After 32 years, you're finally going to find out what happened to the Star Wars galaxy after the deaths of the Emperor and his servant Darth Vader.
December's Star Wars: The Force Awakens picks up 30 years after the end of Return of the Jedi, at a time when the galaxy has changed significantly. But before the movie arrives, Lucasfilm has plans to fill in that huge story gap with books, comics and video games under a banner called "Journey to The Force Awakens." As with all things authorized and released by Lucasfilm since its purchase by Disney, the "Journey" products are considered 100% canon.
So how did the galaxy change in 30 years? The first "Journey" story kicks off in September, when Marvel publishes Star Wars: Shattered Empire #1. Today, Diamond Previews posted the first plot description for Shattered Empire, which gives us our first indication of what happened right after the big Ewok hoedown. Here's how Diamond describes it.
Emperor Palpatine's twenty-year reign of terror came to an abrupt and fiery end in the skies above the forest moon of Endor. A decisive victory for the Rebel Alliance, to be sure, but even with the loss of its leadership, the Empire's Moffs and regional governors retained their hold on important systems from the Core to the Outer Rim, thanks to the might of the Imperial Starfleet. Now, with a power vacuum atop the Empire, those Moffs will jockey for position and control, and the heroes of the Rebel Alliance will soon discover that a wounded and fractious Empire may be more dangerous than any threat they faced before!
Star Wars: Shattered Empire is written by Greg Rucka and drawn by Marco Checchetto. It'll be available in comic stores September 2, 2015. More of the immediate impact of Return of the Jedi will be told from a different perspective in Chuck Wendig's novel Star Wars: Aftermath, due September 4.
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