Monday Review: Shattered Empire
Shattered Empire property of Disney/Marvel
This comic…
… I wanted to like it.
I didn’t hate it.
It isn’t really substantive enough to hate.
After three out of four issues, I’m still not sure what it’s actually about.
I mean, I think I know. Shattered Empire covers some of the New Republic’s mopping up after the Battle of Endor (which Izzy recently pointed out should really be called the Battle of Endor’s Moon). People are running around, having fun blowing random stuff up by order of Mon Monthma and under the supervision of General Solo. Leia (*sarcastic font* surprise) is sent on a diplomatic mission (despite her tactical brilliance saving that same Battle of Endor’s Moon) to Naboo in the hope of convincing Naboo’s queen to bring the planet into the New Republic. At the same time, one of the last remaining Star Destroyers is also en route to Naboo; its captain received a holographic message from the dead Emperor with orders to waste the planet. Said message, by the way, is projected on the face of a being who might be a droid but who might be some sort of remnant of the Imperial guard or… I don’t know why it couldn’t just be the sort of recording the mythos has used all along, but hey, not up to me.
Shattered Empire property of Disney/Marvel
I’ll grant Shara Bey, Leia’s badass pilot (why Leia, who is also a pilot always needs a pilot I can’t say) and this iteration of Naboo’s queen are pretty cool. And we get a glimpse of Leia’s Force powers in a brief vision of Darth Maul in the abandoned Naboo hanger.
Shattered Empire property of Disney/Marvel
Beyond those small bright spots, Shattered Empire just sort of… is. There’s no real cohesion, no particular focus. The series finale is still to come but I feel as though three-quarters of the way through a mini-series, there should be some sort of discernible story line. Even if it does all come together in the end, it has the aura of a gimmicky gut-punch hook intended to leave us slavering for The Force Awakens, which we’re all doing anyway.
If the intention is to explore the idea of what happens in the wake of winning the battle but not the war, Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath does a much more compelling job and if that sort of thing floats your boat, I’d pick that up instead of wasting your money on an inferior execution.
Two fingers on the hand of glory of Shattered Empire and those only because of Shara Bey, the Queen of Naboo, and actually seeing Leia fly a fighter.
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