Star Wars: Shattered Empire #3 Review

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The Force is with Leia, but what else is with her as well?

This article contains spoilers for Shattered Empire #3.

Writer: Greg Rucka | Artists: Marco Checchetto & Angel Unzueta | Colors: Andres Mossa | Cover: Checchetto | Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

As Shara Bey alluded to in the previous issue, Kes Dameron and Han Solo’s Pathfinders open the issue on a mission located at “the Wretch of Tayron” somewhere in the Outer Rim. The team successfully breaches the Imperial Security Bureau Black Site and prepares to bring in C-3P0 to break the Imperial encryption and hopefully retrieve Imperial secrets.

Meanwhile, the story shifts to Naboo where Princess Leia, with assistance from Shara, has concluded negotiations with Queen Sosha Soruna. As the negotiations conclude,  the Empire  invades the system and attempts to make the planet uninhabitable through the employment of destructive weather caused by an orbital array of satellites. Naboo is seemingly defenseless until the Queen reveals that a hanger on Theed still houses some Republic era Naboo starfighters. As Princess Leia enters the hanger, she experiences a cold sensation, and a graphic gives the impression that she is sensing the presence of Darth Maul. She quickly moves past this and Shara discovers that there are three fighters with power, but no astromechs to assist and apparently not enough pilots—until Princess Leia and Queen Soruna volunteer to fly into action over various the objections of the queen’s security personnel.

Back at the Wretch of Tayron, the Pathfinders conquer the black site and C-3P0 begins deciphering the Imperial data. He quickly discovers the existence of Operation Cinder and that one of the targets is Naboo. A concerned General Solo is informed, but what action if any, is taken is unknown.

Shara, the queen, and Leia then take to the skies in their fighters and move against the satellites causing the severe weather disruptions on Naboo. With the most flying experience, Shara takes command of the group. She elects to hold off the Imperial fighters while Leia and the queen take out the Imperial satellites. The odds appear hopeless, and the trio impart heroic last words on one another just before a rebel fleet lead by a certain rebel general arrive to reinforce them and save the day.

The issue concludes with Leia and Shara returning to Rebel Fleet Command and Shara reuniting with Kes…

 

The title of this series is “Shattered Empire.” However, the extent to which the Empire has been shattered is not entirely apparent from the first three issues. The Emperor’s mysterious messenger arrived at the beginning of the previous issue, but it is unclear who sent him. The major players in the Empire are unknown at this time. The story of Shattered Empire is largely the story of Shara Bey and Kes Dameron, but the heroes of the saga (Luke, Han, Leia, and Lando) play a part. This is only speculation, but it would not be surprising if the conclusion of Shattered Empire is similar to the end of Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath in which a new Imperial leader is hinted at or revealed.

Princess Leia sensing Darth Maul’s presence, much the way Luke felt the Dark Side on Dagobah in The Empire Strikes Back, was an interesting development in this issue. For one, as far as readers know, Darth Maul is still at large in the universe. As seen in Clone Wars, Maul survived being sliced in two by Obi-wan and falling down a shaft (as seen in The Phantom Menace). Through the power of the dark side and the assistance of the Night Sisters of Dathomir, Maul received a pair of cybernetic legs. He was last seen surviving the battle between Seperatist forces and the Night Sisters in the only canon Dark Horse series Son of Dathomir. So, did Darth Maul die and leave behind and impression in the Force? Or, did Maul unleashing the fury of the dark side during his duel with Obi-wan and Qui-gon leave a lasting scar on the Force at the hanger in Theed? Is this something else entirely? The answer isn’t clear, but it is an intriguing puzzle and call back to both the original and prequel trilogies.

Shara, Leia, and the queen’s fight against the Empire in the space over Naboo was noteworthy. For one, it may be the first time an all-woman team of pilots has engaged the Empire, survived, and won the day. On the other hand, one might argue that this scene stretched credibility. While Leia has been seen assisting with piloting the Millennium Falcon, she has not previously exhibited any experience with a star fighter. The retort to that is that Luke Skywalker never handled anything as serious as an X-Wing before the Battle of Yavin, and yet, he was the hero that saved the day and destroyed the Death Star. Leia just does what needs to be done regardless of the odds. That is her character. Plus, it doesn’t hurt, that like Luke Skywalker, she is the child of Anakin, and the Force is with her. The odds against the trio also might be argued as so overwhelming that their success became highly improbable. However, that is what the story of Star Wars is—the heroes overcoming the odds to defeat evil. This is no different. After all, Luke survived the trench run with Darth Vader on his tail because of the heroic, last second assist from Han Solo.

To be clear, Shattered Empire is an exceptionally enjoyable series. However, it has a habit of raising questions that it doesn’t see fit to answer. What exactly did Han Solo discover in the Imperial Bunker in issue 1? Who really sent the Messenger in issue two? What was with Princess Leia sensing the spirit of Darth Maul in this issue? What is the extent of Operation Cinder and what other worlds are targeted? There is one issue left to this series, and it is possible that many of these questions could be answered, or perhaps they will just remain teasers for stories to come. With the Legends universe expunged from canon, much of the time period following Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens is a blank canvas and there are plenty of story telling opportunities.

Favorite Panel:

Everything about the art in this issue is wonderful. Checchetto and Unzueta did amazing work, although I prefer Checchetto’s take on the Shara and Kes better than Unzueta’s, which is still good. My favorite panel in this issue was almost the scene with Leia sensing Darth Maul’s presence. It was pretty cool and sent my mind racing with all the possibilities of what it could mean. As an aside, I liked how it mirrored Leia’s vision of Padme looking at her from issue two of the Princess Leia series. Despite all of that, the resolution of that issue does not appear to be important to this story. So, instead I chose a panel that was just plain cool: the arrival of the Rebel fleet at Naboo at the end of the issue. It looks like Nien Numb found a new ship, the Mellcrawler II, after sacrificing his original vessel in Moving Target. The fleet looks great, and it was great to see them move on the Imperial Star Destroyer.