Dark Hand Luke

Dannyalcatraz · Post by **Dannyalcatraz** » 2005-09-01 01:06pm

A buddy of mine claims there is a Star Wars book or story in which Luke apprentices himself to a cloned emperor- I've never heard of it.

Anybody here know differently?

Dooey Jo · Post by **Dooey Jo** » 2005-09-01 01:16pm

Dark Empire is what you're looking for... It's a comic.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-09-01 03:17pm

To elaborate upon this.

Spoilers below as you obviously haven't read it--

It opens with the Imperials pounding the New Republic into the metaphoric ground, and driving them off Coruscant. Luke Skywalker is with what's left of the Republic forces on the planet. A Force storm rises up, grabs him, and brings him to Byss by means unknown. There, he encounters the cloned Palpatine (who doesn't look all that different from his ROTJ self), and the usual yadda-yadda goes on. Eventually, Luke bows to the Emperor, and declares his allegiance.

Stuff happens; offensives, counterattacks, basically the NR getting totally pimped by the Imperial forces. Luke is viewed as the greatest traitor in the history of the galaxy, something like that. In fact, there's a scene where he's doing a Darth Vader choke holding Han at arm's length, where Han's telling Luke that he's going to kill him, that he'll pay for this, etc; and Luke's like, "You don't understand... You're gonna die anyway. All of you." something like that.

The World Devastators are unleashed-- these are basically humonogous construction droids, that eat planets and use the basic materials to shit out starships, weapons, what have you. Big ol' battle against 'em, yadda-yadda. And then good ol' Luke saves the day by having Artoo send an deactivation code to turn 'em off. Palpatine shows up in his uberwanksuperstardestroyer o'DOOM-- the Eclipse-- and conjures up a Force storm, but somehow or other Luke manages to turn it back on him, and the storm eats the ship.

Cue Dark Empire II; this time around, we have a *young* Palpatine coming out of the clone vats. Another, even bigger Eclipse. More pimpage of the NR, notably with the Galaxy Gun (bigass cannon that farts out uber-rockets that blow up planets; the Death Star lite, basically). Luke is on the NR side; that's about the only real difference.

Empire's End: shit happens. Palpatine goes "ZOMG MUST HAVEEEEEEE" on Leia's unborn son Anakin. The day is saved, of course.

This series is primarily noted for the ships of great size shat forth from the Core manufactories, wankatastic superweapons (though the World Devastators actually made some sense), and the never-ending Wankatine.

They're available in graphic-novel format, I believe... there may also be a novelization, at least I think I've seen it a few places. Not the best SW EU out there, but decent enough, and pretty good as far as the comics go...

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2005-09-01 03:18pm

Ive never heard of any DE novelization, but there are audio books availiable. Saw them at Borders.

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-09-01 03:22pm

Darth Fanboy wrote:Ive never heard of any DE novelization, but there are audio books availiable. Saw them at Borders.

May've been the cover of one of those I saw, yeah... this was at Barnes and Noble, IIRC, when Episode III came out and they were doing the whole Star Wars publicity thing, putting out all the books on display and all that.

Crossroads Inc. · Post by **Crossroads Inc.** » 2005-09-01 03:26pm

Elheru Aran wrote:To elaborate upon this. --snip--

*Snerks* THAT has got to be the most funny thing I read all Day!!! Never have I heard the realtive Sillyness of DE Sumed up so wonderfuly SIlly!!
*Gives Aran a High-Five*

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-09-01 03:36pm

*Bows*

Thank you. Thank you very much. [/elvis]

nightmare · Post by **nightmare** » 2005-09-01 04:33pm

It was also somewhat factually incorrect. You can find transscripts of Dark Empire on thefore.net.

Alan Bolte · Post by **Alan Bolte** » 2005-09-01 06:18pm

Publius is partway through a fanfic called The Test of Wills which occurs during this time period, and is focused on Luke and co.

Dannyalcatraz · Post by **Dannyalcatraz** » 2005-09-01 10:42pm

Thank you one and all!

RThurmont · Post by **RThurmont** » 2005-09-02 05:22pm

If only Dark Empire hadn't suffered from the classic comic book storyline syndrome (so eloquently referred to here as "wank") it would have been quite enjoyable. If they had done it as a novel, rather than as a comic book, that would have lent credibility, as would have ending it after the first Dark Empire, and not having a weapon with such an absurd name as the "Galaxy Gun." I liked the idea of a reborn Palpatine, and the spacecraft and worlds created for Dark Empire were amazing: Nar Shadda, the Slave II, the E-Wings, the World Devastators, and of course, the Eclipse. If only the storyline had been as good as the equipment...

Tychu · Post by **Tychu** » 2005-09-02 06:48pm

At my local comic book shop i have been hunting for a bargain (::listening to bargain by the Who) i have DE2 but missing issue 3 of it. and for Dark Empire I the shop wants 20 dollars for the first 3 issues. Now i know of the 3 editions of trade paper back but i can never find it. the comic book shop cant even get it. do you know of any other places to get it?

oh and is DEI made by the same artists as DEII? I hope not cause those artists really s*ck in DEII

Elheru Aran · Post by **Elheru Aran** » 2005-09-02 07:13pm

Tychu wrote:At my local comic book shop i have been hunting for a bargain (::listening to bargain by the Who) i have DE2 but missing issue 3 of it. and for Dark Empire I the shop wants 20 dollars for the first 3 issues. Now i know of the 3 editions of trade paper back but i can never find it. the comic book shop cant even get it. do you know of any other places to get it?

oh and is DEI made by the same artists as DEII? I hope not cause those artists really s*ck in DEII

Same artists, yes. That's just Dark Empire's trademark; if you don't like it, don't bother getting more.

Now, regarding DEI, 20 bucks for 3 issues comes out to bit less'n 7 bucks each. While that's a bit steep for comic books, I don't think that's *too* unreasonable. I'd advise you to just look for the graphic novel, though-- the whole thing'll be about $15-20 most places. Hard to find these days, sadly enough.

DocHorror · Post by **DocHorror** » 2005-09-02 08:09pm

Who as the artist on DE1 again? Was it Cam Kennedy?

Tychu · Post by **Tychu** » 2005-09-04 01:32am

Elheru Aran wrote:
Tychu wrote:At my local comic book shop i have been hunting for a bargain (::listening to bargain by the Who) i have DE2 but missing issue 3 of it. and for Dark Empire I the shop wants 20 dollars for the first 3 issues. Now i know of the 3 editions of trade paper back but i can never find it. the comic book shop cant even get it. do you know of any other places to get it?

oh and is DEI made by the same artists as DEII? I hope not cause those artists really s*ck in DEII
Same artists, yes. That's just Dark Empire's trademark; if you don't like it, don't bother getting more.

Now, regarding DEI, 20 bucks for 3 issues comes out to bit less'n 7 bucks each. While that's a bit steep for comic books, I don't think that's *too* unreasonable. I'd advise you to just look for the graphic novel, though-- the whole thing'll be about $15-20 most places. Hard to find these days, sadly enough.

no i meant that they're charging 20 for each of the first 3 issues
its just to much