Review: Star Wars: Agent of the Empire

When Dark Horse sent me the preview copy for Star Wars: Agent of the Empire #1, the thought of seeing inside the Empire really grabbed me. To be honest, I haven't read Star Wars comics. I was happy with the original trilogy and had made my peace with the prequels, but I liked the idea of reading about the Empire's inner workings. Agent of the Empire does just that and so much more.

Cover by Stéphane Roux
Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics

For timeline's sake, Star Wars: Agent of the Empire takes place three years before Luke blows up the first Death Star. We jump into the story aptly titled Iron Eclipse following Jahan Cross, the James Bond of the Empire. How James Bond-like is he? Well, he even has his own Q building all sorts of gadgets for him. His boss is even a little similar to M. It's the spy game though, and our fav has to head off to see how the Corporate Sector got their hands on stolen droid technology. Without giving away spoilers, I can tell you that the first issue builds up a very exciting cliffhanger. I will spoil you on the two very familiar faces on the cover will show up in the first issue!

The art, by Stéphane Roux, is really wonderful.  Seeing the Empire drawn is exciting and does remind me of the films.  The Imperial City is just downright beautiful.  I can't wait to see what Roux comes up with next!

As for inner workings for the Empire, we get to see some of the everyday guys that run things. Clones don't do everything, and most of them seem to be normal people making a living. One thing that stood out though was a lot of racial tension. I never knew that the Empire is human-centric. That was always one thing that I felt Lucas kept out of the films.

That aside, I really enjoyed this first issue. I definitely plan to keep reading. I liked it so much, I even interviewed the writer John Ostrander! He gives a bit more detail but not much more, even with begging for spoilers! Star Wars: Agent of the Empire is out today, so grab yourself a copy now!

Star Wars: Agent of the Empire #1

Writer: John Ostrander
Penciller: Stéphane Roux
Inker: Julien Hugonnard-Bert
Cover Artist: Stéphane Roux



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