Oh boy, here we go again.I couldn’t help myself. Really. I’m not sure why the spirit moved me, I just had to reread Shadows of the Empire.And just as before, I just got more of the same shit. Right off the bat, I was continually surprised by just how goddamn redundant Shadows of the Empire really is. Unless you’re into chugging George Lucas’ commercial piss on tap, the essential unimportance of this interquel is just so jarringly irritating. At its very best, its just going through the motions, at worst… F(x) = $$$. We know the drill.Semi-well adapted from the book (which is o.k. on its own) are the illustrations of Xixor’s first meeting with the Emperor and the far more enjoyable depictions of Boba Fett’s initial scuffle with IG-88 over Tatooine. This tasteful application is sadly nothing more than a Pyrhric victory that provides an ample segue toward further lame-o plot development.A hop, skip, and an interstellar jump at the speed of light away, Dash Rendar is introduced just to *poof away a mere page later. Paid to guide, “not to do dirty work,” the remaining team of gallant heroes including the original crews sans the carbonited Solo are left to their own devices to track down their frozen friend.However, with anything exceeding a scintilla of knowledge of Jedi, any tension that could exist is evaporated before it could ever happen. Of course, Fett absconds away because of laid in stone conclusions pursuant to the next movie. Giving way to more predictable developments, the steps to Tatooine are retraced and Vader’s (recently) introduced mechanic – Jix, moves forward with his own plan to infiltrate Jabba’s cadre of careless curs and cads.Just as nonsensical as most of this comic is, Dash Rendar, our otherwise soley motivated by profit mercenary, perks up out of nowhere to save Luke from the recently formed band of swoop bikers right outside of Mos Eisley. With a vacillating sense of motive and means, the golden boy of Star Wars is rescued just in time for the stolen Death Star plans via the Bothans to all too conveniently land at his feet (literally). Again, while none of this is in any way exciting, by adding a thematic underlay to the rest of the story, the battles of the bounty hunters can riff off and occur, which is far more interesting overall, no matter how ultimately futile.Anyways, more shit goes down that explains various upcoming happenstances in Jedi, no matter how unnecessary. And while it is cool to see Xixor (in some ways at least) far more detailed in the comics as a feisty court intriguer playing both sides to his benefit, his lack of direct action and expositions of his true goals (that the novel does a far better job of) leaves his character weak and malformed. Equally maladapted and even more mal-developed is Dash Rendar who curiously leaves once more after saving Luke’s dumb-ass. The story becomes dragged down by these developmental issues as the conclusion is revved up faster than a swoop bike race from here on out Ultimately, things are wrapped up as we would expect. Sure, the ride has been purely commercial (as it always has been) in nature (admit it!). But what else could we expect? However, as a money-grubbing experiment to test the waters for the (then) potentially new trilogy, Lucas was far more successful than he could have possibly imagined.