Star Wars: Dark Times - Vol. 1 The Path to Nowhere TPB Review

This review was submitted by Ray Hoey
Writer: Welles Hartley
Artist: Douglas Wheatley
Publisher: Dark Horse

Yay! A new Star Wars TPB to review. With the anticipation of the live action Star Wars TV series that George Lucas is planning, this is one title I will be keeping a close eye on. This first volume is a great start. It begins shortly after the events of "Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith" in which the Galactic Empire is now underway, and recently titled Darth Vader is beginning his first steps as the Emperor's chief enforcer.

But they are baby steps to be sure. Vader is not quite sure yet of what his place is in this New Order, and he finds people looking up to him for answers. And whether he chooses to admit it or not, the small part of him that is still good, that his son would have the insight to realize his conflicted emotions twenty years from now, is still there. It comes to a head when Vader receives word from a clone trooper battalion that the surviving population of the defeated Separatist planet New Plympto have been sent to slave markets to profit the Empire. Having been a former slave himself, Vader is taken aback and consults with the Emperor on this issue. The argument that Palpatine uses to validate the slave marketing goes a long toward showing how evil and manipulative he truly is.

Meanwhile, despite Order 66 and the near-complete extermination of the Jedi Order, a surviving Jedi General named Dass Jennir leads a Separatist resistance force on New Plympto that fights to the last warrior. He then escapes, along with his aide, Bomo Greenbark, a native of New Plympto, whose wife and child were evacuated, but then captured by slavers. Bomo sets off to rescue them, and Dass goes along to help.

Along the way, they enlist the help of a freighter crew in their task, but nothing comes easy.
Dass is forced to do things no Jedi would ever consider doing, and Bomo keeps running into obstacle after obstacle in the search for his family. Will they succeed?

Douglas Wheatley's art is superb, reminiscent of Jan Duursema's work on the "Clone Wars" trades. There is careful attention to detail and depth in the backgrounds as well as the foregrounds. "Rich" would be the word I would choose to describe it. (My one objection, if any, is the introduction in this story of the Imperial Class Star Destroyer that is so familiar to Star Wars fans, since I associate those closer to Episode IV) Welles Hartley has written a tight story, and one of the best things about it is that he demonstrates how the level of uncertainty in this new era of the now dead Republic is striking everyone. Vader has his reservations, as mentioned before; Dass is beginning to wonder whether he truly can uphold the principles of the Jedi, when circumstance keeps forcing him to look the other way; Bomo has no idea what he will do if the worst happens to his family; even clone troopers are unsure of what their place will be once the last Separatist planet is subjugated and the Clone Wars are over. After all, what good is a soldier, without a war to fight?

Overall, a worthy addition to the Star Wars comics pantheon...hell, the Star Wars pantheon, PERIOD.

A gratifying A+