Return of the Jedi – The Empire #1
OPERATION: ENDOR
As the conflict against the REBEL ALLIANCE continues, the heavy hand of the GALACTIC EMPIRE squeezes its citizens for any resource that they can provide.
With more and more businesses seized and workforces commandeered for military purposes, many civilians find themselves abruptly pulled into the ongoing war effort.
One young technician, RILO GRENTH, has become a civilian contractor for a top-secret installation that is currently being constructed on a distant moon in the OUTER RIM….
Writer: Jody Houser
Artist: Jethro Morales
Letterer: Joe Sabino
Colorist: Dee Cunniffe
Cover artist: Ryan Brown
Editor: Danny Khazem
Publication date: June 7, 2023
Unlike the other Return of the Jedi specials so far, Empire brings us a single story as we meet Rilo Grenth, a contractor who has agreed to work on a top secret project far out in the Outer Rim. Of course, we know what that secret installation is, but as we join the story onboard an Imperial shuttle full of Biker Scouts, Stormtroopers and Grenth it’s clear he has no idea. It’s his first time off Hosnian Prime, and as the shuttle flies on we learn of his own family history as his father was forced to relinquish control of their family tech business and directly serve the Empire. We see the shuttle land on Endor, the Imperial troopers less than polite as he finds his small quarters and eats alone, his work frustrating as it’s clear he’s not being told everything and his work stalls.
His inability to interact with his colleagues is plain to see, and as he sits alone he concocts an idea on his to have all the ‘systems in the facility’ communicate with each other, and that sees two of his Imperial colleagues angrily discuss a miscommunication instigated by Grenth. Soon, Rilo is down on Endor where he encounters an Ewok, and trying to communicate he is soon knocked back and attacked, saved only by a Biker Scout who scares the Ewok off and chastises Grenth for being in such a risky location where there are dangerous indigenous lifeforms. Rilo claims he’s not stupid, he just didn’t know and soon he’s back with his droid assistant who wisely observes that the more he interracts with people the more trouble it causes him. He has an epiphany and decides to take the initiative by coding a program that doesn’t require a human to oversee automated tests and allowing him the time and chance to see some of the galaxy.
However, there’s a twist. As he persuades his droid assistant E-7Y to give him access he sees a holoprojection of the project at hand as an image of the completed second Death Star hovers in the room. He breaks out into a sweat, asking the droid to turn if off and forget he ever enquire and we watch as he rests and packs, contacting his parents to tell them that while he will miss his colleagues and the project itself, he’s glad to be heading home. Just as he is about to leave Endor he is stopped and called back in for interrogation, and he explains why he is there, to test the ‘systems interconnectivity protocols‘. He’s clearly flustered, believing this to be a test and he waits silently as the Imperial goes through his activities since arriving. Read as a list – leaving the base without permission, meeting the locals, slicing into Imperial files and asking the droid to lie about it – it doesn’t look good, and realising he’s not going home we next see him in the familiar white and oragne jumpsuit of a Narkina-5 prisoner, sharing his cell with a Devaronian and explaining why he is in there, for being too good at his job.
A fun, albeit light entry in the Return of the Jedi 40th anniversary, and one that doesn’t go down the dark path one might have expected. Whether it’s pure incompetence, naievety or bad luck it’s not entirely sure, but there’s a definite sense of relief that Rilo makes it to the foot of the final page, as it seemed fairly certain he wouldn’t be getting out alive (although a prison like Narkina-5 would have to rank alongside a millennia inside the sarlacc as a bad place in the galaxy to be). Grenth being one of the many contractors on the Death Star as it was destroyed may well have been the expected destination for the tale, but Jody Houser dodges that, giving us a look at a very different character who is wonderfully drawn by Jethro Morales and one who we’ll hopefully see sometime again in the future.
Whatever happens, he seems to be far away from Endor when Lando and Wedge destroy the Death Star, so maybe he’ll make a return, but as for Empire, it’s another winner in this enjoyable 40th anniversary celebration of Episode VI.
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Houser, Jody (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 34 Pages - 06/07/2023 (Publication Date) - Marvel (Publisher)
