Greg Rucka’s Star Wars: Shattered Empire Continues the Post-RotJ Fight
Greg Rucka, in an interview with StarWars.com, spoke about the tone and overarching theme of his upcoming comic Star Wars: Shattered Empire. It’s not all roses and celebration after the Battle of Endor. For him, that’s when the Galactic Civil War really gets underway. He even cites some real world events as inspiration for how he’s laid out his story, which is supposed to pave the way to The Force Awakens.
Rucka echoed a bit of the Star Wars expanded universe when he brought up the fact that the end of Return of the Jedi doesn’t necessarily mean the war is over. In fact, after the Emperor’s death is when some of the most dramatic, important events of the Star Wars universe take place. The Empire essentially has to double down and dig in to protect what they do have after the Emperor’s death sends waves throughout the galaxy.
It’s in this grim determination that Rucka finds a type of drama that is vacant at the end of Return of the Jedi.
The Empire still has resources. The Empire still has an enormous fleet. They may be in disarray post the Battle of Endor, but to think that in that vacuum people aren’t stepping up…
There’s a Moff out there who’s like, ‘Right. I’m emptying the bank accounts, I’m changing my name, and I’m going to Aruba.’ You know there is. But for every Moff who does that, there are five who say, ‘Like hell am I leaving this post. We’ve got stormtroopers for a reason. You get out there and you shoot every last one of these upstart insurgents, these terrorists, and you make clear to them that the rule of law still stands.’ So it does get ugly.
We already know that Shattered Empire will center around two characters previously unknown to the Star Wars universe: Shara Bey, a pilot, and her husband Kes, who is infantry. They’re both “very tired veterans” in their own right, so to get to the Battle of Endor and find out that the war is only just beginning makes for some interesting dynamics.
When it comes to real world influences on the war to come, Rucka cites Arab Spring, North Korea, and the Soviet Bloc, three situations in which communications were/are stiffly controlled by those in power.
Who controls the airwaves? The Empire does. So, the Rebellion can be jumping up and down, and screaming at the top their lungs, ‘Palpatine is dead!’ But I guarantee you, that message didn’t reach 70 percent of the galaxy. It’s a rumor. It’s a whisper.
It’s going to be incredibly interesting to see how Rucka pulls this book off, because don’t forget: this is mostly new ground. The expanded universe is reset, so it’s all trail blazing from here on out. With the heavy influences mentioned above, this already seems like a story that really shouldn’t be missed.
Get ready to dig in to the real fight when Star Wars: Shattered Empire launches September 2nd.
(via The Hollywood Reporter, image via StarWars.com)
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