"Dark Empire II," by Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy [Dark Horse Comics, 1992]

[image=http://www.theforce.net/comics/images/dhCovers/small/deiiTPB.jpg]

Synopsis:

The Empire in retreat, Luke Skywalker is on a quest to rebuild the Jedi. But before he can revive that elite corps of protectors, he must first rebuild himself! He has spent time as the Emperor's thrall, and the taint of the dark side still tugs at his subconcious. Can he pull together the Jedi, can he pull himself together, before the New Republic loses the upper hand, or will the Empire take root once more?
The long-awaited second chapter in the biggest Star Wars series of all time is here! Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy, the creative team of Star Wars: Dark Empire, have reunited to take you through the action-packed events immediately following those in the first trade paperback! This 168-page trade paperback features all your favorite players, from Luke, Han, and Leia to Lando, Threepio, and the bounty-hunting Boba Fett! Dave Dorman has put together an out-of-this-galaxy painting for the cover of this collection, and all 12 of the paintings featured on the covers of the original two series are included within! When you pick up your copy of Star Wars: Dark Empire II, you'll want to strap yourself in for the experience of a lifetime!

 

I'm not crazy about any of the "Emperor Reborn" comics, but this one's probably my least favorite. I think that this entire book could have been eliminated without hurting the series at all. It seemed to me to be little more than a rehash of DEI, and the few plot points in this one that were needed for the series could easily have been done in Empire's End, making that one longer.

 

I give this one a 9. This was the first SW comic series I bought, and introdused me to the great artwork of Cam Kennedy. While not as good as the first series, this is still a great read, and has my fav panel in a SW comic - Luke's Vision of the Future of Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin protecting the galaxy, which can now be viewed as a preminition of the NJO. I just wish the 3rd installment (Empire's End) was this good.

(PS, it was released in 1994/1995)

 

I barely acknowledge Dark Empire as canon, so I don't like this...

 

...well, not bad, not great..

I still think the idea of bringing back the Emperor is incredibly cheesy...

But i can't deny that those WarDroids were quite neat...And Lando and Wedge seem to have great chemistry together, as a team...

Anyone know where the story about how Luke met Kam Solusar can be found?

I've always wondered about that one....

 

It was originally supposed to be in a GN called Lightsider, but it got cancelled before it ever came out

 

...so they're just never gonna tell that story?

Sheesh..

Thanks W_K!

(And i concur, RIP Mr. Perfect. Still can't believe he's gone!)

 

Thats a story that out of respect for Tom Veitch no one has ever told. We may still see it as a short story someday by the original author.

I liked DEII although I agree with some that large parts were simply a rehash. 7 out of 10

 

A small part of Kam's and Luke's first meeting can be heard in the DEII audio drama.

I gave this a 6. To much of a rehash of DEI. I think they should have highlighted a new villain like Sedriss or just not have killed Plapy in DEI.

 

I thought DEII was pretty decent. It didn't come across as excellent, although it did introduce Kam Solusar. I really wish Lightsider had been released. Kam is a cool character.

 

It was alight. Probably a 7 out of 10. It really annoyed me how all of the dark jedi kept getting killed with one stroke of a lightsaber. And they killed off Sedriss waaaaaaaaay too early. He hardly even did anything! It did introduce the X-1 Vipers which are now my favorite droid. I think the idea of there being another clone Emperor was alright, but there was just something not right in the way Veitch carried it all out.

 

I gave it a 4. Resurrections don't work in Star Wars.

 

What happened to Veitch? Why was Empire's End cut down to two issues? Anyone know the gossip?

J

 

1 of 10

This is what I call "pushing it". I didn't mind a cloned Emperor in DE; it actually seemed interesting. But when the resurrected Emperor resurrected himself AGAIN, I decided I'd had too much. I own DE, but thankfully, I got DE II from the library, so I didn't feel like a complete idiot for reading it.

Don't waste your time with this. If you ever get through it and read EE, you'll just wonder, "What the..?"

 

3 out of 10.

I have one question before I write my intial review: Why is there a Dark Empire ll review but not one for the first in the dualogy?

On subject, Tom Veitch can write. You don't believe me? Read the Tales of The Jedi series sometime. In the EU catagory that series is some of the best addition's.

I just think as a whole the Dark Empire comic dualogy was'ent some of his best work. As stated earlier the redundancy of clone Emperor Palpatine's repeatedly returning after being vanquished is quite repeaditive but the reader should look at it from his perspective.

He look's at Emperor Palpatine as the pure untampered personification of evil. (At least that's what he sayed when he was questioned about the storyline and how unoriginal it is compared to each other)

How exactly that atone's for using that idea repeatedly? He obviously has to power to do it.

As for the story itself, I think it was mediocre. The opening showdown on the industrial planet Balmorra was drawn and wrote well for a planet-siege-sized-battle.

By the way, the Viper Automadon war droid's with their molecular shielding idea was awesome. A pity they could'ent take out a pack of Rancor's with all that weaponry though.

The surviving primitive tribe's on Ossus is a excellent example of continuity as it regard's to TOTJ and Luke taking advantage of this was a pretty intelligent idea when he was rebuilding the Jedi Order.

The Dark Jedi conflict was a nice touch throughout the story too to make thing's interesting.

<[-]> Saber

 

I have to state a couple of my biases first off, one is against the whole resurrected Emperor thing. It bugged me during the first Dark Empire series and kept me from enjoying it as much as I could have if another villain was created. A second bias I have is toward the illustration work of Cam Kennedy, I really like the way this guy works. His pencil/ink style reminds me a lot of one of my all-time favourites, Walt Simonson. I also like the way he colours, it really sets the mood for the stories well.

Having said all that it won't come as a surprise that I liked the illustrations of Dark Empire II all lot more than the story. There are some interesting characters introduced in the series on the side of the Alliance, but, the with the exception of the Emperor, none of the darksiders get enough exposure in the series. This coupled with yet another super-weapon developed by the Empire, the Galaxy Gun, makes the conflict in Dark Empire II not very interesting. In my opinion Tom Veitch's work on the Tales of the Jedi series is far superior to the Dark Empire/Empire's End series. For me, this series was pure eye-candy with a minimal story.

Series rating: (5/10)

-ldh-

 

This was a pretty bad series. Dark Empire wasn't that great so I have no idea why I bought this one which was probably worse.

 

Well, I have #1 and #6 comics. Except for the covers, I really didn't like the art. I missed some of the story (of course), but I how Leia decided to call her newborn "Anakin" cute (poor Han), but the way Han was playing with his kids in the last issue (so I gusse would be somewhere in the las 16 pages?) reminded me of a person playing with a dog. Anyway, my biggest complaint is the art (Are these blocky shapes human?)

 

I liked the original Dark Empire. It was an interesting story and was fairly well-done. I'd prefer to think of it as a "what-if?" story, but this isn't the place for that sort of thing.

Dark Empire II was terrible though. Beating a dead bantha. I get the feeling DE was supposed to end with the Emperor finally dying, but when it was successful, somebody said, "Hey wait, we've gotta keep this going for a while. Make up a some more stuff for this story, eh?"

 

6/10

 

6/10

Not bad, but not up to the standard's set by the other comics.

 

1

This is probably the worst EU work I have ever read. Bringing the emperor back is weird, stupid, riddiculous and a real crime. That plot was dreamed up with absolutely no respect for what it might do to the rest of the EU. And since this is one of the biggest EU Comics projects it has had a tremendous influence on the Star Wars universe.

Other things I didn't like (okay, I'm going to use a few elements from Dark Empire I since there doesn't seem to be any review thread for it):

* Boba Fett. Honestly, he's a bumbling idiot with his helmet on backwards in this comic book. And he really should fix that jetpack. It nearly got him killed in RotJ, and it seems that all you have to do is nudge it and it'll go haywire.

* Off-model characters. You can talk all you want about the terrific drawings, but the characters look NOTHING like they should. I had a hard time recognising them in the beginning.

* The "Darksiders". Besides the name being corny, they really were nothing but a lot of hot air. Luke Skywalker and his apprentices chop them up like cheese - of course, if they would use the Force once in a while, that would help. They were also butt-ugly

In the words of Comic Book Guy,
"Worst. Comic Book. Ever."

 

This is the only thing in the SW that is considered canon by many....which I don't consider canon at all.
I hate the whole Dark Empire. They make Anakin as the chosen one seem pointless.

NO I really do hate this stuff.
It could have been okay before PT...but now it is too dated and makes PT pointless in many ways.

I don't like it at all.

-Seldon

 

Very nice sequel to DE, good to see Luke actively searching for possible Jedi. And its good to see that Luke isn't any weaker on the Lightside as compared to the Darkside though.

This marks the introduction of a great EU character, Kam Solusar, who's dry humor and backstory make for a interesting character. Seeing how the Holocron works was a entertaining experience, especially seeing Kam handle the thing!

It was kinda sad to see Jem die, even though she was a bit stupid...

Despite many opionions otherwise, I don't think that DE makes RoTJ vain at all. Vader saves his son and redeems himself and makes it possible for the Alliance, Luke, and Leia to defeat the Emperor by restoring balance to the Force.

Great story overall. 9/10

-Jabba out