‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Empire’ Issues 10, 11, 13, 14 and 16-19 (2003-04) (Comic book reviews)

The early issues of “Empire” explored old favorites (Vader, Leia and Boba Fett) and a cult favorite (Biggs). Up next, the title puts the spotlight on characters we had no connection to before (Rebel officer Roons Sewell and stormtrooper TK-622) or little connection (Imperial Lieutenant Janek Sunber – more on where you MIGHT have heard of him later). Plus, lest “Empire” get too esoteric, we get a couple Vader issues to round things out.

Paul Chadwick’s “The Short, Happy Life of Roons Sewell” (10-11) is a gutsy two-parter as the author gives the entire life story of a brand-new character. He has a good trick up his sleeve though: Someone we DO want to learn more about, General Dodonna, is giving the eulogy for Sewell. In flashbacks, we learn that Rebels – particularly Sewell — rescued Dodonna, a retired Republic/Imperial officer, from the Empire and convinced him to come out of retirement. If you’re reading the EU chronologically, you know that Dodonna was around in the early days of the Empire (“Republic” Issue 78). Presumably, he went AWOL and into hiding in the years between that issue and this one, although that story hasn’t been told yet. As for Sewell, his tough, harrowing life makes him a compelling character, from his younger days of tricking bullies into falling into a pit filled with sharp spikes to the final image of his corpse floating in space.

Jeremy Barlow’s “What Sin Loyalty?” (13) looks at TK-622, a clone stormtrooper who convinces himself that every Imperial atrocity is necessary and justified due to the contamination of the Rebellion. Four years before the novel “Death Star” imagined the Battle of Yavin from laymen’s perspectives, we see this average stormtrooper’s experience of the event. Improbably, his viewport on the Death Star looks out on the thermal exhaust port that Luke’s proton torpedo enters, and TK-622 curses the “terrorist” Rebels with his final thought. While some might argue that it’s the Rebels who are brainwashed, I think someone who serves on a battle station called the “Death Star” and believes he is on the side of good truly has his hands over his eyes and ears. And also: “Star Destroyers.” Bill Engvall could do a whole act’s worth of “Here’s Your Sign” jokes about Imperials who think they are good guys.

While Issue 13 is about the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance, “To the Last Man” (16-18) immerses us in the first mission of noble workaholic Imperial Lieutenant Janek Sunber. Writer Randy Stradley (using the pen name Welles Hartley) doesn’t examine the rightness or wrongness of the Empire, he simply has Sunber’s Imperials attacked by savage Amanin as they survey the jungle world Maridun.

I love this arc for three reasons: 1) It features lush art by Davide Fabbri (pencils and colors) and Christian Dalla Vecchia (inks). 2) The villains are the Amanin, who we previously knew only via the Jabba’s palace background character Amanaman, whom I saw on screen for the first time when I got the widescreen VHS of the trilogy for Christmas in 1993. Amanaman was one of the coolest of the original 93 Kenner figures, with his flat body, short legs and long arms, plus his freaky skull staff accessory.

And 3) Janek Sunber IS a character serious fans already know, and although Stradley doesn’t spill the beans yet, he gives hints in the narration:

“He has opted for the infantry. He is sure his friends, who planned to follow him to the academy, wouldn’t understand, just as he is sure that they will make great pilots. But the route he has chosen has given him … a respected position within the Empire and society, something he could never hope for back home.”

We’ll learn Sunber’s true identity later in “Empire,” but if you’re reading the series for the first time and want a spoiler, check out his Wookieepedia page.

Two other issues in this batch feel like stories from the “Purge” and “Darth Vader and the …” sagas. In Paul Alden’s dark comedy “The Savage Heart” (14), we learn how Vader returns to the Empire after his TIE fighter spins out of control at the end of “A New Hope.” The Dark Lord lands on the remote Imperial outpost of Vaal, is attacked by native beasts who then consider him their master, marches to the Imperial relay outpost, doesn’t give a lick as the beasts kill the officers stationed there, and flies off in a shuttle.

Ron Marz’s “Target: Vader” (19) is a nice tie-in to “Shadows of the Empire,” where we learned that part of the reason Prince Xizor loathes Vader is because Vader wiped out an entire city of Falleen, including Xizor’s family. Some Falleen seek vengeance in this story, and Vader kills them all as – like Mark McGwire when confronted with steroid questions — he’s not there to talk about the past. In a nice example of how “Empire” makes new links between the prequel and classic trilogies, an information broker offers a Nubian sex slave to Vader, and she reminds him of Padme.

The leader of the Falleen would-be assassins says, “You can’t run from your past, monster.” Vader replies, “I have no other choice.” But he has many other choices. While his murder of Padme may have been a tragic mistake, all of his atrocities after that – including the Falleen massacre – have been either calculated missions or accidents that he deems acceptable. Vader now knows that Palpatine sold him a bill of goods with the promise of keeping Padme from dying, but he serves the Sith Lord anyway. Running from his past is the option Vader chooses, because he’s a power-monger and a coward.

Getting inside the heads of Imperials like TK-622 is creepy enough (I’ll give a pass to Janek Sunber for now, as he seems like a decent fellow who hasn’t yet realized the totality of the Empire’s evils), but it doesn’t get much more disgusting than spending time in Vader’s mind. Luckily, some Leia-centered issues are up next to cleanse my psychological palette.