Lit Agent of the Empire #6: Hard Targets, part 1 (of 5)

Writer: John Ostrander
Penciller: Davidé Fabbri
Inker: Christian Dalla Vecchia
Colorist: Wes Dzioba
Cover Artist: Stéphane Roux

Jahan Cross returns to his homeworld of Alderaan for a celebration hosted by Bail Organa in honor of the current Count Dooku. But the situation turns deadly when an assassin kills the Count, and Cross finds himself working both sides of the intrigue!

Thus begins a new assignment for Cross—one that will tear at his loyalties, strain his friendships, and bring him into close contact with his own estranged father. All in a day’s work for Jahan Cross, Agent of the Empire!

* Guest-starring Princess Leia and Boba Fett!
* From Alderaan with love.

 

current Count Dooku???

 

It's a title. It moves on when the holder dies.

 

No, it's the original. He "died" the same way as Darth Maul, remember?

Palpatine is just a forgiving fellow, that's all.

 

I'd actually be willing to accept that Count Dooku survived, if he has someone carry him around like Simus.

 

Me neither. I realized a few days ago that I think this is now my favorite current SW comic. The one whose releases I most anticipate, at least.

 

Bump. It should be out today.

 

That news just made my week as it has been rather sub optimal this far.

 

Dat Iceheart cameo

 

So, Dooku is the family name of Dooku, but then what is his firstname.
Su Dooku ?

 

Incredible. Strong start to the story. Looking for to the rest!

Lots and lots of cameos in the first issue. You know what? When done right, it works. And this was done right.

 

bought it, read it, loved it!

Mr. Ostrander, you once more outdid yourself! the cameos and interconnectivity between characters, worlds, etc. is brilliant!

loved it enough so I had to promote it further here:
http://www.facebook.com/StarWarsSourcebooks


and Bail really got an adoption habit... I wonder if Breha is ok with that I mean, Leia, Winter... now Bron Dooku! (nice nod to Game of Thrones by the way, I hope little Bron turns out to be like GoT Bron as adult )

Ysanne vs. her Dad was well played, as was the fun Jahan had with teenaged Leia and Winter, as well as their crush history.

But was I the only one who got a "Black Ventress"-thought when seeing the Dooku security chief? Nice diversity nod there too!

Jahan vs. Fett also was perfect. Especially his line after surviving a beating by Boba after taunting him with a line about his dad.

 

I loved when some randomer shouted "I thought you were supposed to be dead" at Boba.

 

Haha, awesome! Read it and most really say this is a very good series. This kind of complements with Dawn of the Jedi with that being heavy on the Force related aspects and this one the more average person. Fetts, Dookus, Isards, Organa... everything one could hope for in terms of references. Plus, this arc really shows more on Jahan's character and backstory. I mean, we saw why he chose to serve in the Empire in the first arc and this one shows more about his family like the breakdown of a relationship with his father. Plus, an Alderaanian? Kind of amusing to see Cross as being one of them... if he survives in later years, I wonder what he would think of the DS blowing up Alderaan

My review: 10/10 for this one.

 

Yeah, another good intro episode as well as plenty of references/cameos, yet none of it felt too obtrusive. Heh, cute to see Leia and Winter as well as someone "mistaking" Winter as the Princess. Plenty of action as well as hints of conspiracy. I do slightly wonder if this'll be like Bond with a slight reset at the beginning of every movie or whether we'll get any mention of what happened to characters from the previous arc, but that's not necessary, this is already a good story with great art. Gotta remember to keep an eye on this series.

 

This is one story I wouldn't mind being very episodic, honestly. Sure, there should be an underlying plot across all arcs, but I kind of like the "movie" format it has going on. Generally, it kind of annoys me in long running comic series, when everything just resets after six or seven issues, but I don't really mind it here.

 

Yeah, while I hate the mini-series format with a vengeance when it comes to pretty much everything else, in this case AotE is practically made for a more episodic approach. Not that I wouldn't mind some bigger character development in the long run, but currently I'm more than happy just for some pulpy Saturday morning light relief.

Sometimes it's nice when Star Wars isn't taking itself so seriously and just wants to tell a good old adventure story.

 

And that is something that's been wanted from quite a few quarters of EU fandom for a long time!

 

Only one complaint, the bald black security chick running around with high heels. Anybody else noticed it?

 

Yeah. It's the biggest thing I think Post-ROTJ is missing. Every other era has its light relief, but Luke's era is never allowed a day off. I'd kill for a series that was basically akin to "Agent of the Galactic Alliance" or "KOTGA", with the same mix of serious and comedy.

 

[Long time lurker, first time poster, so – hi, everyone! And now, onto the business...]

I did! And I was like, "Sister, you're supposed to be the head of security, you really ought to wear shoes you can actually run in while on duty..." But some women can run incredibly fast even in high heels, and she seemed to do just fine, so I don't know.

My one major irk with the story was that it said the Alderaan Ascendancy Contention took place 25 years prior, which would be something like 28 BBY if I've understood correctly. But Darth Plagueis, on the other hand, gave a year of 32 BBY. At first we don't have a set date for the event for years after Jorus C'baoth's timeline from Dark Force Rising had to be revamped to fit with the prequels, and now we have two... But I do realize that besides me there are probably something like two other people in the world who actually care about the date of the ascendancy contention (and I realize, too, that this is such a grumpy fanboy/girl complaint ... or maybe a Wookieepedian complaint, since I'm one of those too). So I'm not letting a relatively minor thing like that spoil the otherwise very enjoyable issue. I'm definitely looking forward for more.

Now that you mentioned it, the one cameo that would have made this perfect was Breha! We haven't seen too much of her, and I for one would like to know more about Bail's mysterious wife...

 

we all would like to hear more of Breha, but I doubt it will happen since most likely they keep her offlimits due to "Leia remembering her mother died young" might not mean infant remembering Padmé but young Leia remembering Breha's death maybe. why would she be raised by Bail and her aunts if Breha lived?

 

Winter cameo. Comic: approved.

 

I think it's safe to say that a year is a year (at least for galactic time measures), and the timeline of Jorus was fixed by the date of the Outbound Flight.