SWNN Review: Marvel’s Shattered Empire #3
Let’s start where we catch back up with Kes Dameron. He is in the midst of a secret mission we heard about last week. Lead by General Han Solo, Dameron and the Rebel Alliance/New Republic forces are in the Outer Rim on a planet called the Wretch of Tayron (those Imperial names sure do sound sunny), getting ready to attack a secret Imperial Security Black Site. According to Dameron, this is where the Empire does “unspeakable things”. It’s not more than the flip of a page and the attack has begun.
I’m loving these elaborate battle scenes. The artists are really having fun with these, it seems. Shattered Empire really feels as if it could have been a direct sequel or spin-off film following ROTJ. The look of the everything is so perfectly in sync with the original trilogy. This is only the first one in issue #3.
In the panel discussion between @LadyMusashi , @Hard Case , and myself; we brought up that we don’t think either Kes or Shara are going to make it out of this series alive. A few frames in this issue seem to continue the foreshadowing, beginning with Kes. There are a lot of close calls for these two. If you read Journey to The Force Awakens: Moving Target, you know Leia has a close relationship with Poe come TFA-era. I have a bad feeling neither of his parents make it out of this series alive and Poe’s Leia connection will be her delivering the bad news at the conclusion of the series. That’s my bold prediction. Envelope sealed and let’s get back to issue #3.
Back on Naboo, those Imperial jerks are still reeking havoc on the weather patterns of Palpatine’s home world. Shara and Leia figure out what must be happening, and Naboo’s queen has a plan to stop the Imperial attack. I’m tempted not to tell you what happens next because it was such a nice surprise. Hope you saw the SPOILER tag on this thread. Leia finds herself in the same hangar where her late father launched an attack on a massive battleship as a child. There is also something else she picks up on….
The queen doesn’t mind getting in a flight suit, and in no time, the three of them are off to attack a Star Destroyer. No big deal.
Shara is one of the best pilots in the galaxy, but even she begins to realize this assault may have been hasty. Just when it gets desperate and some more ominous foreshadowing runs across the ink, Lando and a New Republic fleet arrive. Right before the attack on the Star Destroyer began, C-3PO was able to learn of the attack on Naboo. Han and Kes both had their special gals there, so no one took chances.
Pretty cool to see a Mon Calamari cruiser fire point blank at a Star Destroyer.
By the end of the issue, Kes and Shara are reunited. We will see how long they get to enjoy their reunion. 3PO also discovered Palpatine has engaged Star Destroyers all over the galaxy to cover up his tracks. To be concluded next week.
You don’t need me to tell you how great this series is! If you are a Star Wars fan you owe it to yourself to get a hold of this series. This is what we’ve been waiting for and if it’s any indication of how The Force Awakens will fare, I think we can approach December without a shred of trepidation. Go buy it NOW!
You can order a digital copy at Marvel.com or at Comixology.com, or visit the nearest comic book store.
Kyle Larson lives in Portland, Oregon. When he's not running trails, he's reading and writing.
I still think Shara could be Rey’s mother. Kes could die, then Shara and Luke get together at some point. I think it would be interesting to have Poe as her half brother. I shall be watching Shara and Luke with great interest…
this certainly interesting.. never thought of that
I was actually thinking that when I saw the cover of #4. Shara Bey is the new Mara Jade?…maybe. I would totally dig that for Episode VII.
Shira Brie = Shara Bey? Not very clever but makes sense.
Naboo survived!!! Yes!!!
It is really great to see Naboo again.
I’m sure Jar Jar is super popular over there, ya-know, like in a Neville Chamberlain sort of way.
Jar Jar home is planet Coruscant, not Naboo.
Naboo is one of my favorite Star Wars planets. I hope that we will see Naboo in new movies.
How is Jar Jar’s home planet Coruscant when the Gungans are native to Naboo?
Jar Jar moved to Coruscant after TPM events.
That hardly makes it his home planet. And who is to say he didn’t go back home when the Senate was dissolved?
I said Naboo is not Jar Jar home.
Home and Home planet are two different things.
Jar Jar home is a Coruscant since TPM events. He lives on Coruscant.
But not after ANH and where did Senator Amidala live if she was flying to Coruscant to make a vote in ATOC?
The Senate was dissolved in ANH, so he would have moved back to his home planet of Naboo. Besides being a Senator doesn’t mean he has to live there, Senator Amidala had a residence on Coruscant like all Senators, but was visiting only to make a vote at the start of ATOC.
Cool. Why is Luke so blonde and weird looking on that cover? Still wearing the exact same outfit from weeks ago lol
I think it’s his eyeliner – too much eyeliner.
You know what’s wrong? really, it’s that he looks way too much like Benicio del Toro as the Collector in cos-play, not a good mixture.
Yea it doesn’t look right. I wanna see how luke looks in his 30s and 40s
This was the best issue yet. I am loving this series. I especially enjoyed how this issue utilized some of the coolest parts of TPM. I always liked the Naboo Starfighters and Leia’s “chilling moment” was great. The action is so well done in this series and the character development is nice considering it’s brevity. I can’t wait for the conclusion, but I admit that it’s kind of bittersweet as I don’t want this series to end!
I know. What was up with that Force moment?!? And, holy crap(!), Darth Maul!
This is off topic but you know what I don’t understand is what exactly killed vader? All that happened was his cyber hand got cut off and some force electrocution. How does that kill him? Luke took way more shock and vader has been thru much worse. It just never made a lot of sense for him to die so easy.
The electricity jammed Vader’s life-support system, allowing his body to terminate,
think about it, say you’re on life-support in the hospital, and someone takes a defibulator to your air-pump generator, i’m pretty sure you’d be gasping like DV and die after a few minutes,
that’s always what I interpreted was happening.
Whereas Luke was a fully functioning body capable of regaining itself and countering the shock, Vader was barely dangling onto life to begin with without the help of his suit’s systems,
I guess that was an error on palpatines design when he put him in the suit. The slightest malfunction and his masterpiece dies. It would have been epic to finally see the master and apprentice duel one time before their death. A battle between emperor and vader needs to show up in the new canon.
No, it does not. Vader and Palpatine had their fight years ago, though it was a mental fight, as “shown” in Ep III, Anakin lost the fight when he succumbed to Sheev’s will and killed Mace Windu.
It was a done issue, Anakin was truly Palpy’s Bitch.
And for decades, Anakin never betrayed Sheev, but acted according to Sheev’s instruction – he was absolutely loyal until Luke showed up.
Sheev overestimated Anakin’s loyalty though, and expected Anakin to remain loyal even in the face of Luke’s death, Anakin had supported Sheev on way worse, more evil things, so Sheev felt a profound sense of security that he could rely on Darth Vader staying evil — which is why Sheev Palpatine, even in spite of his foresight, was genuinely surprised when Anakin grabbed him and tossed him off the edge.
I for one think that is the most perfect ending to the story of Vader + Sidious. Anything else thrown in for the sake of coolness cheapens the entire deal.
I always thought that was the reason the end of ROTJ worked so well: because Luke’s battle against Sidious and Vader was NEVER, NEVER about physical prowess, it’s about rejecting Evil. Sidious and Vader was never supposed to be a physical combat sort of deal – THAT’S THE POINT. It’s about interior weakness in the face of the dark side of the force.
This issue is why I never and will never respect “the Force Unleashed” games, because the whole crux of the game was that Vader wanted to kill palpatine all along, and palpatine pretty much knew, which is a pretty FUBAR rendition of the whole dynamic, that pulls the rug out from under one of the best boss fights in cinema history; the dual in ‘Jedi.
I think he died because of the electrecution, maybe Vader’s Suit’s weakness was the force lightning. and it would make sense, since Sith apprentice and master are suppoused to kill each other at some point and if you think about it Palpatine was the only one who could use that power. Maybe Palpatine did that on porpuose in order to be able to kill Vader at will.
I don’t think so. Sith tradition is that the apprentice will one day kill the master, not that they will kill each other. Most likely, if the force lightning had anything to do with his death it was because it shorted the circuits, not because of some nefarious design.
The electrocution fried his life support functions. That would be enough to kill him.
How I like to think of it is that Vader was able to live all these years despite being crisped by lava was by both his suit and the power of the dark side (hate and regret). When he was convinced by his son to leave the dark side and return to the light he also lost the will to survive or should I say there was no reason to be alive now because he let go of his hatred and he accepted his fate and regrets. This is what I like to believe killed him and how he accepted his fate.
Agreed. Maul is the best example of the power of the dark side to sustain life.
I agree. He was consumed with hate and regret. I love his internal conflict with himself. It makes him such a epic villain because there is humanity under all his black armor and machine body. I feel like kylo will be an extension of this theme
It was written somewhere, in the novels maybe, that vader kept himself alive by his suit, but also “by own black will”. In other words He used the force to live. The fight, the force lightning, the removal of his mask and his resignation to “die” is what “killed” him
Ok yes now I remember reading that too. The dark side seems stronger than the light
It was written somewhere, in the novels maybe, that vader kept himself alive by his suit, but also “by own black will”. In other words He used the force to live. The fight, the force lightning, the removal of his mask and his resignation to “die” is what “killed” him.
After reading all 4 of the comics, I really wish this series had been expanded further. I think it would have given time to explore Shara Bey and flesh out her character more. Plus going further in depth in this time period would not really have spoiled much of anything of The Force Awakens as it’s still (timewise) a distance from the movie.