The movie poster that wasn’t.
Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire #6
FINAL ISSUE
Dark Horse (October, 1996)
WRITER: John Wagner PENCILERS: Kilian Plunkett & John Nadeau INKER: P. Craig Russell COLORIST: Cary Porter SEPARATIONS: Heroic Age COVER ART: Hugh Fleming LETTERER: Dave Cooper DESIGN: Scott Tice EDITOR: Pete Janes
It’s all-out fight time as Luke, Chewie, Lando, and Dash break into Xizor’s castle, as Leia breaks herself out and joins them in time to blow the castle up. Xizor moves to his skyhook and tries to get our heroes as they leave, but Rogue Squadron is there to help them out. Meanwhile, Vader finally gets proof of Xizor’s treachery and the Imperial forces attack the skyhook, blowing it up and giving the Rebels an inadvertent chance to escape. The next stop for Luke and friends is Tatooine, where Boba Fett deals one last time with the bounty hunters and Jabba using the swoop biker gang to try and welch out of paying Boba, which of course fails. Meanwhile, Vader’s Star Destroyer arrives at Endor and a partially-finished Death Star.
What they got right: The story segues perfectly into Return Of The Jedi. The action is well drawn, and R2 & 3Po get to fly the Millennium Falcon!
What they got wrong: Is there any reason to have Dash killed off at the end? Or at least appear to be?
Shadows Of The Empire, until recently it seems, was considered canon by Lucasfilm, or that’s how the novel was promoted anyway. Black Sun does appear in the officially recognized cartoons, and this is where that started. Plus it’s a good story overall. Pick this and the novel up. Said novel will be reviewed via Chapter By Chapter as we get closer to The Force Awakens.
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