Lit Comics A Look Back at Dark Horse Star Wars, Year By Year: Now Discussing 1998 [WARNING: IMAGE INTENSE]

I think this is a spectacular idea.

The artwork really was great. I have some of the Classics and O amile while reading them. They really capture the story well

 

I love Dark Empire.

 

I still find the concept of Dark Empire to be controversial, much like TCW's revival of Maul.

But in exactly the same way, I enjoy it for its execution of an otherwise borderline offensive concept.

As a character arc for Luke and Leia, I think it's a great piece. And it DID add much to Palpatine's character as well, controversial or not.

 

I think Dark Empire is really good for both Luke and Leia, and having just read the Return of the Jedi novelization it really enhances my appreciation just based on what was available at the time. Couple that with Shadows of Mindor and... what a great three stories to go together.

 

I'm not psychologically prepared for this thread.

 

I can remember picking this up in singles and just being blown away that there was new SW stuff coming out.

My memory is really...really hazy as this was high school, but I'm pretty sure I only knew about this because of a preview in another DH book, or maybe the LCS had a poster up, idk.

I remember not knowing what to think about the art but now I think it looks awesome, especially that two page spread.

 

For some reason, the "another Eclipse" doesn't phase me in the slightest anymore than "another Death Star" or "another Imperial Star Destroyer" -- it's completely inconsequential to the story so its presence doesn't bother me at all because it's just another class of warship, and he has more than one so I think the latter is a better comparison than the former, so if anything it's less egregious than ROTJ in that regard. And the only thing I would really say makes the clone thing worth mention is that Luke seemed to destroy all the vats in DE #5. I don't necessarily have a problem with Dark Empire ending like it did, because it concluded the story in a way that can function as a standalone like the original Star Wars did with the Death Star, and yet the story had already set the parameters to allow for Palpatine to return -- it's not outside the realm of possibility that he has another secret lab with more clones as a contingency, but if they don't make a sequel then he didn't and he's dead.

 

I was born in 91! Which makes me all the more sad that DH is leaving the license. It's been on list for ages, but I've never read Dark Empire! That and the Crimson Empire Saga in addition to other hardcover collections I put to the last of the list while I get Omnibuses and trades....

 

NOOOOOOOOO

 

Ah Dark Empire.... I still hate it with a passion, though I admit that at least Dark Empire 1 works for what it is trying to do, though the art is still just nauseating beyond believe. Classic Star Wars though should be picked up by everyone as the art is just gorgeous and the stories often take surprising directions and ideas. The Return of Ben Kenobi is still one of my favorite SW stories of all time, as is the whole birth of the Executor arc.

 

Personally I loved Dark Empire and it's art. Even DEII was fine by me since it made sense to me that Luke didn't manage to kill all the clones, so of course Palps will be back. It's just to bad EE was rushed and we got a mess, it had some potential.

 

Great nostalgic thread, with some amazing scans. I have never seen the one with MB artwork - incredible; Thanks for posting this.

The rest of this post is an edited version of one I recently made on the DH website:

I still remember the call I got in very early '92 from a friend telling me that there was a new Star Wars comic out; I was amazed since I hadn't known about this. So, that very day, I went out & bought Dark Empire #1, and the rest is history. DE (and the first HTTE novel) got me back into Star Wars & comic collecting in general after a long hiatus. I still remember the long, grueling wait between issues with this bi-monthly DE series

One of my favorite sequences in DE was the return of Boba Fett. It's worth noting that this was the second time the character returned in the EU; the first was his short-lived return in Marvel Star Wars #81 (the first issue to chronologically take place after ROTJ).

Also liked the Emperor's guards in the series; they weren't the Red Guards from ROTJ, but were atually concept drawings of guards that had initially been seen in the The Art of ROTJ (1983). I thought it was cool that DH used this concept art, and as far as I know it's one of few times this type of thing was done in the comics...

Also was really into the Williamson/Goodwin newspaper reprints in the Classic Star Wars series. It was excellent that DH took the time to bother to reprint & re-color these. The stories & art were superb, and it was the first time I had ever read these. I still think Al Willimason is the definitive SW comic artist - not only was his work on this strip incredible, but I also enjoyed his ESB & ROTJ adaptations, as well as #50 & #98 of the Marvel series...

 

Not much time to post right now, so I will simply say...

This.

 

I simultaneously enjoy and despise Dark Empire. It's weird.

 

I think I liked Dark Empire a lot more as a kid than I do now. Looking back on in it now it sort of reeks of "90"s and seems kinda cheesy. But ROTS made it much more relevant and it is an important foundation in the grand scheme of EU.


Perhaps I would think more highly of DE if Empires End was longer and better fleshed out. Perhaps that doesn't really matter here as this is about DE I.

 

Or an atrocious entire last season.

Dexter and X-Files, I'm giving you the death glare.

 

X-Files has survived its final season for me much better than BSG or Lost. I've started rewatching it again, but TBH I don't have much interest in watching BSG or Lost again.

But I don't think Empire's End was necessarily bad, just rushed.

 

I'm going to throw in a few points here.

1. DE was a bi-monthly series! Yup, 1 issue every 2 months! You can't imagine that now unless you've been reasing Dark Times!

2. Several things made DHC's SW comics stand out from the pack, especially DE:

• Cardstock and painted covers - this was unusual
• No ads in the story pages! DHC clustered the ads in the back. Every comic had ads, they abandoned this eventually, but it was a great move.
• Opening scroll page was a neat little nod to the films.
• For all that people go on about the colouring it was a step up from the usual superhero art and colouring, to wit:

And not forgetting story pages like this:



When that's the standard art, DE's stuff is going to blast your eyes in ways unexpected and likely get you to buy it!

Classic Star Wars too did the opening scroll plus no ads double hit and, while it didn't have Dorman painted covers, it had something as good - Al Williamson covers!

Whatever else you say about DHC SW books, you can't say they didn't go hell for leather straight from the off!

 

I'm afraid I'm one who's never particularly liked the art style of the DE series, but the plot, much maligned as it may be by many, is a very logical epilogue to Palpatine's reign, and as mentioned above, fits even better now that we know about both Plagueis and Palpatine's obsession with life extension.It also did serve as a good introduction to an expanded universe, both including all the character we were used to, while introducing a bunch of new ones, and putting them into situations we'd never seen them before.

And though it was never explicitly done at the time, it fit together well with Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy that was being published at the same time.

Classic Star Wars was an ambitious project, but for different reasons. Taking another company's material (or author, I'm not sure how the rights would have worked for that), and reprinting it in collected form was, and still is, rather uncommon. And for most fans, those issues and their subsequent collections are the only way we have access to that material.

I think that is what was the first to establish that the people who work for Dark Horse were a much Star Wars fans as business-people. And that's something I think we're all going to miss in the future when its lost.

 

Regardless of whether it is to your personal liking DH - you can't deny it had an edge over the glut of 90s superhero art!

Also, very important!

Classic Star Wars is - now - available digitally! People ought to buy it while it is going!