The Armchair Squid: Star Wars Comics: Mara Jade #6, Crimson Empire II #4-6

It's time for me to move on from Star Wars comics and back to the Marvel line. Mind you, I always enjoy my explorations of the galaxy far, far away but, frankly, talking about Marvel is more engaging for my readers. And that is the whole point of this blogging thing, right? Anyway, a few parting thoughts...

1999 is a natural jumping off point anyway. The Phantom Menace was released in May of that year, significantly expanding the narrative possibilities for the comic books for the first time in 16 years. To that point, I am considerably impressed with how much the comic creators had been able to expand upon three (admittedly extraordinary) films and a smattering of novels.

Big picture, I think the biggest contribution the Dark Horse comics of the '90s made to the overall franchise was the development of its ancient history. Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy introduced the holocrons, essentially the Jedi and Sith bibles, in their Dark Empire series. Then Veitch (and others) went on to explore the material that might be contained within the holocrons in the Tales of the Jedi series, a mythology within the mythology. While these were not my favorite series from the era, they were certainly the ones with the strongest legacy, perhaps most significantly in the Knights of the Old Republic video game line.

Dark Horse is also to be commended for the many strong female characters developed during this era - less so for the obligatory tight-fitting costumes of same.

Here are my actual favorite series from the pre-Phantom Dark Horse era, along with the most interesting, morally-ambiguous character featured in each:

X-Wing Rogue Squadron - Baron Fel

Crimson Empire I and II - Kir Kanos

Mara Jade - By the Emperor's Hand - naturally, Mara Jade

My Recent Reads

Mara Jade - By the Emperor's Hand #6

Originally published February 3, 1999

Writers: Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole

Artist: Carlos Ezquerra

In-story Timeline: 4 ABY