An Empire Without a Leader
Review by Chad Clark 

WHO will rise to take his place? 
WHO will control the destiny of the known universe?
...WHO do they think they're kidding with this series?!

Crimson Empire II: Council of Blood #1-3 (of 6) 
published by Dark Horse Comics 

THE STORY 

Supposedly this series is about the only surviving Imperial Guardsman Kir Kanos. You wouldn't know it by his near total absence from the first three issues. Instead the series focuses on the lackluster Imperial "Interim" Council attempting to mange the affairs of the crumbling Empire. Besides Kanos we also have supporting appearance by Grappa the Hutt (oooh), Mirith Sinn (the redhead from the first series) and some mysterious villain who slurs his S's. "Who wants to read about these guys?"  

My thoughts exactly. 

The first issue is big on trying to build intrigue. A band of space pirates board a mining guild vessel, chop an R5 unit in half and reveal they came for an "illegal cargo" the vessel is carrying. That's the first big mystery. Next we are introduced to the Interim Council and [gasp] they have non-human members! It seems that with the Empire losing power they have had to forget their petty bigotry. And the aliens seem willing enough to forgive them. Isn't that special. But then the human council leader is killed by a mysterious (there's that word again) bomb. Who could be doing this??? Doesn't matter because we have to visit Grappa the Hutt, crimelord extraordinaire. Right off the bat he kills some bounty hunter by throwing him in with a vicious creature hidden in shadows!! Then Mirith Sinn shows up offering to work for Grappa and hey, after just one glance he thinks she looks resourceful. She's hired. But let's get back to that Interim Council; they need a new leader and by a unanimous vote they elect a complete (human) buffoon, thinking he will be killed too by the mad bomber. Hah, joke's on them, this was all planned by said buffoon and the mysterious (three times) villain, clothed in darkness and slurring his S's. But let us return to Grappa's one final time where we discover the pirates from the beginning work for him but we still don't learn what they hijacked. But we do get to meet a new alien species called the Zanibar. And they have a mysterious (that's four!) "ceremony" from which no one ever returns!!! And the absent Kir Kanos? He shows up at Grappa's as a bounty hunter and calling himself Kenix Kil. Whew! 

I'm gonna stray from breaking down the events of the next two issues to instead point out how utterly ridiculous and confusing this series is. Look at all those characters and plots they introduced in issue #1! But there was no story. None. Just a whole lot of "Isn't he cool!" "Who can this guy be?" And "What was that?!?" At least issue #2 pretends it's about Kir Kanos—he appears on the first 4 pages. Then it's back to the intrigue and backstabbing among the Imperial Council. We even discover that Grappa is involved in the machinations plaguing this group. Needless to say, there seem to be five million things going on in this series and it all revolves around the disintegrating power of the Empire. So I'm gonna ask a question that someone should have asked when this series was first proposed. Who cares?!? Not me. 

In the future, writers Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley's time would be better spent on coming up with one good plot, not twenty mysterious and confusing ones. Paul Gulacy and Randy Emberlin do a fine job rendering the characters, making each one unique and recognizable. Unfortunately, Dave Stewart wide variety of muted colors on every page gave me headache and distracted from said art. Pat Brosseau does an average job as Letterer. And second in disappointment to the story would have to be Dave Dorman's covers. I love Dave Dorman. I think he does a fabulous job on most all the Star Wars related art he has produced. But these look rushed and substandard, especially issue #3. Maybe he didn't care about these characters either. 

Once again I have to applaud Lucasfilm and Dark Horse for attempting to branch out the focus on their Star Wars comics. Kir Kanos is an interesting character and I would like to read an interesting story with him as the star. But this is not an interesting story. It twists and turns and loses the reader until they will just give up in disgust. Good stories, good art. That's my new slogan. 

Before I leave you I would like to point out one small continuity glitch. While Kir Kanos is said to be the last surviving Imperial Guardsman, a bunch of them later appear in Kevin J. Anderson's Young Jedi Knights series, pretending the Emperor is still alive. I guess they felt so inept about the job they did over Endor on the second Death Star that they decided to cover the whole thing up and act like it never happened. But that's criticism better saved for another column. 

(Chad Clark is an aspiring actor and fanatic devotee of Rogue Squadron. When he isn't practicing his heart-melting smile, he writes reviews of the comics he reads while basking in the California sunshine. His agent answers his fan mail at chad@echostation.com)

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