Writer: Mike Baron
Penciller: Terry Dodson
Inker: Kevin Nowlan
Colorist: Pamela Rambo
Letterer: Ellie De Ville
Covers: Mathieu Lauffray
TPB Cover Artist: Kilian Plunkett
This comic is the adaptation for the novel Dark Force Rising. Again, I will be focusing less on story elements and more on elements unique to the comic.
The artwork was much better in this comic than in Heir to the Empire. The Noghri are no longer big, hulking brutes, but short like they are supposed to be. I could do without the large build, but I can deal with it. The movie characters, especially Luke, are much improved.
I do have one little nitpick, however. I noticed this in HTTE as well, but it becomes far more important in this comic. Mara wears an outfit that has no sleeves. She is supposed to have a holdout blaster hidden beneath one of those sleeves, and in the book, she uses it to save her butt. I suppose that in the comic she could've used the blaster shown to be positioned directly behind her, but it just defeats one of the key characteristics of Mara, that she has many weapons, but not all of those weapons are visible (not counting the Force).
One last little comment about that scene. Mara shoots the guy with the blaster that's supposed to be the holdout. Behind Mara is a shadow that looks like Ferrier's wraith. When Mara shoots the guy, we see a gasp, but it is unclear to me whether the dying man is gasping or whether it's the wraith. The reason I bring this up is because the wraith was not there in the book and there was no reason to have him there in the comic. If it's supposed to be him, it's an error; if not, it's a badly drawn shadow.
Another slight quibble about the artwork is a carry over from my HTTE review. I'd mentioned in that review that Karrde is supposed to have short hair. I understand that the artist didn't want to mess with comic continuity too much, so kept Karrde's long hair, but doing so does hurt story credibility. After all, how many Imperial TIE pilots have long hair?
The plot could have been translated over a little better. For instance, pretty much the entire plot line of Han and the others trying to investigate the charge against Ackbar about lots of money being placed into accounts is dropped. I do realize that it wasn't as central to the story as the elements that were there, but the loss of this plot line makes Han look like he is going to New Cov on a whim. There is no really good stated reason in the comic.
Somewhat related to this situation, the comic reader comes away with the belief that Fey'lya is working for the Imps. Unlike the book, there is no mention by Thrawn or Pellaeon that Fey'lya is not in their employ.
The one thing that really suffers, in my opinion, comes during the scene where Leia proves to the Noghri that the Empire really has been using them for years. She tells them that the Emperor has been seeding their world with fake kholm grass, then uses the thing obtained from the Imperial droid on the grass. Nowhere is mentioned exactly what this is supposed to prove. Based on what the comic Leia tells the Noghri, if I were a Noghri, I don't know if I would be convinced. The explanation was a very integral part to the entire trilogy and should not have had parts missing.
Except for these few things, the plot survived pretty well. I believe, however, that this comic had far more serious bloopers than HTTE did. Let's start with the smaller ones. We have Winter calling Luke a Commander when he's resigned his commission. A woman with a perfect memory should know this!
When Leia is talking to the Noghri in the scene mentioned a few paragraphs back, she draws her lightsaber. What lightsaber? I don't see one anywhere on her before she draws it, and after she's done with it, it conveniently disappears again. Wow, Leia is strong in the Force! She can put her lightsaber into and out of a void of non-existence! Just like on Highlander!
But worst of all, we have the misplaced word balloons, which seems to happen all too much and prove to be pretty confusing. The first instance takes place not long after Han and Lando meet Bel Iblis for the first time. Bel Iblis is supposed to be asking how good of a job Mon Mothma has been doing running the NR, questioning her motives and so on. Lando is answering him and defending him. Well, now Lando has no clue how Mon Mothma's been doing, and Bel Iblis knows it all!
Then there's the point where Han and Lando decide to go check out the message from Luke instead of going to the Coral Vanda. They arrive on planet and find that Luke is Niles Ferrier. The panel where Han and Lando are disembarking from the Falcon, Ferrier is waiting for them. Lando and Han switched lines there, giving Han Lando's knowledge of Ferrier.
The last line switch takes place during the final battle of the book, right when Bel Iblis's fleet shows up. Captain Virgilio now greets Bel Iblis instead of Leia. Not a big thing, although one could wonder how this Captain knows him.
All in all, not a bad read, but except for the art inferior to the Heir to the Empire adaptation. I'd still say definitely worth having, though.
Reviewed July 6, 2000 by Kelly M. Grosskreutz.
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