Shadows of the Empire-- A WEEK LONG REVIEW!

When I was in fifth grade, there wasn’t anything in this world better than Star Wars. I read novels, played the video games, watched the movies endlessly, had lightsaber fights with my friends, action figures, quite literally I was into everything Star Wars. Then, in a dingy little gas station less than a mile from my house, my best friend found a comic book. I didn’t care about comic books, but this was special.

It was a Star Wars comic. And it was the first issue of Shadows of the Empire.

A week later I convinced my grandmother to take me up there to get it. I pad in change, taking the precious little paper book home with me, and read it at least six times that week. This was the first, and still one of my favorite comics. I’m not sure if it’s just nostalgia coming into play, but I still consider Shadows of the Empire something special. It is follow up to my favorite of the Star Wars films, Empire Strikes Back, taking place almost immediately after the film cuts to credits. It’s part of the reason I love cover art and poster art.

So, I’m going to review it.

But not just the comic! Shadows of the Empire was a multi-media event when it was started in 1996. The concept behind it was to create everything for a movie, except for the movie. And that’s what they accomplished, with a novel, comic book series, soundtrack, video game, and a line of action figures. There is even a couple of source books dedicated to this one moment in time for the Star Wars D20 Modern RPG. But, I’m just going to review the concrete stuff. I’ll be starting off with a review of the novel by Steve Perry. On Tuesday, I’ll review the video game. Wednesday will be a standard review day for weekly books. Thursday, I’ll review the soundtrack, and finally on Friday, a review of the comic book series that brought me back to comics in 2008.

All of the reviews are at Inside the Panels. Click the links for the individual reviews below.  

The Novel

The Game

The Soundtrack

The Comic