Star Wars: Dark Times

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Star Wars: Dark Times

Attribution
Writer(s)	Mick Harrison^[1]
Penciller(s)	Doug Wheatley^[1] Dave Ross^[2] Lui Antonio^[3]
Colorist(s)	Ronda Pattison^[1]
Cover artist(s)	Doug Wheatley^[1]
Publication information
Publisher	Dark Horse Comics^[1]
Schedule	Monthly^[4]
Format	Ongoing, Alternating with Rebellion arcs^[4]
General information
Canon	C^[5]
Era	Rise of the Empire Era^[1]
Timeline	19 BBY^[1]

[Source]

"For over a thousand generations the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the Empire."

―Obi-Wan Kenobi^[src]

Star Wars: Dark Times is an ongoing comic series that is being published by Dark Horse Comics. The first issue was scheduled for release in October 2006. Similar to Star Wars: Rebellion, it is a continuation of an older series, Star Wars: Republic, and will continue the numbering of Republic on the inside. It also has the same miniseries style of Rebellion, and run in alternating arcs with it.

The story begins shortly after Star Wars: Purge, and intertwines with the events of Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader. In 2008, it will be paused for six months to give precedence to the Clone Wars monthly comic.

For new continuity, see the Dark Times series index.

[edit] Conception

In 2006, Dark Horse Comics relaunched its entire Star Wars line, wrapping up its popular Republic, Empire, and Tales series, and replacing them with Knights of the Old Republic, Rebellion, and Legacy. Many fans assumed that these three series would be the only three of the new Dark Horse line, until July, when Randy Stradley announced a new series at the Dark Horse message boards.^[6]

"We told you we still had a few cards up our sleeves. Well, here's another. Beginning in October, Dark Times will debut. Like Rebellion, it will be a series of miniseries, leapfrogging on the schedule with with Rebellion.

The first arc of Dark Times is titled "The Path to Nowhere," and is written by Mick Harrison from a plot by Welles Hartley, illustrated by Douglas Wheatley, and colored by Ronda Pattison (who colored Doug's work on "Purge").

The story begins in the days following the events in "Purge," and intertwines itself with some of the events in Jim Luceno's novel "Dark Lord."

―Randy Stradley^[src]

The idea was that the two series would alternate five-issue arcs, with Dark Times premiering in the fall after Rebellion wrapped up its first story arc, My Brother, My Enemy.

Republic had been one of the most popular and well-received pieces of Star Wars publishing throughout its 83-issue run, and would continue in the pages of Dark Times, just as Empire was doing in the pages of Rebellion. Dark Times is officially a continuation of Republic, with the numbering of the former series continuing --- the inside cover of Dark Times #1, for example, also displayed the numbering Republic 84. The first arc of Dark Times also continued the story of Dass Jennir and Bomo Greenbark, who were last seen in the pages of Republic.^[7]

Interestingly enough, Dark Horse chose to run the continuations of its previous series as alternating arcs, while focusing mainly on its two new series. This trend became further visible in 2008 when Dark Times and Rebellion received only two issues of Vector each, while Legacy and Knights of the Old Republic each received four.

Bomo Greenbark, the principal protagonist of the series so far.

The official solicitation for the series read as follows:

"The dark times are here. Even as the worlds of the former Republic are drawn into the iron grip of Palpatine?s Empire, the galaxy seems adrift in a sea of chaos, lawlessness, and despair.

On Coruscant, Darth Vader waits for his Master to reveal his vision for the future. But is there a plan beyond obtaining power? On New Plympto, Jedi Master Dass Jennir leads a Nosaurian army in a war they have already lost. Is this what in now means to be a Jedi?

Dark Times #1 is the gateway to a new era in Star Wars history, an era where the future is grim, evil is on the rise, and all paths seem to lead nowhere?"

―Diamond Previews^[src]

[edit] Production

[edit] The Path to Nowhere

"Probably the darkest, bleakest story we've ever done."

―Randy Stradley^[src]

The first story arc, The Path To Nowhere, was set to debut in October of 2006, though a delay caused the first issue to be released on the 8th of November.^[8] The first issue, however, was actually released prior to the final issue of the first Rebellion Arc, due to a four-month delay, which saw Issue #5 of My Brother, My Enemy (originally scheduled for an August release^[9]) come out in December.^[10] This was only the first of many delays to completely throw the Dark Times/Rebellion publishing schedule off-kilter, however. Issue #2 of The Path to Nowhere was released in January of 2007, with the next three issues being released in May, July, and October, respectively.^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14] The fifth issue of the arc was released a full eleven months after the first.

An example of Wheatley's pencils.^[15]

Many fans speculated that the heavy delays were a result of the time it took for penciller Doug Wheatley to prepare his photorealistic and much-admired^[16]^[17]^[18] artwork. Following the release of Issue #3, Wheatley appeared at the Jedi Council Forums to take the blame, saying:

"Well, I certainly deserve all of what has been said in this thread. I begrudge no one for their comments regarding my immediate dismissal. Your right, it has been too long. I except full responsibility. The delays have not been caused from lack of work, laziness or stupidity or else I would have been fired from the book. I'm not going to give you guy's excuses, I've been working really hard on the problem, and I've made significant progress, the book is back on track. For those of you who are hanging in there, I am truly busting my butt to give you my best work in a timely fashion, thanks for your understanding, it means a lot."

―Doug Wheatley^[src]

He also said that the severity of the delays “scared the hell out of him”, and stated that it would not happen in future story arcs.^[19]

The second story arc of Rebellion, The Ahakista Gambit, premiered in May 2007^[20] and completed its five-issue arc before The Path To Nowhere was said and done.^[21] The second arc of Dark Times, Parallels, was originally supposed to premiere in August,^[22] but due to the delays suffered by The Path To Nowhere, saw its first issue, Issue #6), be released in October, two weeks after the release of Issue #5.^[23]

Following the release of Issue #5, Randy Stradley stated the following at the Dark Horse Message Boards:

"For the first Dark Time arc, artist Doug Wheatley ran into problems completing the work on schedule. The reasons were his own, and not really important for our discussion here. I, as editor, having assessed the situation, decided (based on the quality of Doug's work) to stick with him for this arc -- though I knew it would make the book late.

In hindsight, and if I had known the full extent of the delays, I probably should have replaced him with another artist. I prefer to reserve actions like that for the last resort, mainly because changing one artist for another is usually like switching apples for oranges -- artists aren't interchangable widgets, easily swapped one for another on an equal basis. Also, another Star Wars-quality artist isn't always available."

―Randy Stradley^[src]

As the events of The Path To Nowhere dovetailed with the events of the novel Dark Lord, Issue #5 featured a scene taken right from the pages of the book. James Luceno was credited in the issue's inside cover.^[24]

[edit] Parallels

"In fact I'm excited for those of you who are sticking around, Harrison is freaking me out with where he is taking this title."

―Doug Wheatley^[src]

Parallels was released with few delays, having a five-issue run from October 2007 to April 2008. Mick Harrison remained the writer, with Zach Howard creating the covers, and Dave Ross taking over the penciling duty from Doug Wheatley. Issue #8 saw the penciling duties split between Ross and Lui Antonio, resulting in a noticeably inconsistent art style. Fans were disappointed in the inconsistency,^[25] though it is possible that Antonio was brought on board to help the issue be released on time. The issue was split between two locations, and it was apparent that Ross was penciling K'Kruhk's adventures on an unknown planet, while Antonio was penciling the story of the Crew of the Uhumele on Circarpous V.

[edit] Vector

"As to whether Darth Vader, say, is the protagonist or antagonist — or any of the other characters for that matter — read on. The answers may not be what you expect!"

―John Jackson Miller^[src]

Doug Wheatley returned to the series to pencil Issues # 11 and # 12, which form parts 5 and 6 of the mega-arc Vector, a series which is encompassing all four current Dark Horse titles in 2008. The script is by Mick Harrison, though John Jackson Miller and John Ostrander had hands in the plotting of the story.^[26] The events of Vector are intended to have a profound impact on the storylines of all four series.

[edit] Hiatus

The ship of choice for the series's heroes: Schurk-Heren's Uhumele

In April 2008, it was announced that both Dark Times and Rebellion would go on hiatus to make room for the Clone Wars Monthly Comic.^[27] Randy Stradley offered these words of wisdom on the matter:

"The two titles, Dark Times and Rebellion, are being put on hiatus because we at Dark Horse know from past experience that whenever our Star Wars line grows beyond three (or occasionally four) titles in a given month, many fans are forced to make financial decisions about which titles to purchase. Invariably, sales on all of our books plateau -- essentially, we increase our overhead but don't increase sales. Carrying on like that for very long is not a good business model. So, we try to keep our output to three (and occasionally four) titles per month. With the huge push for Clone Wars coming up -- and with it more or less coinciding with the release of The Force Unleashed -- something had to give. We couldn't ignore Clone Wars, and we didn't want to derail our current monthly books, so the logical decision was to put on hiatus the two titles which were only ever scheduled as intermittent miniseries in the first place."

―Randy Stradley^[src]

He also stated that work on both series is continuing, and that they should continue once the furor over Clone Wars dies down.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Bomo Greenbark

Main article: Bomo Greenbark

[edit] Dass Jennir

Main article: Dass Jennir

[edit] Darth Vader

Main article: Darth Vader

[edit] K'Kruhk

Main article: K'Kruhk

[edit] Crys Taanzer

Main article: Crys Taanzer

[edit] The Crew of the Uhumele

Main article: Schurk-Heren

Main article: Janks

Main article: Meekerdin-maa

Main article: Mezgraf

Main article: Lynaliskar K'ra Snyffulnimatta

Main article: Ko Vakier