Story: Michael A. Stackpole
Pencils: John Nadeau
Inks: Jordi Ensign
Colors: Dave Nestelle
Lettering: Vickie Williams
Cover Art: John Nadeau and Timothy Bradstreet
TPB Cover Art: Timothy Bradstreet and Grant Goleash
In the Empire's Service is the sixth installment of the XWRS series, and also the source of a great many firsts. This is the first time that Stackpole himself scripts the comics, instead of giving someone else the story to script for him. This is also the first appearance of two notable characters of the entire X-Wing series. These two, of course, are Imperial Director Ysanne Isard and Baron Soontir Fel.
First, as always, let me go to the artwork, however. Considering that Nadeau and Ensign also worked on Battleground: Tatooine and Warrior Princess, it should not be surprising that my opinion of their work is about the same as it was for the other two. However, there were a few things I did want to mention here.
I've noticed that, as the series continues, Tycho's hair gets browner and browner. That's great, since Stackpole's X-Wing novels say he has brown hair, but I just didn't care for the way he looked in it here. He looked like they took the blond-haired Tycho and just made his hair brown. He didn't look good with it at all. I also didn't care for Isard's appearance. In the books, she is described as a tall, handsome-looking woman, but the handsomeness is hard to see here. She looks more like an old, used beater. And either Fel is pretty tall, or she is drawn shorter than she should be, because in that one scene where she's talking to Fel over holo, she looks like a shrimp.
On the other hand, I think they improved on their ability to give the characters expression. I noticed this especially with Tycho. When confronted with the knowledge that they would be facing Fel, he really looks like a guy who's afraid and comtemplating his own mortality. Later, when he and Wedge are discussing the potential loss of Wes and Ibtisam, they both look like they have a lot on their shoulders. Also, when Wedge is told at the beginning by Ackbar that they'd be going back to Brentaal IV, Wedge had a look on his face like he was totally uneasy with the whole thing. I thought those three spots really came off well, and there were other places like this in the miniseries. Not quite up to Biukovic's standards, but good nonetheless.
Speaking of good and things Biukovic liked to show in his work, I also loved all the background stuff that was going on throughout this miniseries. The most noticeable is where Plourr is taking on the tech, but I liked other things as well. I never noticed this until this last read-through, but when Avan and Feylis are walking down the streets of Oradin, in the background we see Standro come flying out of a window. Seems Plourr had success in instigating a bar brawl. I laughed out loud when I saw this.
The one really noticeable problem I had with anything visually was a minor balloon switch. Towards the end, Tycho and Wedge are climbing aboard their X-Wings. Wedge says something about their hand being kind of forced, and Tycho comments that he thinks this all might have caught the Imps by surprise, too. Next panel, as they are now in their X-Wings, Tycho then says, "I hope so, Rogue Lead." Looks like Tycho is responding to himself. I think that Wedge was supposed to have said the line about the Imps being caught by surprise and Tycho mentioning their hand being forced. Small, but a little confusing.
As for story itself, however, it is obvious that Stackpole is in the saddle and ready to kick things into high gear. Isard starts manipulating pretty much everybody into position for her to take over the Empire. Although I was a little surprised that Fel's the only one out of them all who's on to her. I guess Pestage is dumber than I thought he was. Sure, he knew that she was going to stab him in the back when she was through with him, but he should've realized much sooner just exactly what she was doing.
Fel's defection is nicely set up here. Throughout this miniseries, we see him becoming more and more discontent with Isard's willingness to sacrifice his men, especially when it seems she did so just to give him a motive to take out Wedge. We don't find out the entire story behind his defection until The Making of Baron Fel, but it is set up nicely here with his dissatisfaction with Isard.
On a side note, I don't blame him at all for refusing Isoto's rewards. And I don't mean the repeated offers of Grania. I mean those little "medals" he'd made for the 181'st. Forgetting the fact that Isoto is an idiot who had no business giving out rewards for bravery, I swear they all looked like they were cobbled together at the last moment and looked exactly the same, regardless of the name. I personally have to wonder if Isoto was fully sane.
Which brings me to another issue, that of Grania. From the bit at the end, I'm assuming that Grania was once a guest of Isard at her wonderful restorative facility, the Lusankya. She and Isard speak of Project Ambition, and Grania is the key to it and what Isard wanted the Rebels to find. Unfortunately, this is never heard of again. I'd like to know what Project Ambition is, but I have the feeling that the odds of us ever hearing anything more on this subject are very slim to none. Hopefully, Stackpole's part Corellian and can defy those odds.
Aside from this stuff, I thought it was an extremely well done comic. The artwork had some definite fun stuff going on in it, and the plot was just superb. Whereas all the others up to this point seemed to be more or less stand-alone comics, this one has the appearance of being the beginning of an actual story. That appearance is enhanced by Fel's last comment to Wedge in the very last panel. That, by itself, is enough to make pretty much everyone want to buy the next one, just to see what happens next in that area.
I know that there is so much more I could go on about. So many good things happened here that it is impossible to go on about them in a review, even ones as long-winded as mine tend to be. Like the whole bit about getting to know/not getting to know the newbies to the squadron. Poor Wedge decides to open himself up after the events here, but then later on ends up returning to his original stance, as is evidenced with Corran. Or, should I say, Lt. Horn. Before I ramble about twenty other things, I think I'd better stop before this thing's as long as a book.
Reviewed August 28, 2000 by Kelly M. Grosskreutz.
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