Pencils: Cam Kennedy
Inks: Cam Kennedy
Colors: Cam Kennedy
Letters: Todd Klein
Cover Artist: Mark Zug

Six years after the Battle of Endor, Luke Skywalker can sense darkness growing as the Imperials begin gathering towards the Deep Core. He allows himself to be taken to the source of the darkness where he learns that Emperor Palpatine still lives after his fall down the Death Star reactor shaft. Luke decides that in order to defeat the Dark Side, he needs to learn it's secrets from within. The Emperor's plan is more insidious than Luke is led to believe; he wants Leia's unborn child so that he can transfer his consciousness to the child when the child is old enough. The only thing that can stop him is the combined efforts of Luke, Leia, and Leia's unborn child.

This still stands as one of my favorite Star Wars stories of all time, for several reasons. First, the paragon of good from the movies, Luke Skywalker, falls to the Dark Side. Sure he has good intentions, but as the saying goes; "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." The second reason I like this story is because the Emperor becomes much more than an evil man, he's a force of nature, he's unstoppable. This was one of the first big Star Wars stories to come out after the original three movies were finished, and as such it holds a special place in my heart. In fact, my online identity is partially borrowed from this story.