Earlier this spring we learned that Disney, Lucasfilm, and Marvel would be teaming up to release numerous canon novels and comic-books that would help bridge the gap between ‘Star Wars: Return of the Jedi’ and ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens,’ and now we have the first serious comic-book that will delve into the dark times after the deaths of the Emperor and Darth Vader.

Read the official synopsis below of ‘Star Wars: Shattered Empire,’ the prequel comic-book written by Greg Rucka (‘Wolverine’) and Marco Checchetto (‘Punisher’).

“Emperor Palpatine’s twenty-year reign of terror came to an abrupt and fiery end in the skies above the forest moon of Endor. A decisive victory for the Rebel Alliance, to be sure, but even with the loss of its leadership, the Empire’s Moffs and regional governors retained their hold on important systems from the Core to the Outer Rim, thanks to the might of the Imperial Starfleet. Now, with a power vacuum atop the Empire, those Moffs will jockey for position and control, and the heroes of the Rebel Alliance will soon discover that a wounded and fractious Empire may be more dangerous than any threat they faced before!”

Basically it seems that the Empire was not completely destroyed when Vader and Palpaltine died, though the power gap in the aftermaths of their passing most likely fractured the Empire and brought the most violent and ruthless leaders to take the places of the Sith Lords. Eventually, one of those factions will become the ‘First Order’ that we have seen in the trailers for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ (who have the cool new Stormtrooper designs). And it seems that 30 years most likely did not completely settle the Galactic Civil War, though I’m fairly certain that the Rebels most likely control most of the known galaxy, including Coruscant, with the imperial remnants holding very little of their former territory.

Check out the original cover below, and the variant cover below that:

‘Star Wars: Shattered Empire’ will be a four-part mini-series, with the first issue hitting stores on September 2nd, with a trade paperback with all the issues coming to stores on November 17th. Make sure you check them out before ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ hits theaters on December 18th!

Source: PREVIEWSworld