Dark Empire 1: The Destiny of a Jedi

Dark Empire 1: The Destiny of a Jedi written by Tom Veitch and artwork by Cam Kennedy, is the first issue in the Star Wars: Dark Empire comic series and part of of the larger Dark Empire Trilogy. Originally published December 12, 1991 by Dark Horse Comics, and later published by Marvel Comics.

Publisher's Summary
''Six years after Return of the Jedi, the Rebel Alliance has established a New Republic over three-fourths of the galaxy. The surviving Imperial Forces are torn by civil war and harassed by rebel attacks. One of these raids ends in disaster: Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian are shot down over the former Imperial City. When news reaches Han Solo and Leia Organa, they rush to the rescue, along with Wookiee Chewbacca and droid C-3PO, of course!''

Plot Summary
The Issue starts out with Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo, Chewbacca, and C-3PO in the Millennium Falcon about to exit hyperspace with Leia informing Han to expect extreme turbulence during reentry, with Han suspecting it to be battle debris and C-3PO calculating the odds of a collision with it before being shut up my Chewbacca. Exiting Hyperspace above Coruscant with an escort of two Nebulon-B Escort Frigates Antares Six and Rebel Star in an attempt to rescue Luke Skywalker, Lando Calrissian, Wedge Antilles and other New Republic personnel. As the Rebel Star came out of hyperspace and crashed into the debris of a Star Destroyer orbiting the planet. Han is already having reservations about the rescue mission and still believes that Luke and Lando can handle themselves as he voices his concerns out loud as Leia and Chewbacca fire back at him causing him to relent and apologize. Han orders the Antares Six to hold a docking Orbit as the Falcon follows a group of I-7 Howlrunners down to the surface of the world and towards Imperial City.

In Imperial City a battle rages between Imperial Coalition Forces fighting amongst themselves and the New Republic survivors. The Falcon soon approaches Luke's last known coordinates and encounters the wreck of the Liberator with an AT-AT pinning them down as Han and Leia mount the Falcon's quad laser canons and with Leia's connection to the Force manages to destroy the imperial walker. The group soon lands and greets the survivors C-3PO talks to R2-D2 as Lando talks to Han and Leia expressing his frustration on what took them so long as they were holed up for days, Leia questions Lando on Luke's whereabouts. Lando explains that Luke took off right after they crashed and that Luke felt the Dark Side was very powerful still in the Imperial City, Lando grows concerned about the scavengers on the battlefield and other Imperial renegades.

As Lando explains the situation with the scavengers a group of them makes their move against the group rolling up in an armored wheeled vehicle and cutting them off from the Millennium Falcon. A group of repurposed War Droids and scavengers begin blasting at the group as the scavengers begin to tear apart the Falcon. Han charges at them as they release a pack of Neks, Leia seeing Han in danger holsters her blaster and starts to use the Force to confuse the creatures, only to be interrupted by the Neks being tossed and the War Droids falling apart all guided by Luke Skywalker emerging from the shadows of a ruined building as he does so does an AT-AT.

Luke Skywalker stands down the AT-AT with it firing its blaster cannons down at Luke only to have them deflected back into the head of the giant vehicle and while the vehicle is stunned he uses the Force to pull the walker down. Leia embraces and notices something is wrong with Luke explaining that he has found strange clue within the old Imperial Palace and warns her that she along with the rest should leave at once as he feels a Disturbance in the Force. Han and Leia objects wanting to stay at his side only to have Luke argue with them. Meanwhile the crew of the Antares Six observes a Hyperspace Wormhole form and a Storm coming out from it heading toward the surface. Luke still arguing with Leia as she wants to confront this with him only for Luke to tell her it's his destiny not hers and to protect her children. Han pulls her away as the Energy Storm approaches Luke.

Embracing his destiny Luke waits for the storm to take him as R2-D2 approaches Luke not wanting to leave his side as the rest board the Falcon and leave Coruscant as Luke and R2 are pulled in by the Storm. Back on the Millennium Falcon Han comforts Leia that Luke knows what he's doing with Leia having her doubts about the situation as they jump to lightspeed back to Pinnacle Base with Antares Six.

Continuity
C-3PO calculates the odds of hitting the Battle Debris at 3,722 to 1 which is a reference to a similar quote he made in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back which is 3,720 to 1.

The Imperial-I class Star Destroyer Liberator previous name before falling into the hands of the Rebel Alliance was named the Adjudicator which made it's first appearance in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi as the one of the Star Destroyer's seen in the opening scene of the film.

The comic uses the name Imperial Planet instead of Coruscant which was a name given to it in Timothy Zahn's novel Heir to the Empire that came out seven months prior the comic's release.

Jacen and Jaina Solo are first indirectly mentioned in this comic, however Leia is pregnant with them in Heir to the Empire but wouldn't be born until The Last Command over two years after this comics release, establishing that this comic would be set after The Thrawn Trilogy.

Within the comic Luke recounts the words of Master Yoda "Size matters not, the only difference is in your mind." which Yoda quoted in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back and shows Luke's mastery over the Force since then as he brings down an AT-AT using the Force verses barely lifting his X-Wing out of the Dagobah swamp.

Collections

 * Star Wars: Dark Empire (1993); Dark Horse Comics
 * Star Wars: Dark Empire 3rd Edition (2003); Dark Horse Comics
 * Star Wars: Luke Skywalker, Last Hope for the Galaxy (2008); Dark Horse Comics
 * Star Wars: Dark Empire Trilogy (2010); Dark Horse Comics
 * Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The New Republic Volume 5 (2021); Marvel Comics

Behind the Scenes
The comic was teased all the way back in Marvel Age Preview 1 in June 1990 with Marvel Comics as the publisher, however the license switched to Dark Horse Comics where they published the series. This comic was the first C-canon Expanded Universe comic published. The cover art for comic has two different Leia images and one without, the first one has Leia in a pink shirt and long hair is on the first three covers and was replaced on the Dark Horse Classics edition with her appearance in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back and the latest digital comic leaves her off entirely.