Dark times for the galaxy! But will the Empire's rise be forestalled when Emperor Palpatine is left at death's door? Or will Darth Vader find a way to save him in the ominous Ghost Prison? As the Dark Lord takes a killer under his wing, it could be grave news for a group of Jedi youths - but when Master Dass Jennir reunites with the Uhumele's ragtag crew, Vader himself will be the target! But the Empire's enforcer does not go down easily - just ask the eight assassins who try and fail. The man who hired them will risk everything on the ninth...
COLLECTING: STAR WARS: DARTH VADER AND THE GHOST PRISON 1-5, STAR WARS: DARK TIMES - FIRE CARRIER 1-5, STAR WARS: DARK TIMES - A SPARK REMAINS 1-5, STAR WARS: DARTH VADER AND THE NINTH ASSASSIN 1-5
W. Haden Blackman is a writer who has long worked in the Star Wars universe. He is also the project lead on the MMO Star Wars: Galaxies and the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
Another beautiful entry in the Star Wars Legends Epic Collection - this time with four stories from the Dark Horse comic line.
I always enjoy stories with Bomo Greenbark in them, during this early Imperial era, with Vader on the rampage around the galaxy.
I knocked one star off for the last story in the collection, Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin, because it has a superweapon in it, and I'm not really fond of those.
But, the artwork is uniformly lovely, and these are some pretty good stories. A worthy addition to my headcanon.
Collections like this make me mourn the loss of the Dark Horse line of Star Wars comics. Unlike the new canon crap that’s obviously held in Disney’s iron grip of political correctness and “inclusion”, the legends stuff wasn’t afraid to push the boundaries or at least try to take Star Wars in a darker direction.
The Empire collections(and the whole Dark Times series) is proof that back in the late 2010’s, Star Wars comics got it. By that I mean that the stories that Dark Horse produced were actually good. They made sense and they told tales that were actually fun to read. Stradley’s stories of Jennir and crew make for compelling reading and, at the same time, give validity to the “Dark Times” that were the titular rise of the empire. Likewise, Blackman’s limited run “Ghost Prison” is damn near perfect, showcasing Vader’s brutality and cunning. Even “The 9th Assassin”, while not exactly the best story in this collection, is at least super action packed, relying on more illustrations than boring dialogue.
STAR WARS – LEGENDS EPIC COLLECTION - THE EMPIRE Vol.3 Great bunch of tales in the Star Wars galaxy. ****
STAR WARS: DARTH VADER AND THE GHOST PRISON Clever how close they veer to the edge of Star Wars canon without forcing a parallel/alternative universe story line. ****
GHOST PRISON #1 “My involvement with the Ghost Prison incident began with my arrival ..” – Cadet Tohm
GHOST PRISON #2 “I can only assume that I had been excluded from the plot because my ‘friends’ knew I would never betray the Emperor.”
GHOST PRISON #3 “Lord Vader requested that I withhold this portion of my report ..”
GHOST PRISON #4 “Releasing the prisoners may have been a tactical error.”
GHOST PRISON #5 “Meanwhile, Headmaster Gentis and my entire graduating class prepared the final betrayal in their traitorous coup.” Shocking ending! . STAR WARS: DARK TIMES ‘Fire Carrier’ - This is a really cool story within the broader ‘dark times’ mythos. Good stuff. ****
Fire Carrier: #1 “As you can see, my passengers are all younglings .. orphans. One of them is hurt ..” – K’Kruhk
Fire Carrier: #2 “If I wanted you dead, Falco Sang, you would BE dead.” - Vader
Fire Carrier: #3 “Wooly, get ready .. we’re going over the OTHER SIDE of the hill .. NOW!” - K’Kruhk instructing his buffalo
Fire Carrier: #4 “Run, younglings!” – Master Zao
Fire Carrier: #5 “Yes. You said she was hiding nothing.” - K’Kruhk “Exactly. Because she has nothing to hide.” – Master Zao . STAR WARS: DARK TIMES “A Spark Remains” - Hope remains and the fire still burns. Yet another excellent segment of the ‘dark times’ narrative. ****
A Spark Remains: #1 {Star Wars: Dark Times - A Spark Remains (2013) #1 } “You’ve done all you can here, Bomo Greenbark. Now, be a good friend. GO”
A Spark Remains: #2 “Well, consider our own situations. Would YOU feel safe living in a place as OPEN as this?” – Jennir
A Spark Remains: #3 “As before … do not divulge to my apprentice that we have spoken.” – Emperor to a Lieutenant regarding Vader
A Spark Remains: #4 “So I am joining Master Jennir in his plan to save you ALL – to send you away BEFORE the Empire arrives.” – Master Hudorra
A Spark Remains: #5 “.. but today the Jedi Order survived .. May the Force be with you all.” - Master Hudorra via hologram ..
STAR WARS: DARTH VADER AND THE NINTH ASSASSIN Darth Vader is always going to be the indestructible bad-ass. His dominating aura means there will be countless single adventure stories about him that fit neatly within its own pocket narrative in the broader Star Wars galaxy. Clever insert into the Star Wars timeline, very Doctor Who-ish!
THE NINTH ASSASSIN #1 “I don’t think you’re safe here.” – mercenary “I don’t pay you to THINK. I pay you and your men to ..” – wealthy angry father of a son murdered by Vader
THE NINTH ASSASSIN #2 “Look at his STOMACH. What is that?” “It’s a bomb.” “DEATH TO THE EMPIRE!”
THE NINTH ASSASSIN #3 “I’ve never seen data like that. The energy created by that beam surpasses any functioning weapon in the Imperial Army.”
THE NINTH ASSASSIN #4 “WELCOME! Welcome to the Temple of the Headless Snake. We’ve been EXPECTING you.”
THE NINTH ASSASSIN #5 Vader gives Palpatine the crystal that magnifies core energy. “Grand Moff Tarkin will be MOST interested in your discovery. Perhaps he will find it useful for his .. special project.” – Palpatine. …………………………………………………………..
This ends up being a bit of a mixed bag for the same reasons volume 1 was — the Vader issues are a slog. And in the same way I liked most of Purge better than Lost Command, I liked Ghost Prison much better than Ninth Assassin. It felt like it had more gravitas, and while I could’ve liked a mostly silent series exploring Vader’s survival against assassins, this needed to be a wholly different story to make that fun, or do like the former did and give us a new protagonist to follow instead of trying to get in Vader’s head (to… disastrous results, as far as being taken out of the narrative goes; it was much more distracting than Tracha, or however you spell it, who I don’t understand and I feel like is an unnecessary complication to everything going on here — easily the worst part of Ghost Prison). Plus Ninth Assassin needed much better art to be as engaging as it wants to be, and as fun as I wish it were. It’s too clean-looking, especially when read against the issues of Dark Times, which are still the standout, even if I do feel like they dip just ever so slightly this time. This is the end of the line for them, there’s no more with these characters (except one, I know, but still), I would’ve liked a better finale, despite this feeling like it’s bending over backwards to be such a finale. My guess is this is where they got the word that Disney bought them out, so they had to wrap it fast. And it’s fine. It’s still very good, it just never has the same impact that the previous arcs all did. “Fire Carrier” is great, but again, I feel like it leaves things too anticlimactically to be a satisfying ending, no matter how good the story is in itself.
“I want more. And I know I shouldn’t!”
I’m still impressed overall though. I really liked the Republic/Dark Times run, and I hope something else can pick up the ball and roll it as well as this.
Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison was good for like, one issue. The main character seemed promising and the art was fantastic. Then Darth Vader shows up and it becomes yet another violent and depressing slog where all the sympathetic characters die because they don't have plot armor. there were good moments and cool ideas, like the titular prison. I love the idea that the jedi kept dark siders in a secret prison in the middle of nowhere. Way cooler idea then the citadel. Its not explored to its potential though. Villain centric comics are hard to do well, and I'm getting kinda tired off them. Unless you really delve into the character then whats the point? This was just meaningless tragedy. A waste of good art.
Dark Times: Fire Carrier was the best story in this volume. K'kruhk is great as always. I liked that this showed that not all the republic guys went full imperial. Very suspenseful, this wasn't anything mindblowing, but it was solid. I was annoyed that Zao and Sidirri's plotline goes unresolved though.
Dark Times: A Spark Remains was completely pointless, a very disappointing end to a series that started out promising. Dass Jennir and friends try to assassinate Darth Vader. I wonder how thats going to turn out... Literally nothing of consequence happened here, except Hudorra died. The lightsaber duel in the middle was cool. Thats it. This was a nothing story.
Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin felt really unfocused. It got too bonkers to be boring though. It wasn't great, but the whole primitive death star cultist thing was really interesting. But seriously, if I read about an attempt to assassinate Vader one more time...
I had already read two of the series in this collection (Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison and Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin), but the other two were new to me. Ghost Prison still holds up - I was less impressed with the Ninth Assassin this time. It's almost all action but it's not as clear as it needs to be. Of the new-to-me stories, Dark Times: Fire Carrier and Dark Times: Spark Remains, they were both okay, but not great. Fire Carrier is definitely the stronger, as Whiphid Jedi K'Kruhk and a bevy of Jedi children face horrifying tribalism on an Imperial planet, although the back stories about imperials are less inspiring. Spark Remains is the weakest, as Jedi Dass Jennir recruits another Jedi to try to take on Vader. The characters are apparently from previous stories but I haven't read them, so they didn't mean much to me, and the machinations didn't make much of a story (the Imperial back stories were actually a little more interesting - there's a bounty hunter Falco Sang that Vader is grooming that gets some decent moments). All told, there's 20 issues collected here, and they're for the most part okay to good. Artwork varies (Ghost Prison's style I liked the best; Fire Carrier is pretty cartoonish), but isn't ever horrible. It's a middle of the road affair in general.
This was an amazing read! I really love seeing the developing corruption of the Empire, the various attempts by both good and bad people to change the course of the imperial juggernaut.
This volume really focuses in on the elements swirling around Vader and the Emperor, rather then focusing on them, which was really interesting. You still get to see some great segments of Vader slicing his way thru enemies, and the Emperor manipulating things as he sees fit. But, even more interestingly, this volume presents the experiences of new imperial officers, the completion of the story of Jedi Master K'Kruk and a continuation of Das Jenner's story, with a two Jedi from the first volume making an appearance!
If you liked the first two collections of the empire, then you will love this one!
A good epic collection with some mini-series I liked a lot more than others. The standouts are Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison, which has incredible artwork and a compelling original character to star alongside Vader, and the continuing issues of the Dark Times comic. Dass Jennir is quickly becoming one of my favorite EU characters. Of the two Dark Times arcs in this epic collection, A Spark Remains I enjoyed more. My least favorite series in this was Vader and the Ninth Assassin, as it has a weird narrative that I didn't connect with. I think anyone who enjoyed the first two Empire collections will like this one as well.
Quick impressions: a series I continue to enjoy, and these Legends Epic collections are a great way to read story arcs in one places. This particular volume contains the Ghost Prison story line, which I had not read before, and the Ninth Assassin storyline (this one I had read a while back), plus we get to follow more of Dass Jennir and other Jedi survivors. Overall, a good read.
Personally I’m not a big fan of what Disney is currently doing with the Star Wars franchise (besides Clone Wars and Rogue One) but these comics from Dark Horse reminded me how great Star Wars can be! Beautiful illustrations with great story and an interesting cast of characters this is a comic that any Star Wars fan will enjoy especially those looking for a story with a darker tone with Vol. 3 being the most action packed in the series. 5/5 stars!
Mostly solid stories, the Dark Times in here is the last we see of Dass Jenir, sadly the new horrible Disney version of Star Wars doesn’t have tales that can hold a candle to this.
The whole tome is solid except for the final story of Darth Vader and the 9th assassin which is the weakest story in the bunch.
The third (and I believe final) volume of the Star Wars Empire Epic Collection series collects the final issues of Dark Times and two miniseries Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison and Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin. All these stories take place a few months or years after the events of Episode 3.
The collection starts out very very strong with Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison. This miniseries follows an attempted uprising by a general in the Empire. After the initial attempt that severely injures the Emperor, a cadet, who was set to graduate that day, survives and helps Darth Vader escape the attacks and they take refuge at a secret prison that the Jedi set up years ago to hold the most dangerous enemies of the Republic. He recruits those enemies to help him and the Emperor get their Empire back. This story is insanely good, even beyond being a Star Wars story. It's so dark and gritty, easily the best Darth Vader story you'll ever read. It really should be it's own movie. Every Star Wars fan should read this.
The second story is "Fire Carrier" and it follows up on the story of Master K'Kruhk and the Jedi younglings he is protecting. They have made their way to a refugee camp after crashing on a planet, but discover some horrifying truth's about what's happening to the refugees there. Darth Vader is busy training the assassin, who failed to kill Dass in the last Dark Times arc, to prepare him to help hunt Jedi, namely Dass. This story succeeds in wrapping up K'Kruhk's arc fairly well and has some incredibly disturbing sequences regarding the refugees. The action in this one is excellent, as well as the dramatic turns it takes.
"A Spark Remains" is the fourth and final Dark Times arc. The Uhuleme and Dass Jennir, along with Ember and a newly discovered Jedi make their way to the Casino of an old friend of Dass, who used to be Jedi Master. Darth Vader and the assassin he was training discover their location and it results in an action packed confrontation between the characters. It's awesome, but it suffers big time for one reason. Shortly after it finished, Disney acquired Star Wars and Dark Times, published by Dark Horse, stopped being written. The storyline itself ends very well, but it's not a satisfying conclusion to the series. It really let me down learning that we'll never figure out what happens to Dass and the Uhuleme.
The final story here is "Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin". This miniseries concerns a very rich businessman whose son was killed by Vader and he hires one of the most elusive, infamous assassins in the galaxy to kill Darth Vader. Darth Vader is investigating a cult on a distant planet who have attempted to kill the Emperor. This story is almost pure furious action, just Darth Vader flexing his powers. So enjoyable and intense, I was blown away by some of the crazy things that happen in this miniseries.
There probably won't be any more Empire Epic Collections, the are other Epic Collections to collect the other various Star Wars comics. As a conclusion to the Empire collections though, this is fairly satisfying, but really I would have loved some closer on the Dass Jennir storyline. As with the other volumes in this series, this one comes very highly recommended.
Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison was awesome with great art. The final issues of Dark Times were good but lacked a strong conclusion for an ongoing series. Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin was weak and read like fanboy fan-fiction.