Shattered Empire #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

My first thought, as Shara bluffs her way into an imperial research base by using an assumed identity, is that I was surprised that no one recognized the real Commander Beck.  I thought about someone trying to impersonate me to get into the doors at work; someone at the front desk would recognize that his voice didn't sound like mine.  But, Rucka is right there with me - the commandant in charge of the base not only knows Beck but knows that she's missing an eye.  However, he let Shara and Luke into the base because he wants to know what we want to know:  why are they there?

Previously, Artoo found Shara after her lieutenant informed her that he had submitted her resignation papers for her, after he learned that her husband, Kes, had submitted his papers.  Shara is torn about leaving the Rebellion, so, when Artoo leads her to Luke, she's happy to serve as his pilot and go on one more mission.  Eventually, we do discover why they're at the Imperial base:  the Emperor was keeping the remains of the tree that grew in the heart of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant there.  Luke and Shara grab the remnants and fight their way to freedom, and Checchetto does a great job of showing the various facets of Luke's powers, from acrobatics to combat, along the way. 

But, it's the end that brings this series to a perfect conclusion.  Luke hadn't expected there to be two trees, and he asks Shara to take one "home" with her to care for it.  With a suitably important final "mission," Shara is able to leave the service in a way that allows her to feel connected.  It's really the perfect solution.  Even if this series had a light enough tone to make a happy ending seem likely, it still comes in a way that doesn't feel forced.  For anyone that read "Star Wars:  Aftermath," this series actually feels like a companion piece, and I'd highly recommend it.

*** (three of five stars)

Shattered Empire #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This issue really unfolds at a perfect pace.  Rucka keeps us worried throughout the issue that Kes and Shara won't survive to see one another again.  Kes is almost killed attacking an Imperial black site with Han; Chewie saves him from a Storm Trooper at the last minute.  Meanwhile, Shara almost sacrifices herself to buy Leia and the Queen time to destroy the satellites wrecking Naboo's climate, saved (also at the last minute) when Lando and his squadron arrive to support them.  Moreover, the two stories link beautifully:  when Han and his team enter the black site, Threepio leans of "Operation:  Cinder" and the threat to Naboo (presumably allowing Han to call in Lando in time).  Plus, heroics abound:  Kes is the one to find the opening so that Han and his team can invade the black site, and Queen Soruna is the one that not only tips off Shara and Leia that a hanger of ships has been hidden under the Palace for years but also demands to go with them.  We also have an awesome moment when Leia enters the hanger and senses Darth Maul (since he died in that room years earlier).  Although something about the tone of this series never really left me in doubt that Kes and Shara would be reunited, as they are on the last page, Rucka does an admirable job of keeping that enough in question to remind us how brave everyone here is and how much they're willing to risk to see the Rebellion succeed.

*** (three of five stars)

Shattered Empire #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Rucka pulls off a well played dodge here.  Rather than picking up the story where we left it last issue -- with Han realizing that they have a long way to go to defeat the Empire -- Rucka instead focuses on Shara's contributions to the Alliance's ongoing attempts to liberate cities and planets.  Shara helps free Cawa City here, and her squadron leader expresses concern that she's pushing herself too hard.  (Her husband Kes is apparently on the "Pathfinder" mission with Han.)  He sends her to escort Leia to Naboo, where she convinces the Queen to help rebuild the Alliance.  It's supposed to be an easy job, for both of them, really.

The twist is that the Emperor has put into motion a series of contingency plans upon his death.  Earlier, an entity called "the Messenger" arrives for an Imperial officer named Captain Duvat.  (The Messenger wears a helmet that plays the video of the Emperor giving Duvat his orders once he confirms Duvat's identity through blood.  It's pretty freaking cool.)  The Emperor orders Duvat to scour Naboo, fulling his long-standing threat to do so.  (Leia had earlier narrated that the Emperor had never actually pulled the trigger because he liked watching the Nabooans live in fear of him doing so eventually.)  Duvat deploys devices to disrupt Naboo's climate, and Leia and Shara are on planet when they do so.  So much for easy.

Perhaps the most interesting revelation here is that the Empire's propaganda arm is in full swing, pretending the Emperor is still alive.  When one of Duvat's subordinates mentions that the Emperor is dead, Duvat reminds him that repeating "rebel propaganda" is treason.  Given that "Star Wars:  The Force Awakens" appears to confirm that the Alliance never fully displaced the Empire, you can see Rucka building the blocks of that failure here.  Now, I'd love to know what Han is doing.

*** (three of five stars)

Shattered Empire #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

(I'm just using the title "Shattered Empire" here because "Journey to 'Star Wars:  The Force Awakens' - Shattered Empire" is just ridiculously long.)

Rucka follows in Aaron and Gillen's footsteps here, telling a story that sounds and feels exactly like the movies.  He gets the fun task of showing us the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Endor.  (In fact, the issue starts in the furious last few moments before Lando and Nien Nunb blow up the Death Star.)  We see the celebration on Endor from a number of different perspectives, at times entering and departing scenes that we recognize from "Return of the Jedi" (like Lando and Han arguing over damage to the Falcon).  It's an amazing what Rucka accomplishes in just these few pages, humanizing the war in a way that the movies didn't.

In fact, the main point of this issue (and, seemingly, series) is contemplating the sacrifices that the rank-and-file members of the Rebellion made.  Our main character is a woman named Shara, a.k.a. Green-Four, one of the rebel pilots assigned to protect the Falcon on its run at the Death Star.  Rucka uses her to shift the point-of-view of the Battle from the main characters to a minor one.  In a way, it felt like reading the "Order of the Stick."  Whereas the main characters in the movie hardly ever express concern that they might die, most of this issue is focused on Shara's worry that her husband, a member of Han's strike force, might not have survived the Battle.  (NPC woes, man.)  He did (hurrah!), but the two of them almost immediately volunteer for Han's mission to take down an Imperial base on the other side of Endor.  Shara's husband, Kes, proposes that they build a house on a nice plot of land just before he enters the base with Han, so we all know that he's going to die soon.  (Shara herself alludes to that cliché, so maybe Rucka will have to surprise us and let him live.)

Again, Rucka tells a great story.  In the end, Han emerges from the base announcing that the fight isn't over, setting up the next phase of the Rebels' war with the Empire.  Kes and Shara had spent the night after the Battle wondering what they were going to do in peace time (setting up Kes' comment about the house), but Rucka calls into question how much peace they'll actually see in the immediate aftermath of the Battle.  Rucka manages to really take the energy from "Return of the Jedi" and extend it here, and I'm unspeakably excited to see where it goes.  Once I finish the current book I'm reading, I'm jumping right to "Star Wars:  Aftermath!"

*** (three of five stars)