Line #6 YMMV/DarkEmpire


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
2	** Usually, this is the point at which "Luke's really a Sith!" begins.
3	** [[Literature/HandOfThrawn Was Palpatine here the real deal or a series of delusional clones]]? Muddling this is the fact that Mara Jade who proposed the later idea wasn't around for the story, so it's largely second-hand speculation on her part.
4	* AssPull: The entire Rebellion leadership suddenly revealed to be alive at the end of the second series. An obvious example of ExecutiveMeddling in order to make the comic agree with novels that took place after it, but were written before it.
5	* BrokenBase:
6	** Zahn and his fans loathed this series because it brought the Emperor back from the dead. Since then the fandom of the Expanded Universe has been split in two: Zahn Fans and Veitch Fans.
7	** The artwork. Do the sketchy line work and bright watercolors add an ominous mood, or do they look like a paint by numbers set gone horribly wrong? Even fans of ''Dark Empire'' fight over this one.
8	* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Palpatine]], coming BackFromTheDead through one of his clones, decided to rebuild his Empire and once again rule the Galaxy. Tricking Luke Skywalker into believing that Dark Side is the only way to save his friends, Palpatine manages to turn him into his apprentice (though Luke was mainly playing along in order to sabotage him). After that, Palpatine launched his new superweapons, the "[[WeaponOfMassDestruction World Devastators]]", to destroy the Mon Calamari's homeworld as a punishment for their support of the New Republic. Due to the [[CloneDegeneration rapid aging of his new body]], Palpatine repeatedly tries to capture the pregnant Leia, in order to use her child as his new vessel. When Luke escapes his dark influence with the help of his sister, the furious Palpatine starts hunting him down, killing hundreds of thousands of rebels and [[DetonationMoon destroying Pinnacle Moon]] in the Da Soocha system, where a Rebel base is located.
9	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
10	** The ''[[CoolStarship Eclipse]]'' got a much better reception than the other superweapons introduced here and of the giant Star Destroyers it's probably the most popular one besides the Executor.
11	** The E-wing starfighter has also become immensely popular, and is one of the most enduring elements introduced by the series in later EU works.
12	* FanonDiscontinuity: Even some of the fans who view ''Legends'' as the true continuation of the franchise sometimes prefer to ignore ''Dark Empire'', or else treat it as its [[AlternateContinuity own continuity]], due to being a ResetButton, having poor synergy with the concurrently released [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Thrawn books]], and bringing Palpatine BackFromTheDead, which is felt to [[ShaggyDogStory cheapen the ending]] of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', let alone the Balance of the Force and Chosen One stuff introduced years later by the Prequels.
13	* FanNickname:
14	** "Wankatine" for the overpowered Palpatine featured in this series.
15	** "Bowie-peror" for young clone Palpatine's resemblence to Music/DavidBowie.
16	* FridgeBrilliance: Some fans have pointed-out how this storyline can still accommodate the Chosen One angle: Who caused [[spoiler:Empatojayos Brand]] to be there in the first place? [[spoiler:Darth Vader. Meaning that Anakin Skywalker (inadvertently) screwed-over Palpatine '''''twice'''''.]]
17	* HilariousInHindsight: Go [[HilariousInHindsight/StarWarsLegends here]].
18	* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome:
19	** "The Sarlacc found [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Boba_Fett me]] [[BackFromTheDead somewhat indigestible]]."
20	** Empatojayos Brand. [[spoiler: At the climax of ''Empire's End'', Palpatine's spirit departs his dying final clone body and attempts to possess Han's son Anakin. However, Brand (who was mortally wounded by Palpatine moments earlier) throws himself in the way, causing Palpatine to possess ''him'' instead. The result is that Palpatine is '''''DRAGGED INTO THE FORCE BY BRAND'S SPIRIT, KILLING HIM'''''. And unlike all of Palpatine's other deaths, this death is '''''PERMANENT''''' and '''''FINAL'''''. Did we mention Brand [[KarmicDeath was a Jedi Purge survivor]]?]]
21	* {{Narm}}:
22	** Declarative statements against dramatic backdrops, '''bold,''' ''italics'' and exclamation marks all over the place.
23	** The Galaxy Weapon, [[BeamMeUpScotty subsequently often known as]] the Galaxy Gun. Many fans disliked it as gratuitous SequelEscalation (compared to the Death Stars in the films), and the goofy name it quickly got saddled with didn't help either.
24	* OlderThanTheyThink: This isn't the first ''Franchise/StarWars'' comic that depicts Boba Fett as having escaped the Sarlacc pit: the Creator/MarvelComics [[ComicBook/StarWarsMarvel1977 series]] first introduced the idea, although it also showed him [[HereWeGoAgain getting swallowed by the Sarlacc all over again]].
25	* PopularityPolynomial: At the time it came out it was extremely popular. A decade later, it was widely regarded as absolute garbage, and admitting to liking it was seen as pretty much akin to saying that Greedo shooting first was a great idea. Nowadays, while it hasn't exactly swung back to being universally beloved, it tends to be regarded as, if nothing else, [[SoOkayItsAverage a decently entertaining story]] that at least doesn't suffer the various issues that the later ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' works tended to suffer from. In the wake of ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' [[spoiler:recycling several of the series' plot points, some fans felt that ''Dark Empire'', regardless of its flaws, handled Palpatine's return better in general.]]
26	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The idea of Luke flirting with the Dark Side of the Force was something that fans had been curious about, and even became the series's selling point. Unfortunately, most of the story puts Luke OutOfFocus during his temporary FaceHeelTurn, and the plight of his struggle is thereby undermined.

Context YMMV / DarkEmpire