose to revise the whole SW universe :-)

Ah, well, I have my private version of the saga to comfort me.

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

More comic book/space opera fun, with excellent artwork.

[logankstewart · Rating 1 out of 5]

As much as I love STAR WARS, and even enjoyed Tom Veitch's first Dark Empire, this graphic novel was horrible. I'm not sure if it's canon or not (I suspect it is), but any STAR WARS fan should skip this one.

Dark Empire II, by Tom Veitch, may possibly be the worst STAR WARS comic I have ever read. The characters are dull and flat, with little development put into any. The Emperor's revived clone (again) is utterly ridiculous. Luke is dumb. Han and Leia's relationship is as good as Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman's in EP III. C-3PO is annoying. Han's pals are pointless. There wasn't a single character that had any resounding impact on anything.

The plot itself suffers from repetition (cf Dark Empire I) and a lack of excitement. My major issue here was that Veitch uses text boxes and practically guides the reader along matter-of-factly. This negates any sort of impact the dialogue would have, and it makes the reader feel like a 4 year old. Plus, it's just poorly written.

The dialogue itself is ridiculous, especially when it comes to the Empire. I cannot imagine Palpatine saying anything like he would as he's portrayed in this book.

Another disappointing thing was how silly the conflicts were. It seems as if every Imperial product was magically enhanced and powered by the Dark Side, all done through the Emperor and his mastery of the Force. Pssh.

And Luke falling in love with that one lady over the course of three panels? What?!

Since I'm on a roll here, the artwork was mostly horrid, too. Not to say that it wasn't good, cause it was, but perspective seemed way off, and colors were weak and awkward. Sure, this is a 15 year old comic, so part of that's understandable, but still, much was lacking in the art department.

My copy of Dark Empire II also includes the final volume of the series, the short run called Empire's End. Since there really was no conclusion whatsoever for Dark Empire II, and since I was highly disappointed in the read, I decided to skip reading Empire's End and instead look at only the pictures. This was a more pleasant experience, to say the least.

Was there any saving grace to Dark Empire II? I'd like to say yes, but I'd be lying. It felt like sitting through a repeat viewing of EP I, but only the poor parts. I cannot recommend this book to anyone, not even absolute die-hard STAR WARS fans, nor do I ever see myself reading it again. Just a waste of time as far as I'm concerned.

NOTE: I don't like writing negative reviews. They make me feel like a sleemo. Sorry. I did enjoy Dark Empire I, for what it's worth. I just don't see the point of the sequel...

[Ben Yandle · Rating 2 out of 5]

It has all my least favourite things about the the EU from the 90's

Weird attempts to make Luke Fall

Strange one off romances with Luke that will clearly die

Crazy super weapons

Emperors refusal to die despite being dead several times

Zany one liners

[Aurora · Rating 2 out of 5]

I definitely just flipped through the pictures.

[Christopher Rush · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can understand why some people don't like the Dark Empire stories, and while they weren't my favorites, it is fine. Admittedly, Veitch's writing borders more on narrator summary, as if it is one long flashback or "previously on Star Wars...," and that got annoying by the end, but the story itself is all right. Just because it contradicts things that came later shouldn't mean much (if anything). It has a fast pace, leaves gaps without spoon-feeding us mounds of details, and does some fairly bold things. Veitch creates almost a whole new universe here, giving a great deal of background to the Empire, the Emperor, and the Jedi. Very little of the Expanded Universe was in existence here, with only a few of the trilogies around, and no one knew what George Lucas had in mind for episodes 1-3 (or the years before the Skywalker family became the saviors of the Jedi), so Veitch did a fairly decent job of doing some creative things. Luke goes through some tough times, the Jedi start to regather their strength, the Alliance experiences some devastating losses, and life and hope go on. Not too shabby.

[Jason Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art was even worse than the 1st one. My 9 year old draws better than these artists.

[Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad little Star Wars story, but I feel like it left me hanging a little too much. I'm going to have to find out where this story continues!

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

It has been a while since I last read this series, so it was 'fun' to revisit again. The covers for each comic were awesome; it is a shame the artwork inside does not match the promise of the covers! The story picks up "shortly" after the first series left off. There is a bit of a gap between issue 6 of the first series and issue 1 of this second series. I kind of wish they would have told the stories in-between the two series instead of just referencing them. The story bounces around quite a bit, and the character development is a bit spotty as well. I did like some of the artwork better than in the first series, but, overall, it is not really my 'cup-of-tea' for artwork in comics. The pace is fairly fast-moving, but the story itself feels like a retread of . . . something, like it was done somewhere else and done better.

Despite my "complaints" about the story this time around, I do recognize that at the time it came out, it was pretty awesome to read the continuing adventures of the 'gang' without having to wait for the next book to be released. I did not mind reading monthly adventures, to be honest. There is 'so much' going on in the story, it probably could have been stretched out a bit and told over more than 'just' six issues. There really is too much going on in the story, and six issues does not do it justice.

It is funny. The Empire and its various members tends to be portrayed in such a light as being monolithic and nearly unbeatable. Yet, both Darth Vader and the Emperor missed an entire planet of Force-users during the Jedi purges. How did this happen? Not only that, but the Emperor was aware of Ossus and the possibilities the planet held for Luke (or anybody else, for that matter) to learn about the Jedi, yet he never did anything about it?!? What kind of sense does that make? Here is a man who wiped out an entire organization, killing every member he could find, and yet he blows off and ignores a planet that was dedicated to training the Jedi?!? It makes zero sense that this happened.

Also, Darth Vader truly sucked when it came to purging the other Jedi from the galaxy. Perhaps, deep down, he never truly wanted to kill any of the remaining Jedi? In any case, Luke finds a fallen Jedi named Kam Solusar that he frees from the Dark Side and enlists in helping to revive the Jedi. Why wasn't this dude killed? Luke gathers up several more Jedi along the way, and Leia even finds a relative of the great Nomi Sunrider, one Vima-da-Boda, who has lived for . . . hundreds, if not thousands, of years, apparently. It is crazy how many Jedi suddenly start popping out of the woodwork!

Considering how the authors of the comics and books were supposed to work together to try and maintain some kind of continuity between the two mediums, this series (even more than the first) really seems to ignore the events of Timothy Zahn's amazing trilogy. Other than Winter taking care of the twins and Anakin being born in this book, this series really seems to ignore the changes and events in Zahn's books, which is a shame. Luke's exposure to the Dark Side like he was, followed by the subsequent teachings he learned from the Jedi material, showed him to be a powerful Jedi, yet in subsequent books he is a regular pussy when it comes to the Force and using the Force. It gets annoying and frustrating, at times. Granted, the books that take place after this series also ignore the events in this series, which is also a shame.

There are some moments of corniness, though. One is how the antenna on a traffic control tower 'impales' an Imperial Star Destroyer, piercing through the hull when the Destroyer cranks up its tractor beam to full power. The impaling of the Star Destroyer kills off all of the chief engineers and causes enough catastrophic damage that the mighty vessel crashes into the surface of the moon and the buildings of the space port. Myself, I found it hard to believe that such catastrophic damage would be or could be caused by some kind of antenna or something. Star Destroyers are supposed to be heavily armored AND have defensive shields, yet they are constantly being easily destroyed.

Another moment of corniness for me was when the Millennium Falcon and her crew 'discovered' a 'lost civilization' that is hiding in the middle of some kind of toxic cloud (which is so toxic that it can supposedly eat through a starship's hull in minutes). This civilization is led by a former Jedi, and it is entire steam-based. Steam-based and steam-powered starships?!??!?! How does that even work??!!? It makes zeros sense to me; the mechanics of how 'space travel' works for them is never explained, and it really does not work for the story (to be honest). It was just goofy to me.

Luke's "relationship" with Gem was strange. I have read about people who just met before the soldier went off to battle; they were quickly married and their marriage did last for decades. However, the relationship between Gem and Luke did not seem to work for me. I think they should have worked on developing it more than they did. Just to say they felt like they had known each other for years seemed like a cop-out to me; there was very little to 'justify' the 'depths of their relationship' that the author seemed to be implying the two of them had. Also, I got tired of Luke's developing relationships that never worked out in the various books and whatnot; it was old long before Veitch did this in his series. In any case, their relationship felt rushed and unnatural and over too fast; I truly would have liked to have seen the author develop it a bit more (regardless of Mara Jade and her 'relationship' with Luke a la Zahn's trilogy).

I disliked how the author kept using the Emperor as his 'primary bad guy' and it ended up turning the Emperor into a mockery of what he had been and could have been. This guy keeps mouthing off about how great he is and how the Empire is going to win and how he empowers his followers with aspects of his Dark Side Force power, and he still keeps getting his tail kicked between his legs. It was old and boring and tiring this time around. I found myself wishing the author had focused more on the "Dark Seven" given powers by the Emperor and how Luke had to deal with these seven Dark Jedi.

On a side note, I did not like how some characters were introduced (or, reintroduced) and yet had very little, if any, impact upon the story or the flow of the story. It felt like being promised something and that promise being broken. Lando and Wedge do not really do very much in this series, and it was really pointless for Boba Fett to appear like he did and then be so easily disposed of. It really seemed like a waste of such a great character (well, implied great character, anyway).

The whole "Galaxy Gun" seemed like a wasted retread of the two Death Stars that had been build and subsequently destroyed. It was also reminiscent of Dark Saber in some respects, too, but I was not the least bit impressed with the Emperor's new weapons system. It was too Guns of Navaronne for me.

For what it was at the time of its release, it was a pretty awesome series and helped keep the interest in Star Wars and its extended universe alive. It truly was a welcome drop of moisture in a desert in terms of Star Wars merchandise. Now, though, looking back at it, it does seem a bit dated and cornier than I realized in terms of its plot and the story moves on to its ultimate resolution (in the final two-parter).

I enjoyed the SD-10 battle droids and how they were kicking the Empire's tuckus. I loved the whole 'back-and-forth' as each side introduced newer weapons to try and turn the tide of the 'small' battle going on planetside. I did think that was one of the better parts of the story, to be honest. I honestly thought the Jedi were going to tear apart the six AT-ATs a la what Luke did to that one in the first issue of the first series; that would have been AWESOME! I also enjoyed reading (seeing) Leia kick butt as a Jedi, wielding a lightsaber as easily as she did.

Overall, I did enjoy reading the series. The artwork is a bit better than the first series (well, more the coloring than the actual artwork), but it still leaves quite a bit to be desired. If the story had a better flow to it and 'made more sense,' I probably would have ranked it higher than 'just' two stars. Well, that and wishing it was more than just what felt like a lazy retelling of the first series, but with some newer equipment and weapons in a 'vain attempt' to make it feel more original and exciting. There are some good pictures and some good moments in the book/series, but not enough to justify more than two stars. In any case, I am glad that I revisited this series.

[hyperspace · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yikes. I could give the original dark empire a smidge of credit for being a dream-like what if scenario... but this takes things to a whole new low. DE2 + Empire's End go well past the point of parody and make it easy for any fan to toss out of their head canon. The recent movie adaptation was already too fresh on my mind... glad I'm done with this ridiculous side trip. Moving on to "I, Jedi".

[Ripley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this because I actually loved Dark Empire. But this thing is atrocious. I had to force myself to finish it. The storyline is horrendous and the art is abysmal. I don't even want to read the next installment but i have to finish the storyline.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Palpatine returns. Palpatine is defeated. Palpatine returns again.

Did we need a Dark Empire II?

[Trekscribbler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erm … it’s a bit difficult to figure what to make of Dark Horse’s DARK EMPIRE II. Rarely does a title seem so entirely unnecessary much less a crass attempt to cash in on a middling first entry (namely DARK EMPIRE) but that’s honestly about the best I can figure come the “big finish” … which isn’t so much a “big finish” as it is a set of circumstances leaving our heroes dangling for, yet, another inevitable installment.

Look, I get that the first business of any company is to obviously create another sell for the future, but DARK EMPIRE II really serves little to no purpose. The events of the first installment basically are used lightly as a catalyst to kinda/sorta start everything over. This means that despite being bested now in the movies and in the first series Emperor Palpatine is back yet one more time to dole out what he sees as retribution to the Rebellion for wiping out his Empire. Having this resurrection come so quickly on the heels of his last demise even smacks heavily of commercialization at its very worst.

The only significant plot development (so far as the characters are concerned) is the impending birth of Leia and Han’s third child (it’ll be named Anakin); otherwise, everything else here feels ridiculously listless, as if they are narrative sequences loosely strung together to cash in on DARK EMPIRE’s popularity (which I’ve admitted in my review of it I never quite understood). As for the other elements? Granted this was a story told before the mythology of the Prequel Trilogy had been put into place, but Dark Force Droids? Really? Nothing about the ‘science’ of the Force in the Original Trilogy so much as hinted that the Force could become sentient inside of a droid’s limited mind, and this curious development comes with little to no explanation other than, “Yep, that’s what we’re doing now.”

Artistically, Dark Empire II takes that almost monochromatic style of the original and injects it with some steroids. Entire plotlines within the main story are given their own color scheme (i.e. this planet’s events are going to be depicted in green; that planet’s events are going to be depicted in blue; etc.). So what started out as a pleasant enough diversion giving the first mini some character really veers off into a bizarre art project. I’m all for giving these series (and miniseries) their own aesthetic appeal, but this pushed the envelope a bit too far.

Even worse, DARK EMPIRE II ends on an obvious cliffhanger, perhaps implying that with this iteration Dark Horse really was only interested in figuring out some way to stretch out the incoming cash flow while not having the courtesy to pony up a complete storyline.

(MILDLY) RECOMMENDED. Hey, if you’re like me, then you’ve learned to take what you can get when it comes to new adventures in that galaxy far, far away. Still, DARK EMPIRE II feels and reads so very much like an afterthought – once Veitch and his crew finished their first mini (let’s say it was the only set of ideas they had), someone tasked them to go back to the well. What they came up with? Well, after reading it, I almost wish I hadn’t it was so disappointing.

[Sebastian Song · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Emperor reborn, meaner weapons and new Jedi. Despite the unearthing of ancient Jedi lore and history, the tale has lost its lustre and drags on.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A modest step down from Dark Empire I, if only because it basically copies the plot, with the addition of wild Jedi lore. Fine by me! Palpatine, predictably, is back again, but mercifully, this time, Luke chooses to grow the Jedi order rather than turning to the dark side. Han and Leia, on the other hand, return to Nar Shadaa for more bounty hunter battles. Oh, and of course there's another superweapon (hello, Galaxy Gun!).

Some of the Jedi stuff is weird (like Luke's insta-love for primitive woman), but some of it is awesome, like the ancient tree Jedi who destroys one of Palpatine's stooges. Cam Kennedy is still on art duties and I simply love his stuff - this is the Star Wars imagery I grew up with in places like the Galactic Encyclopedia, so it's really fun to see all his bonkers designs again. Incorporate more of this into Disney Star Wars, please! Or at least make Disney Star Wars weird.

I'm saddened that this story will conclude in the brief Empire's End spin-off that is tragically no longer available for sale anywhere. Fingers crossed that my local library can provide!

[Rachel Adiyah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was simply amazing; it's too bad that this is no longer cannon because this is better than any "Star Wars" film that Disney could generate. It is also too bad that the prequels contradicted many of the best parts of this particular saga. This doesn't exactly fit between the novels of the Expanded Universe - now known as "Legends"; instead of the New Republic we're back to the Rebel Alliance, and rather than ruling from Coruscant the good guys have a moon base. There are smugglers, ruthless war and wonder as Luke and Cam Solusar investigate the ancient history of the Jedi. All in all if you love Star Wars, you will probably love Dark Empire II.

[Ricky Ganci · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty lame. Nothing notable, except for the birth of Anakin Solo. Art sucked. Lightsabers sucked. Writing sucked. Luke’s foray with the Ysanna chick was lame. Unnecessary and unresolved. There’s something called Empire’s End, but I’ll read in Barnes and Noble some afternoon, if I deign to do so at all.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. While this was better than the first series, this still was a tough read. I’m very glad they went in another direction with the sequels eventually. Though I did find the ideas of hope and a new Jedi order forming to be enjoyable and definitely the stronger plot in this one.

[Dannie Stockman · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a drop in awesomeness from Dark Empire I. Not even a 3rd as good.

[Jay DeMoir · Rating 2 out of 5]

art work was horrible but the story was decent though repetitive. But at least we received Anakin Solo from this.

[Maegen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this second part to the Dark Empire series. Good action, Leia was AWESOME, little Anakin Solo is born, and there were some moments that actually made me laugh :)

[Luke Shea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bad! Fun to see some art I remember from various Illustrated Encyclopedias I guess. I like the flat wash colors and textured minimalist blacks a lot.

[Martti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I guess kudos to JJ Abrams for following the general Star Wars theme of "many returns" and "even bigger guns" to exhaustion in the third movie trilogy. Dark Empire has all of these bases covered and probably sadly inspired Abrams to exploit these themes to exhaustion. I could have lived with the first Dark Empire, but I declare the two following ones just unnecessary ballast. It's nice to see your on-screen heroes back in action yet again, but it's becoming like the endless re-iteration on the same theme. It's a big universe, already built. Not to use it to it's fullest capacity is a crime.

I recommend looking the comics in the Youtube as "motion comics" by Nathan S - full cast audiobooks + comics with animation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcNn1...

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

More great space battle panels with lots of colour. A new looking planet of pink crystal spikes would look great in a movie or series. Weird not seeing the actors images in the comics still too. I do wonder if image rights and licensing was a big thing in the early 90's?
Seeing the Planet Devastators make an appearance was great too. That'd have been a great addition to the movies if George Lucas ever made sequels.
Finding out about Admiral Ackbar's planet was a good storyline when the Devastators appear and finding put where Luke went after the Force storm in part one was cool

[Jeral Rivarola · Rating 2 out of 5]

Este tomo incluye dos series: Dark Empire II y Empire's End. La primera tiene seis números, la segunda dos... adivinen qué significa eso. No tengo ganas de escribir mucho sobre estas series. Sólo decir que todo queda al final como al final de El Regreso del Jedi. Ningún personaje introducido vale para nada, salvo Kam Solusar, un jedi que aparece al principio sin mucha explicación pero que según la wookiepedia llegó a tener su relevancia en el EU. No hay ni un ápice de epicidad. Fin.

[Timo · Rating 1 out of 5]

The art and coloring are just beuatiful. Really spot on.
But the story makes me ask: Why they wanted to make this sequel? Did they intend to do better job than they did with part 1? Did Veitch ever loose his nerve and confess himself that this does not work?
Beside the art, there is not need to nobody to see this.