Booknote: Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Empire, Volume 1

Various authors, Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Empire, Volume 1. New York: Marvel, 2015. ISBN: 978-0-7851-9398-2.

Genre: graphic novels and comics
Subgenre: Star Wars, science fiction
Format: trade paperback
Source: Berea branch of the Madison County (KY) Public Library

I highly enjoyed this one. This series fall right after the events in Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. After the Clone Wars, Darth Vader is exterminating any remaining Jedi; he also has to do the Emperor's bidding. Whatever doubts Vader may have are buried as he fully embraces the Dark Side of the Force. For the surviving Jedi, these are times to decide if to hide and flee, die fighting, or bide their time for an opportunity to rebel. But for now, these are dark times.

Material in this volume is previously published. I've read some of it such as the story of Darth Vader and the Lost Command. The challenge was finding it all together instead of scattered in various issues. The value of this volume, and the series of volumes, is that it puts those scattered issues in one place for easy reading. It is good, easy reading that draws you right in. For libraries, this and other epic collection series would be a good buy as they contain full runs of stories, easier for collection development. Still for me the volume had enough material that was new to me, and I did also enjoy rereading what I had read before.

Overall, I really liked this one. Do note given this is a compilation that art style may vary, but overall it is good art with great storytelling (certainly better than the recent third trilogy of films).

4 out of 5 stars.