Star Wars: Dark Times, a comic book series, was brought to readers by Dark Horse Comics. Its debut issue was originally slated to hit shelves in October of 2006. Echoing the structure of Star Wars: Rebellion, it served as a direct follow-up to the earlier series, Star Wars: Republic, inheriting its internal numbering system. Like Rebellion, it adopted a miniseries format, alternating story arcs with both Rebellion and, later, the Star Wars: Invasion comic series.
The narrative commences shortly after the events of Star Wars: Purge and runs parallel to the storyline of Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader. Publication was temporarily halted in July of 2008 for an eight-month duration, prioritizing the Clone Wars monthly comic. It then resumed in April of 2009. Another break occurred in June of 2010, with the series returning once more in August of 2011.
In 2006, Dark Horse revamped its entire Star Wars comic lineup, concluding the runs of its popular Republic, Empire, and Star Wars Tales series. These were replaced by Knights of the Old Republic, Rebellion, and Legacy. Initially, these three titles appeared to be the sole offerings of the new line. However, in July, Randy Stradley took to the Dark Horse message boards to announce a new addition. Dark Times was designed to alternate five-issue story arcs with Rebellion. Its inaugural arc was set to debut in the fall, following the conclusion of Rebellion's first arc, My Brother, My Enemy.
Republic had garnered considerable popularity and acclaim throughout its 83-issue run, and its narrative thread would persist within the pages of Dark Times, mirroring how Empire's story continued in Rebellion. Dark Times is officially considered a continuation of Republic, as evidenced by the continuation of the numbering from the previous series within the comic's pages. To illustrate, the inside cover of Dark Times #1 also displays the numbering Republic #84. Furthermore, the initial arc of Dark Times picked up the story of Dass Jennir and Bomo Greenbark, last seen in the pages of Republic.
The initial story arc, The Path To Nowhere, was originally slated for an October 2006 release, but a delay pushed the debut issue to November 8th. Interestingly, the first issue actually preceded the final issue of the first Rebellion arc, a consequence of a four-month delay that resulted in Issue 5 of My Brother, My Enemy (originally planned for August) being released in December. This marked the beginning of numerous delays that would disrupt the Dark Times/Rebellion publishing schedule significantly. Issue 2 of The Path to Nowhere was released in January of 2007, followed by the next three issues in May, July, and October, respectively. The fifth issue of the arc was released a considerable eleven months after the first.
Many fans posited that the extensive delays stemmed from the time-intensive process required for penciller Doug Wheatley to create his photorealistic and highly praised artwork. Following the release of Issue 3, Wheatley addressed the speculation on the Jedi Council Forums, stating that he held no resentment towards those commenting and accepted full responsibility for the delays. He asserted that he had made significant progress in addressing the issue and that the book was back on track, expressing gratitude to those who remained patient. He also admitted that the severity of the delays "scared the hell out of him" and vowed to prevent similar occurrences in future story arcs.
The second story arc of Rebellion, The Ahakista Gambit, debuted in May 2007 and completed its entire five-issue run before The Path To Nowhere concluded. The second arc of Dark Times, Parallels, was initially scheduled to premiere in August, but the delays experienced by The Path To Nowhere resulted in its first issue being released in October, just two weeks after the release of Issue 5.
After the release of Issue 5, Randy Stradley made the following statement on the Dark Horse Message Boards:
Because the events of The Path To Nowhere aligned with the events of the novel Dark Lord, Issue #5 featured a scene directly taken from the book. James Luceno received credit on the issue's inside cover.
Parallels experienced relatively few delays during its five-issue run from October 2007 to April 2008. Mick Harrison continued as the writer, with Zach Howard designing the covers, and Dave Ross taking over the penciling duties from Doug Wheatley. Issue #8 saw the penciling duties shared between Ross and Lui Antonio, leading to a noticeable inconsistency in the art style. Fans expressed disappointment with this inconsistency, although it is possible that Antonio was brought in to ensure the issue's timely release. The issue was divided between two locations, with Ross seemingly penciling K'Kruhk's adventures on an unknown planet, while Antonio handled the story of the Uhumele's crew on Circarpous V.
Doug Wheatley returned to pencil Issues 11 and 12, which comprised parts 5 and 6 of the Vector mega-arc, a crossover event that spanned all four current Dark Horse titles throughout 2008. Mick Harrison wrote the script, with John Jackson Miller and John Ostrander contributing to the story's plotting. The events of Vector were intended to have a significant impact on the storylines of all four series.
However, Issue 12 again saw penciling duties split between Wheatley and Dave Ross, with Ross penciling the first ten pages and Wheatley the remaining twelve.
In April 2008, it was announced that both Dark Times and Rebellion would be placed on hiatus to accommodate Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Slaves of the Republic. Randy Stradley shared the following insight on the matter:
He also mentioned that work on both series was ongoing and that they were expected to resume once the excitement surrounding Clone Wars subsided. However, only Dark Times returned to publication, as the Rebellion line was discontinued and replaced by the new Star Wars: Invasion series.
In the "Letters" section of the final issue of Blue Harvest, published in June 2010, it was revealed that the series would not continue until 2011.
Star Wars Insider 124 revealed that the series would resume in August of 2011 with a five-part story arc titled Out of the Wilderness.
Star Wars: Dark Times—A Spark Remains marked the final Dark Times story arc, due to Dark Horse losing the Star Wars comic license following Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm.
Issue #6 begins two and a half days before the issuing of Order 66 and follows Master K'Kruhk until the order is given. The issue then jumps forward to the crew of the Uhumele on Pizkoss, two months later. Thus, Parallels occurs roughly one month after The Path To Nowhere begins. Similarly, Issue #7 indicates that two months have passed since the end of the Clone Wars.
Issue #13 begins four months after the Declaration of a New Order.
The prelude to the first issue indicates that it is four months since Palpatine declared himself Emperor. The story then shifts back to the Uhumele, two days later, before flashing back two weeks earlier to Jennir's exploits.
Up to this point, it appeared that a month had passed between each arc, with each arc beginning an additional month after Order 66, although Out of the Wilderness seems to run concurrently with Blue Harvest. However, in the case of the crew of the Uhumele, approximately one month and an additional three weeks pass between Parallels and Vector, with only nine days passing before Out of the Wilderness.
The sixth arc, Fire Carrier, takes place sometime after Out of the Wilderness. Issue 23 also references the events of the Gentis coup and featured the reconstruction of the Imperial Palace, indicating that it took place shortly after the events of the comic series Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison. The same issue also indirectly referenced the events of Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Lost Command and the first three issues of Blue Harvest. Issues 24 and 25 also indicate that it occurred sometime after the events of _Parallel_s, referencing the skirmish on an unidentified jungle moon.
Issue #28 begins with an ambush of Darth Vader on the planet Kestavel, and then cuts back to several weeks earlier. It also inferred that the events of the main period of time of the story arc occurred at least some period of time after the events of Star Wars: Vector. Issue 4 also referenced the events of Parallels, Out of the Wilderness, The Path to Nowhere, and Blue Harvest.
- Star Wars: The Complete Vader
- " Blaster " — Star Wars Insider 160
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NEW SERIES ANNOUNCEMENT: Dark Times! on Dark Horse Message Boards. Posted by Randy Stradley on July 7, 2006, 09:06 (content now obsolete; backup link)
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The Dark Times Are Upon Us! Dark Horse Announces the Untold Chapter of the Star Wars Story! 7/7/06 on Dark Horse Comics' official website (backup link)
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