Pencils: Cam Kennedy
Inks: Cam Kennedy
Colors: Cam Kennedy
Letters: Todd Klein
Cover Artist: Tsuneo Sanda, Dave Dorman

In this sequel to Dark Empire, Imperial forces are struggling for control in the void left by the Emperor on his apparent death. Some followers remain faithful to an extent, while others seek to remove any chance for the Emperor to return. Luke Skywalker, meanwhile, has found another Jedi: Kam Solusar. Things are looking up for the New Republic, they've just acquired a new war droid and the chance to invade the Imperial planet of Byss. Unfortunately for them, the Emperor is back again, and he has a new toy. Luke and Kam travel to Ossus with the intent of reclaiming lost Jedi knowledge, and while they find what they are looking for, they find something more important yet, a race of force sensitive people. The Emperor fires his new "Galaxy Gun", destroying Pinnacle Base, and Luke nearly meets an untimely end, but in the end Luke has a vision where he sees Leia's children upholding peace in a galaxy free of the Emperor.

As a standalone story, Dark Empire II is well written. We are given many examples of the struggle between good and evil, amazing discoveries, and even a little romance. But taken as a follow-up to the original Dark Empire, it just doesn't stand up as one of the best stories. I felt it let down the original a bit, but when coupled with it's own follow-up, Empire's End it feels like a very satisfying conclusion to the Dark Empire series.