Empire #27 "General" Skywalker Part 2 (of 2) Story: Ron Marz Art: Nicola Scott Coloring: Michael Atiyeh Lettering: Michael David Thomas Cover: Tommy Lee Edwards Released: 12/15/2004 Reviewed by: JF Boivin (12/19/2004) SUMMARY: A squad of Imperial Stormtroopers have pinned down Red Squadron and a team of Alliance Intelligence agents on an uncharted planet. The mission of setting up a listening post to spy on the Empire has failed, but the Alliance have found a new ally that may be very valuable.

[final cover] [preview cover]

THE STORY

Does this issue offer a satisfying conclusion? Mostly. Does it have exciting thrills? I don't think so. This last part of the two-parter starts off with a few pages of expository dialogue about the Clone Wars, and the rest is all mindless action as the Rebels escape the planet. So, Narra and Luke meet up with this old (not old enough?) Clone Trooper that has been stranded since the Clone Wars. All of a sudden, Narra knows everything about the Wars, and reveals them all in front of Luke as he updates the clone on the state of the Galaxy. It just feels weird that after 25 years of published fiction where no one knew any details about the Wars, now just because Episode III is on the horizon it's all common knowledge. I call this the "ronto effect". Remember when A New Hope Special Edition came out in 1997? All of a sudden rontos were all over Tatooine in novels and comics, whereas before then there was no mention of them whatsoever.

The writer can hardly be blamed for this, though, as this story was obviously approved by Lucasfilm. However, he can be blamed for the lameness of the storyline and for wasting what could have potentially been an interesting concept. I think I was supposed to be impressed when the Clone reveals he was under the command of Shaak Ti. Marz is just lucky that the art is so bad that it's distracting us from the plot. At the end, Luke picks up the clone on the front landing strut of his X-Wing. Explain to me how this is physically possible? The clone decides to join the Alliance as an Intel agent. Congratulations, you have a forty year-old Boba Fett look-a-like who's supposed to be sixty.

THE ART

I can't believe Nicola Scott actually got this gig, when there are so many talented artists out there who are trying to break into the business. The ships and stormtroopers look like the were drawn by a ten year-old. I mean, look at that X-Wing on page 20 and tell me you couldn't do better. And that two-page spread depicting what happened since the Clone Wars... it's a good thing the coloring is good because this would have looked worse than some work we see done by amateurs. The artist managed to draw both the worst Chewbacca and the worst Emperor I've seen in my life, in just one stroke. It looks like he spent more time on that unknown lady Jedi in the foreground though, which proves that Scott could have done better overall if he had put some more time or effort into it.

The cover is nice...

CONCLUSIONS

Cover blurb: "A Clone Trooper and Luke Skywalker?!" Is this possible? Honestly, I wish it had been better executed.

Rating: 4 / 10 Not Recommended