| Dark Times | |
| Creators: | Mick Harrison (writer), Welles Hartley (story) |
| Format: | Comic book |
| Issues: | 33 (32 + a 'zero issue') |
| Publisher: | Dark Horse Comics |
| Date: | 2006–2013 |
| Main Char Team: | Dass Jennir, Bomo Greenbark, Captain Schurk-Heren, and more |
| Altcat: | Star Wars comicsHorror comics |
Dark Times is a 2006, 33-issue (32 + a 'zero issue') comic book mini-series published by Dark Horse Comics. It is part of their 30th-anniversary retooling of its long-running Star Wars series of comics, replacing Republic.
The first issue was released on November 8, 2006, and is written by Randy Stradley (as Mick Harrison) from a plot by Stradley (as Welles Hartley).
The series is set in the Star Wars galaxy shortly after the events in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and about 19 years before Episode IV: A New Hope. The story begins in the days following the events in Purge by John Ostrander.
Human Sith Lord. The former Anakin Skywalker, reeling from the injuries he suffered during and haunted by his past, wonders about his place in the newly declared Empire.
Human Sith Lord. The new Emperor of the galaxy works to destroy the last vestiges of the Separatists, and tries to keep his new apprentice from succumbing to self-pity.
Issues 1–5 (November 2006–October 2007) follow the events of the Republic arc Into the Unknown and take place during . Exiled Jedi master Dass Jennir and his friend Bomo Greenbark are the only survivors of the Galactic Empire's war on the latter's home planet. The duo sneaks onto a docked ship, and after being caught by Crys Taanzer, convinces its crew to help them escape; to avoid mandatory Imperial inspections, Jennir hatches a plan to force all the docked ships to depart at once. To find out what happened to Greenbark's family, they go to the planet where most of the Empire's captives are being taken, and find members of Greenbark's species imprisoned in pits; they learn that his wife was killed defending his daughter. Jennir infiltrates a slaver's quarters and forces him to reveal the location of Greenbark's daughter, Resa, before killing him. Jennir and his then companions travel to the mansion of the man who bought Resa, but are horrified to learn that he ate her. Jennir kills the man in order to spare Bomo the guilt, but only provokes him to angrily reveal to the entire group that Jennir is a Jedi; the group decides to depart company with the latter.
Meanwhile, Darth Vader continues to learn to submit to his new master, Emperor Palpatine, even as he must reckon with his own childhood as a slave if he is to accept the Empire's allowance of such practices.
Issues 6–10 (October 2007–February 2008) follow Jedi Master K'Kruhk, who survived the events of Order 66 and took several younglings under his protection, as well as Bomo and his companions as they flee the Empire. One of his crew, Janks, is captured by stormtroopers. The ship's captain reveals to Bomo that he has secured a buyer for some secret cargo. Crys consoles Bomo by telling him about the loss of her own family during the Clone Wars; her husband was killed by Separatist forces, and she agreed to let a Jedi take her son, Kennan, to train him as a Padawan. In the present, K'Kruhk trains Kennan on a fertile moon. Meanwhile, Bomo and company arrive on Mimban to make the exchange, but are double-crossed by the buyer, Haka, who is in turn double-crossed by his man Lumbra. Captain Heren reveals to Haka that he had expected the betrayal and that Lumbra has loaded a booby-trapped crate onto his own ship. Haka then tortures Heren for the location of the real merchandise as he forces Crys to work as a slave. Lumbra crash-lands near K'Kruhk's settlement, and goes to check it out. K'Kruhk sends the younglings into hiding, as Lumbra salvages their ship to repair his own. Jedi Master Chase Piru uses the Force to defend the younglings, revealing to Lumbra that he might have something more valuable than the crate he was originally trying to steal. Meanwhile, Bomo and Crys fight back against their guards. K'Kruhk and Piru split up to attack the pirates from opposing angles, even as Bomo's friends continue to liberate each other.
Issues 11 and 12 are the fifth and sixth parts of the 12-issue multi-series crossover arc Vector, which spans across Knights of the Old Republic, Dark Times, Rebellion, and Legacy. Darth Vader interrogates Janks, while Heren tells Bomo about the contents of the mystery crate. About 1,400 years ago, it was found under a kilometer of ice, and after it was left behind in the spoils of battle, Heren and his crew found it. A new buyer, a scholar named Peturri whom Heren trusts, has placed an offer on it, but it turns out to be a trap set by Vader. Heren's crew is chained to pillars, and Vader opens the crate, revealing the ancient Jedi Celeste Morne. She attacks Vader upon learning he is Sith, despite his pleas to form an alliance with him. Peturri tries to escape, but Vader uses the Force to hold him as he transforms into a Rakghoul, before Vader slays him. Morne battles the stormtroopers as Heren frees himself and the others. They escape to the ship, but Crys succumbs to the Rakghoul plague, forcing Heren to shoot the monster. Vader escapes on his shuttle, leaving Morne on the planet below with the stormtroopers-turned-Rakghouls.
The title is a reference to the working title of Return of the Jedi. In the prologue issue (August 2009), originally released in two parts on MySpace in January and February 2009, Dass Jennir accepts a job to defend a town from slaver gang, even as he defends himself from a rival mercenary.