This book is a compilation of material from the Dark Empire comic collection. It has no information on Dark Empire II, instead focusing on only the first of the two series of comics (which, in my opinion, is the better of the two).
They did a good job starting the book off, with a Prologue detailing the events leading up to the beginning of the comic book series. The writers of this book did a good job linking this installment of comics in with the established timeline…explaining how things in the movies and Thrawn trilogy linked up with the events in Dark Empire. Following up after the prologue is an introduction to the New Republic, and the stats for various members of the organization. Admiral Ackbar, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa Solo, Han Solo, and twelve others are all detailed here. There is also the inclusion of a new commando unit for the New Republic, Sea Commandoes.
Next is a section on the Empire Reborn. This area gives you a more detailed explanation of what the Empire went through after Endor, through the “Coming of Thrawn”, the mutiny, and finally up to the return of the Emperor. Following that rather extensive detailing, there are stats for Emperor Palpatine plus four other Imperials that are alive during the time of Dark Empire. There is also an inclusion of the Imperial Dungeoneers, a rather reclusive group of imperials who take care of prisoners of the Empire.
Then comes a section that leads out the fringe. About a dozen “fringers” are detailed here, along with some general bits of information about spice trade and such. Then there’s a rather interesting section detailing how Boba Fett managed to return from the “Great pit or Karkoon”. It’s interesting, and will really stroke the fervor of the Fett lovers. Directly after this story is a section detailing the various bounty hunters working at the time, including Fett and Dengar. Rounding out this area is a brief section on one of the possible “encounters” a space traveler could encounter: Scavengers.
Next comes a section on the Force. Overall, there’s good things and bad things about this section. Fortunately the good things outnumber the bad things. First off, they start by talking about the Light Side, with Jedi Holocrons mentioned here, as well as a long forgotten fallen Jedi, Vima-Da-Boda. Then they jump right into the Dark Side, talking about trying to conquer the Dark Side from within, as well as some rather interesting “Dark Side Compendiums”. These compendiums are books that are/were being written by the Emperor: The Book of Anger, and The Weakness of Inferiors. Unfortunately (this is one of the bad parts) they don’t really give you any more than a tickle about these books. No real help in the department of making “bad guy” things.
Now comes another gripe of mine. Right after they introduce the compendiums, BUT BEFORE THEY FINISH THEM, they put in some nifty color plate that show the covers of the Dark Empire comic books, as well as some of the interior panels of the comics. Now don’t get me wrong, the cover plates done by Dave Dorman are awesome, but they could have put these BETWEEN sections, rather than directly in the middle of sections. All in all, there are 8 pages (16 sides) of these color plates, DIRECTLY IN THE MIDDLE OF A SENTENCE! Now I like the color plates, and I love Dave Dorman’s art, but it should have been somewhere else.
After the color plates they finish up the section on compendiums and move into the Dark Side Adepts. They got some stats for them, and then they talk about Imperial Sovereign Protectors. Personally, I don’t like the Protectors, as they are “supposed” to be elite, elite of the elite. * Yawn* They should have just stuck with the Royal Guardsmen and called it good. Next comes the lumbering Imperial Sentinels. Huge, mute, and almost totally unnecessary, I kinda put these in the same category as the Sovereign Protectors.
Finally, in this section, comes Force Powers. Six powers are detailed here, including Force Storms and Doppleganger. After the Force section is a section on planets. There are some brief mentions of the Core and Deep Core, as well as talk about Byss, Coruscant, Calamari, and about 5 others. In all, kinda interesting, though I never use the information that much.
Starships and fighters come next, and holding to the Dark Empire tradition, most things are bigger and badder. There are stats for the Eclipse, a super mondo-huge ship with a single Superlaser mounted on it. There’s also stats for the Sovereign, the Eclipse’s baby sister, then a Mon Cal ship, Imperial Dungeon Ships (interesting things), Modular Taskforce cruisers, two Republic Star Destroyers (captured), and a couple of converted freighters. Next comes the Slave II (why Boba Fett used this one, I don’t know….Slave I was better) and some new fighters. E-Wings, A-9 Interceptors, and others are detailed here. Following that area comes the World Devastators, one of the better ideas introduced in Dark Empire. This section, while short, talks about the design and function of the World Devastators, as well as giving stats for a couple of them.
Next comes a section on the vehicles used in this era. There are quite a few vehicles listed here, some that are useful, and some that aren’t. Last section in the book is a rather meager, in fact downright lame, section on equipment. They detail the Force Cage, and a specialize Hunter-Killer Probot, but otherwise the information in here is pretty lame. There is nothing in terms of new, useful equipment at all. Personally I thought this was a poor way to end a fairly decent book.
Overall I viewed this book as good, with only a few flaws. I personally liked the first Dark Empire series (I detested the sequel, Dark Empire II), but if you don’t care for it, then you may not care for this book at much. There are some useful ships in here, including the E-Wing, so it can be of some use to GMs and players, even if you don’t follow the Dark Empire storyline.
My rating:
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