Star Wars: Shattered Empire #4 Review

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Shara Bey joins Jedi knight Luke Skywalker to find something special.

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Shattered Empire #4.

Star Wars: Shattered Empire #4

Writer: Greg Rucka | Artist: Marco Checchetto | Colors: Andres Mossa | Cover: Checchetto | Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna

Three months after the Battle of Endor, the fight against the Empire continues. Operation: Cinder continues to threaten many worlds, and the Rebellion continues to struggle to find out what the purpose of the Operation is and how best to combat it. On a more personal level, Shara Bey continues to fight hard for the Rebels. So much so, that her commanding officer, the Duro L’ulo has submitted the paperwork on her behalf to muster out of the service so that she can join her husband and young son and settle down on a world somewhere out of the way of the war. Before she can contemplate what that means, a familiar astromech droid summons her to a meeting. Shara arrives in a hangar bay to discover Luke Skywalker, who just happens to be in need of a copilot. Luke is on a mission to retrieve something stolen by the Emperor long ago. Shara’s role in the mission is to act as Luke’s copilot and adopt the identity of an Imperial Commander so they can infiltrate a base on the world of Vetine. Shara plays the role of Imperial well, and she and Luke infiltrate the base. However, after discovering what they came for, a pair of trees strong with the Force, the Empire springs its trap. Luke reveals just how far his abilities in the Force have come, and he, Shara, and R2 escape the base with the trees. Luke counsels Shara on her decision as to whether she should abandon the fight as they return to the Rebel fleet. The issue, and the series, concludes with Shara and Kes planting one of the trees Shara and Luke recovered from the base…

Shattered Empire has been a fun Star Wars series from start to finish. Some might be discouraged as the series seemed to promise to reveal more about the state of the galaxy and the events that lead up to The Force Awakens than may be apparent at its conclusion. In summary, what the reader can safely conclude is that the galaxy is still in turmoil. The Empire is not fading into the night, and the Rebellion still has a major fight on its hand. What Shattered Empire did offer readers that no other source has so far is a glimpse of the heroes of the original trilogy in the days immediately after Return of the Jedi. Han Solo, Princess Leia, R2-D2, C-3P0, Lando, and Chewbacca all made appearances in this story over the course of four issues. Of course, the real star of the series was a brand new character: Shara Bey. She really had an opportunity to shine, and was an excellent new addition to the heroes of the Star Wars saga.

Eagle eyed readers may take note of the identity that Luke assigns Shara Bey: ISB Commander Alecia Beck. If this name sounds familiar, it is because that the ISB agent that pursued Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Lieutenant Ematt in the young adult novel Smuggler’s Run. What gave Shara and Luke away once they arrived at Vetine was that Commandant Hurron had checked Beck’s file, and he knew that she had an artificial left eye. So far, Beck has appeared in one novel and has been mentioned in a comic in the expanded saga (I’m taking this term out for a spin, because I’m growing weary of the use of the term ‘canon’ as a way to differentiate between what was the expanded universe and is now considered Legends and the current “it counts” collection of books and comics). Whether she will be significant to the cinematic stories remains to be seen. However, it appears she will be a figure to contend with in the literary galaxy.

With issue four, Shattered Empire comes to a close and perhaps the story of Shara Bey ends with it. It is a relief that both Shara and her husband, Kes Dameron, survived to see the end of the series. It is also refreshing to see that Rucka and the editorial team did not succumb to the trope of orphaning Poe Dameron at such a young age so that he could grow up with a personal hatred of the Empire fueled by the unjust death of his parents. There is still plenty of space between this series and The Force Awakens for that to happen, but it appears that Poe will have a chance to experience his own saga for his own reasons.

Speaking of the new movie, it is entirely possible that the significance of this series will not be apparent until after The Force Awakens is in general release. For the moment, this series appears to be more of a brief run of adventures for a couple that has given more than their fair share to the Rebellion’s war effort and is now finally getting the chance to settle down and raise their family. The seeds for other stories may have been planted within the pages of this series, but finding out what those seeds will sprout into will have to wait for the time being.

Some questions remain though. First, the opening crawl states that the Emperor’s death activated a contingency plan, Operation: Cinder, to extract revenge against his enemies and preserve the secrets of the Sith. This is an interesting development for the Empire. The messenger that was seen in the previous issues of this series appears to have been developed on the world of Vetine. Luke and Shara witness the construction of these messenger droids as they tour the base. However, while the crawl answers the question why Operation: Cinder went into effect, it still raises other questions about the structure of the “shattered Empire.” Whatever remains of the Imperial hierarchy is stifling communications to the rest of the Empire that the Emperor is no more. The question is why? The follow up question is: what do they hope to gain from carrying through with Operation: Cinder? The why, as has been previously discussed in this column, would be to preserve the Imperial hierarchy until a more permanent structure and stability can be insured. But, would not carrying out Operation: Cinder exhaust Imperial resources that could be better spent rebuilding the Empire? Perhaps this is a method of culling the herd, so to speak. Whoever is attempting to take control can rid herself of potential rivals with desperate attacks against the rebels. It would be a win-win scenario. That is all just speculation though.

Also, what was so important about the trees that made Luke want to retrieve them so badly? How did he even know about these trees? Granted, it would be a powerful symbol for a new budding Jedi order to have the descendant of the tree that once grew in the heart of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, but was that really the best use of his time and resources? When the Commandant demands to know what makes them so important, Luke merely says, “the Force is with them.” Interesting, but what does that mean? Again, perhaps this is another of those seeds that have been planted, and one day readers will read another story where the purpose of the trees is revealed, and they will be able to point to this issue as an origin.

Shattered Empire has been a worthy addition to the Star Wars saga. A few new heroes have been added, and with any luck, they will one day return to provide readers with their further adventures. Until then, may the Force be with them.

Favorite Panel:

There is nothing really to critique when it comes to Checchetto’s work on this series. It was top notch. Shara Bey and Kes Dameron were excellent characters that he crafted. What this issue had that no other Star Wars comic has had so far since Marvel started releasing new Star Wars stories this past January is Luke Skyalkwer; Jedi KNIGHT. Key word: Knight. Not Luke Skywalker: Jedi-in-Training. How cool is that? Picking a favorite panel was simply finding a good illustration of the Jedi Knight in action. There were plenty to choose from. I picked this one, but you might prefer one of him wielding his lightsaber. I wouldn’t quibble with you if you did.