Star Wars Dark Times Comics

In the Aftermath of Order 66 and the declaration of Empire, every being, from smugglers to surviving Jedi, to separatists to refugees, find the galaxy changed. The Dark Times are here, in spite of Palpatine’s promises of peace and order, the galaxy is more dangerous than ever. This is not an era of happy endings. In this era, survival is the best you can hope for, and sometimes even that is too much.

Darth Vader, formerly Anakin Skywalker, is in for a few surprises that his still barely dormant past self find abhorrent. Not least of these is Palpatine’s order to sell former Separatists races into slavery. This story starts right before his trip to Murkhana, interweaving with his quest to hunt Jedi in spite of Palpatine’s orders. These dark times are truly dark for everyone, as Vader sinks deeper into the dark side and the citizens of the galaxy are swept up in the tidal wave of betrayal.

Introduced in Republic comics, Jedi Dass Jennir, Nausorian Bomo Greenbark face disaster as the last of the separatist group they lead falls, and the refugees they sent to escape were taken. With the help of newly introduced crew of the Uhumele, they seek to save them from slavery. In Dark Times, Jennir is finding it hard to hold to his oath to keep being a Jedi, when horrors of slavery and worse force him to make difficult choices. Allies turned enemy and betrayal are a big theme here.

Uhumele Crew includes
Captain Heran – Yarkora
Crys Tanzeer (human female)
Lynaliskar K’ra Snyffulnimatta ‘Sniffles’
Meekerdin-maa ‘Ratty’ (a tintinna)
Jank (Phindian)
Mezgraf (togorian)
Ko Vakier (Blood Carver)

Interspersed with Vader and Dass Jennir’s challenges, lays Master K’kruhk. A detour due to ship damage put he and Jeisel in a Jedi training center with the Hawkbat clan, including Apprentice Piru, and younglings including Kennan Tanzeer and Sidarri. One moment the troops are friendly and the next, turning on even the younglings. Escape costs lives, but along the way they meet unexpected allies.

Master K’kruhk’s group:
Jeisel
Zao
Piro
Kenner Tanzeer
Sidarri
others unnamed

Dark Times includes a part of the Vector Story arc, that began in Knights of the Old Republic, and will continue in Rebellion and end in Legacy comics.

Star Wars Dark Times Review:

This series has some great eye candy, but is anything but lighthearted fun. It’s a real page turner, with a lot of twists and no guarantee of happy endings in the Dark Times. It’s a dangerous thing to fall in love with a character, you might just lose them. Other characters never get an ending. They don’t appear again in Rebellion or any story onward. This is too bad, as I’d like to know what happens to them. Still, it does end on a note of hope, for there are survivors.

Dark Times Continuity and Lore;

Master K’rkuhk was a semiregular in the Republic series, and also appeared in the 2003 animated series. Spoiler: he reappears in the Legacy series. What becomes of him and the younglings between events in Dark Times and Legacy is never explored, nor when, precisely, K’kruhk himself came out of hiding to join Luke Skywalker’s Jedi order.

Jeisel was a semi-regular in the Republic series.

K’kruhk and Jeisel were en route to join Ki Adi Mundi on Mygeeto, we saw his death there in Revenge of the Sith.

The story includes the Emperor telling Vader to go to Murkhana, where Dark Lord: Rise of Darth Vader by James Luceno starts off.

Events from the Purge comics, Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison, Darth Vader and the Lost Command, Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin, Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison are mentioned.

Telerath, a former banking world, is visited in our first glimpse since Knights of the Old Republic comics.

The planet Bandomeer shows up, as mentioned in Jedi Apprentice book 2 The Dark Rival . One of the crewmembers of the Uhumele is a rarely seen Phindian, as seen in Jedi Apprentice book 3 The Hidden Past.