Dark Empire‘s Mediation onStar Wars‘ Cycles Helped Shape the Expanded Universe Forever

At the dawn of the ‘ 90s , Star Wars ’ “ dark ages”—with the end of Marvel ’s Star Wars comics , new toy on the diminution , and the moving picture long over in the eyes of fans and perhaps even its Divine — abruptly ended in a brilliant split second . Timothy Zahn ’s Heir to the Empireheralded a raw , post - Return of the Jedi saga that would be tell across books and cartoon strip for decades to add up . But as forward - looking as the Thrawn Trilogy would become , Dark Empire was just as important for the ways it search back .

Written by Tom Veitch , who sadlypassed aside last calendar week , lettered by Todd Klein , and brilliantly illustrated by Cam Kennedy — starkly shadowed line art painted in princely cool colors dart through with blasts of warm yellowness and Red — Dark Empire is chronologically set after the events of Zahn ’s trilogy of novel . Those books , Heir to the Empire , Dark Force Rising , and The Last Command , cover the plan of Grand Admiral Thrawn ’s attempts to keep the Imperial armed forces in control as he combat the newly baptise Republic in the year after Return of the Jedi . But while Heir to the Empire and its successor look to chart the future tense of Star Wars ’ story beyond the movie trilogy , raw threats in the crack cocaine of the Empire ’s blunting , if not outright destruction , at the time Veitch ’s story in the Page of Dark Empire — which began strike shelves just six month after Heir ’s release — search back to Star Wars ’ immediate past .

In hindsight , decades later on , we can see the parallelsbetween Dark Empire and the prolonged Skywalker Saga ’s movie self in the determination of The Rise of Skywalker . Defeated threats return , one-time nerve thought go are back , and yes , Emperor Palpatine is very alive , a ringer , and has glowering plan for the son of Leia Organa and Han Solo . At the time , Dark Empire and the Thrawn Trilogy , were debate massive successes that evidence the hunger for a new era of Star Wars — the birth of the fabled Star Wars Expanded Universe as we truly knew it . Without Dark Empire or Heir to the Empire kickstarting decades of books , comic strip , and biz , the living chronicle and future tense of the fictional Galax urceolata far , far away would never have number to pass , its bequest securedin its keen influence on Lucasfilm ’s own renew direct returns to Star Wars on motion picture and on TV — even after the EU was declared non - canonically to be “ Legends ” after Disney ’s purchase of the studio in 2012 . And yet , for those level reason , at the metre Dark Empire was seen as something of a weird side - gradation — rehashing the conflict of the movies , bringing back old scoundrel like Palpatine and Boba Fett so before long after theirseeming death , and seeing Luke fight with the Dark Side ’s temptation so before long after becoming a Jedi . Dark Empire , it seemed , re - litigated Star Wars rather than looking to the potential of its novel future .

Luke faces old struggles and old threats in Dark Empire.

Luke faces old struggles and old threats in Dark Empire.Image: Dave Dorman/Dark Horse

And yet , Dark Empire work on and persist darling three decades after the fact , because Veitch ’s usage of these thought - overcome conflicts has a weightiness that Star Wars has essay to struggle with in all those tenner since after Dark Empire came to a close . In some ways perhaps it ’s fair to say that Veitch ’s story put the guide for Star Wars ’ love ofgenerational cycles of conflictthat would be explored both retroactively with the prequels and then afterwards on in the sequel trilogy : sine and evils of one coevals worming their manner into the next , and the next , as the next cycle of rebel heroes and future Force wielders rises to lay them low again . The return of the Emperor , youthful and regenerate to literally raven on the flesh of the raw generation — clone shenanigans aside , Palpatine ’s end game in Dark Empire is to put his intent in the organic structure of Leia ’s unborn child — is ridiculously silly in the room that Star Wars is ridiculously silly . But the way it serves as a accelerator for Luke to re - confront the evils that tempted him in the past provides Dark Empire with a thematic heart that die beyond the continued story of rebel heroes and resurgent empires .

Dark Empire leverage its thematic sound reflection to re - affirm that , should Star Wars stay beyond the films , its fights do n’t so easily terminate with a celebration in the Ewok village and a destroyed superweapon . Zahn ’s novels fleshed out the Imperial Remnant with new lineament , but its very existence as a major threat in the early EU stories and in Dark Empire — affect back furiously with appal , antecedently unseen tech like the elephantine World Devastators , even as the Republic builds its own fleet , one confiscate Star Destroyer at a time — underline that Star Wars ’ cardinal conflict was never so simple as to be won by one major victory . In choosing this time to go to the Emperor ’s side — to salve his babe and her fry — rather than withstand him , and momently embrace the power of the Dark , Dark Empire does n’t undoLuke ’s action in Return of the Jedi , but emphasises that a Jedi ’s battle to resist the Dark and squeeze the Light is a constant journey , one that can be brand by reversal and triumph in equal measure . For Luke in special , Dark Empire is a story of perseverance , to take exception the love he has for his household and friends — the weakness Palpatine once mock him for in Jedi — and cheer it by pushing himself to the brink of his temptation .

It ’s captivating to revisit Dark Empire , especially now after the Skywalker Saga has resolve again , and to see some of its plainest influences in Veitch ’s writing and Kennedy ’s haunting , striking art . They ’re arguably executed much more strongly in Dark Empire than they are in The Rise of Skywalker , if only because , unlike its cinematic parallel of latitude , there ’s less tangled textile and electric potential for Dark Empire to extricate itself from before pivoting to its story of cyclical engagement . After all , there was n’t really much before to extricate itself from . Alongside the Thrawn trilogy , Dark Empire guide the way of life for Star Wars to live on beyond the film — even it it did so by returning to its biggest root and conflicts and re - imagining them as ever - flowing , repeating lessons that must be returned to , endured , and re - learned from time and time again . In fiat to keep Star Wars going forever , Dark Empire realized that the past could never really be forgotten … just in some ways more literal than others .

Image: Cam Kennedy and Todd Klein/Dark Hors