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zechs27 (zechs27) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-10-09 00:54:00

Entry tags:

char: boba fett, char: darth vader/anakin skywalker, char: han solo, char: luke skywalker, creator: john wagner, creator: steve perry, publisher: dark horse, title: star wars

Shadows of the Empire Part I
Shadows of the Empire #1-3 by John Wagner and Kilian Pluckett though using Steve Perry's story but adding they're own to it.

Dial Uppers Beware!

Ok, here the scans of the first three issues from Shadows of the Empire. Probably the most hyped book out of anything EU and probably the only thing cannon (besides the Thrawn Trilogy) that Lucas himself has adapted into the actual movies (swoop biker gangs and the Outrider aka Dash Rendar's ship being visible in the special editions). Unlike Thrawn, this thing was marketed everywhere. It had a hardcover book, videogame, a frigging soundtrack (which was awesome), collectitable cards, action figures, and of course the comic book adapation. For the multi-media each part had something unique about it (hardcover had the main story, video game followed bits and pieces of when Dash wasn't on the scene in either the book or comic, and the cards well they where just damn gorgeous by a certain artist group of brothers).

The comic followed two additional stories besides the main one. Those involved Boba Fett trying to return the bounty of Han Solo back to Jabba and Jix, an assasin or Darth Vader's hand (hell if the Emperor can have em so can Vader).

I'm going to focus more on the Jix end cause he was actually an amusing character. Though given he didn't appear in #1 I'm going to start off with Fett. Who probably just was done doing this to Han:

Now with that in mind :P

#2 opens with an extended scene from the book now with Jix inserted in:

As for Boba? Well poor Boba runs into the remaining group of his Bounty hunting friends: Zuckuss, 4-Lom, and Bossk. As he exits that touchy scene he finds all hell broken out on Gall. It's the Rebels who are after his ass. Just like in the book he escapes though it's from his perspective. Meanwhile with all hell breaking out there Jix runs into a Jabba the Hutt's Swoop Gang:

Interestingly the helmet dude named Spiker is actually a Chiss. We don't actually learn that neat little fact till "the Jabba Tape", a story that ran in Star Wars Galaxy's which involved him and the head swoop dude. That story is both of them going after anything Jabba left of worth in his palace. Spiker also appears in a Star Wars Tale as well in which he and some others encounter a rogue Dark Trooper Mark I. Not bad at all for a minor character.

As for Jix? Well he too get's a one shot and a story runin Star Wars Galaxy Magazine. I think I got all the magazines for both stories. I haven't much read them in awhile though. Hence why I'm unsure. I just know I got a ton of those magazines with that being the reason I kept them.

Anyway #3, Jix meets Jabba whose suspicious but Big Gizz stands behind his latest recruit. It's then their given a mission, kill Luke Skywalker.

With that cue the Swoop chase with a new interesting perspective.

Luke steals a swoop bike and the chase is on.

Spiker and two others flee with Dash making his entrance. However things aren't so safe for Luke and Dash:

As for Boba in #3, he's cornered in an asteriod field due to Bossk and the other hunters due to 4-Lom stowing away on Slave-1.

Next part you'll get another new scene of Vader's though it cuts out the best part of the book. Vader really got the short end in this comic book. He's only in it for a page or three in each issue when he carries so much more in the actual book. Same goes for Guri, Xizor's bodyguard. A darn shame. But I guess it had to be cut for this stuff with Boba and Jix.

Also I'm going to be scanning one of the Shadow cards because I so do enjoy they're interpretation of Leia kicking Xizor in the nuts. So #4 you'll see more Fett from me, #5 back to Jix and Vader, and #6 Jix and Fett crossing paths.

(Post a new comment)

	bunniegrrl 2009-10-09 06:48 am UTC (link)
	A Boba Fett that won't shut up with the running commentary? Seriously? (Reply to this)

	mullon 2009-10-09 04:20 pm UTC (link)
	I remember playing that game for the N64. It was fun when the levels weren't exercises in pain, especially Tatooine. shudder (Reply to this)

joysweeper
2009-10-09 04:43 pm UTC (link)

Thanks for this. I can link this to the TVTropes page.

Interesting. (Aaaaaagh, I recently re-read Tatooine Ghost and apparently non-Zahn writers think that's Thrawn's catchphrase. And I say it all the time. Trying to avoid it is - aaaaagh. But it's such a useful word!) There are a couple other things that migrated into Lucas's canon - he liked a drawing of Aayla Secura enough to make her one of the background characters, for instance. All in all, though, he ignores the EU.

*snorts* Talkative Fett. I dislike him, but I've read the Bounty Hunter Wars, and most of what he says there would work fairly well as caption boxes.

Vader trains in front of people? Huh.

Is Xizor in this comic?

Also, Shadows of the Empire has a soundtrack. It should have incorporated Leia's Theme, and honestly I'm a little annoyed that it didn't. I like leitmotifs.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

zechs27
2009-10-09 05:13 pm UTC (link)

Yeah Xizor is in this. Just that twenty pages are for the actual book plot while the remaining ten are for Fett and Jix. A ton of the book stuff is cut out mostly Vader stuff (the assassin attacking him, his attack on the Rebel base, his meditation scenes, finding out Luke is on Coruscant, the ending, and of course finding out Xizor is one of the few survivors of the Falleen genocide). Xizor gets a somewhat good showing but even he's has a bit of parts that are cut (namely meeting Jabba). Though really the one besides Vader who loses their part is Guri.

You get a side-note of her helping Leia and Chewie, no fight with Luke, and thankfully no scene of her with Xizor with him thinking of her to join him.

I got most of the Shadows stuff. I love the soundtrack. Xizor's theme, Night Sky, and the final battle are all sorts of awesome.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2009-10-11 02:03 am UTC (link)
	I remember Shadows of the Empire....so long ago Wow though, I loved absolutely everything about it! (Reply to this)

	goblinthebamf 2009-10-11 08:54 pm UTC (link)
	10th scan, third panel: why is Vader slicing off his face? (Reply to this)

	mcity 2009-10-13 10:18 pm UTC (link)
	A lesser character would've searched for the transmitter or dumped the contents of the hold. Boba simply sets the entire hold on fire. (Reply to this)