‘Journey To Star Wars: The Force Awakens’: ‘Shattered Empire’ Shows What Happens After ‘Return Of The Jedi’

Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Shattered Empire #1 isn’t just a title with a lot of colons; it’s also the first glimpse that fans will get, canonically speaking, into what happens immediately following the events of Return of the Jedi.

Marvel will reveal the new comic book series to the world on Sept. 2 in the buildup to December’s big theatrical release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

(An image from the first issue is seen above.)

While Disney dumped the whole “Expanded Universe” when it purchased Star Wars from Lucasfilm, it has since built up an interesting EU of its own.

What came before in comics, games, and novels didn’t really happen except where it may filter in to the newly established story canon, the company has stated.

For the most part, fans have been accepting of that decision, feeling it’s Disney’s right since it laid out $4.26 billion for Lucasfilm’s properties and it appears to be hitting all the right marks with fans, going by the sneak peek images and trailers from director J.J. Abrams’ newest film.

In Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Marvel claims that it “takes place immediately after the Battle of Endor and The Second Death Star’s destruction,” adding that “the Galactic Empire is far from finished.”

“As Rebel A-Wing fighter pilot Shara Bey will discover, Return of the Jedi’s events only triggered a darker and more ruthless era for the still-active Empire,” the press release notes.

Greg Rucka writes while his Punisher collaborator, Marco Checchetto, handles the artwork.

Recently, Rucka sat down to chat with the official Star Wars website about his work on the book, and he confirms that you can definitely expect some darkness.

“When you’re young and you see Jedi, you can look at the happy ending and go, ‘Hey, it’s over!’ But you get older and you start to think about it, and you realize, no it’s not. It’s not over at all.'”

Shara’s husband in Shattered Empire is Kes, and the pair will take center stage though not necessarily together.

“Shara flies, Kes is a ground-pounder, and a very experienced one,” Rucka told the site. “So, they have spent more time apart than together, and they’re in the Outer Rim world where the Imperial presence is felt, and they’re hoping that they can bring an end to this. But they’re both very tired veterans, and they come out of [the Battle of] Endor with the elation that we see in [Return of the Jedi]. ‘We’ve won. It’s over.’ — only to discover that, no it’s not. The Empire was huge.”

Rucka closed the interview by stating that “it does get ugly.” IGN also notes that fans can expect to see post-ROTJ versions of Luke, Leia, Han, and the rest of the gang they’ve become familiar with.

What do you think about the early details on Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Shattered Empire, readers? Will you be picking up a copy?

[Image via StarWars.com, linked above]