SWNN Review: Marvel’s Shattered Empire #2
This series is great. The two issues we have seen so far are just what I wanted. We are seeing the Rebellion struggle to reinstate the Republic while juxtaposed with a dying Empire clinging to life. There are Star Destroyers, TIE Fighters, all the alphabet designated Wings, and AT-ATs. The art and story flow seamlessly together. This is Star Wars at its best; a galaxy in turmoil with the silver lining of hope.
This issue opens up on a rather somber Star Destoyer bridge. The chilling ship name of Torment carries on the line of nasty Imperial designations. Captain Duvat is preparing to receive a visitor, and once he gets word of said visitors arrival, the bridge is cleared. The visitor is a new type of droid that, as far I know, we have not seen before. It carries a message relayed by Palpatine himself, which Captain Duvat takes as a live transmission, instructing the captain he has been chosen to carry out a special mission. This interaction is very interesting to me. It’s not clear if Duvat is deluding himself by acting as if Palpatine survived the Battle of Endor, or if he really believes it. It’s an interesting look inside the psyche of an Imperial officer that has drifted so far from his humanity he either has no choice to try and believe his dictator still controls his every move because he no longer thinks for himself; or, he genuinely believes Palpatine is beyond mortality.
When we get back to what the Rebellion has been up to we find ourselves on Stedic IV in the midst of a battle in what appears to be an Imperial-fortified city. Seventeen days have passed since the Battle of Endor. The Empire is clearly not going down without a fight. Once again, the art in this scene steals the show. Such great work. Battles on the scale of this one run the risk of looking cluttered. This is very clean and each moment/frame stands on its own as the parts of a sum. Checchetto, Unzueta, Laiso, and Mossa did awesome collaboratory work.
Once again, the pilot Shara Bey, mother of Poe Dameron, walks away from another victory over the Empire. We find out that she and her husband, Kes Dameron, went separate ways after the Battle of Endor. Kes is on a mission where contact is not possible. Shara has been trying to distract herself with a lot of work. Here’s something interesting: Poe Dameron has already been born. We didn’t witness his conception after all. Shara mentions he is in the care of her father, so maybe we’ll get a young Poe cameo down the line.
Shara’s new assignment teams her with a very down trodden Princess Leia. Leia does not seem well. She seems very troubled and beaten down, tired of fighting a war that seems endless. Shara is tasked with being her pilot on a diplomatic mission. While in hyperspace, over a cup of coffee, Leia writes a condolences letter to the surviving family of a casualty. She mentions she has lost track of how many times she’s done the letters.
They arrive on Naboo, the undisclosed destination of Leia’s diplomatic push. She meets with the queen and other governing officials. Like other lands that bore evil dictators, Naboo has felt the burden of being Emperor Palpatine’s home world. They pledge their support to restoring the Senate and Leia’s efforts to build the New Republic. For a moment, things are good.
Then the Tormentor arrives. Using a weapon we have never seen before, we learn one of Palpatine’s last orders concerned the destruction of Naboo…
Not really much else to say about this. It’s fantastic and if there is any Journey To The Force Awakens reading you should be doing, this is it. I cannot wait to see the completion of this arc. My only hope is that the Lucasfilm Story Group can entice Greg Rucka to write a few more arcs set in the same time period. Shattered Empire is hands down the best of the Star Wars comics series so far. If you are trying to stay spoiler pure for The Force Awakens I understand, but make sure to pick these up after you have seen the film. I hope I don’t sound redundant, but this is Star Wars storytelling at it’s best.
Kyle Larson lives in Portland, Oregon. When he's not running trails, he's reading and writing.
I think that is the Starkiller. Or an early prototype version of it.
It`s basically precision strike. And it can be scaled – from tactical strike to strategic. Think of our nuclear weapons – you have things like B61 bombs and then you have Tridents.
You have small JDAMs and then you have things like MOP bunker buster.
NASA is working on Space Based Solar Power (the technology for it is already aviable, it`s just inefficient as of 2015) – beamed back to Earth in microwave radiation. US is betting that by 2040 it should grow and slowly become the main energy source.
So while it is fiction, it`s based on science.
Those are weather manipulation satellites. They’re creating hurricanes and other atmospheric disaster using Naboo’s own climate system as the delivery system.
I don’t see how this can be connected to Starkiller unless they learn to manipulate the “weather” of a star… which would be more magnetic manipulation than manipulation air pressure drops.
I hope Naboo will survive this.
I’m not sure where in the timeline this takes place but the Empire tries to take over it many times according to Lost Stars but they fail.
Takes place after the Battle of EndorEp. VI
I gathered but how long? Lost Stars takes place a year afterward. This really shouldn’t surprise me as Marvel has never been all that accurate with timelines. I hope Leland Chee pinpoints everything down to the month like he did with Clone Wars.
20 days after Endor, maybe one or two more. They will fail.
For those who were paying attention, it says in the comic that this takes place “seventeen days after the Battle of Endor.”
About as clear on the timeline as anything in Star Wars ever has been.
Looks like a Guiver Guard or however you pronounce it.
Its only been 2 issues, but this is quickly becoming one of the best. So much information in just 2 issues and I imagine we will get so much more going forward. My full review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6iJRopWySc
The never ending Draft King commercials of the comments section this dude is. Yes.
The art has felt a little strange in this comic. Harsh outlines and attempts at depths of field feel off. Also why did the term “bucket heads” from Star Wars Rebels resurge in popularity right after Palpatine dies?! I do enjoy Shattered Empire for all the surprises it’s including, but I have not seen anything in it that makes this series my favorite.
This issue is good (as was the first one), but I don’t think it rises to the level of praiseworthiness in this review. Well, maybe the artwork does.
Also, I can’t imagine that anyone reading the comic will be reading spoilers about The Force Awakens. The comic takes place decades before TFA.
One thing of note… In Spanish “La Tormenta” literally means “Storm”
I’m not big on comics [too lazy to find a store] but I’m gonna have to go out and find this one, it’s not just that an AT-AT is going full godzilla on a city – ok, that’s the big thing, but also it just looks like I’m reading a novelization of a Star Wars movie that really should have been made by now.
This actually looks better than the films, -OT included.
Like, you know that feeling, where when you’re a kid and watch TESB, the hoth battle scene feels sprawling and crazy and intense, and then when you’re an adult and watch it again, you realize the scene’s only 5-8 minutes long feat. 20 extras and is actually pretty low-key due to plot-editing / budget.
Well this comic, just from what’s shown, captures SW [as seen by an excited kid] perfectly, free from all the many restrictions the OT was under.
It looks just as crazy and intense as I IMAGINED the TESB Battle was.
Hence, ATzilla!
Also, Leia is better drawn here than I’ve seen elsewhere, it looks like it’s from a photo, but the attitude and real-world tiredness is spot on.
Seeing Leia on Naboo felt spesh.
nice. i like the chaos and battle in a big city. i hope we see stuff like in this in the movies.
Princess Leia may find out who her biological mother was. I think that would be an interesting twist.