STAND FOR INSPECTION Before becoming a Jedi, this Empire's Soldier makes the transition from video game to novel

Review by Scott Ryfun

Star Wars: Dark Forces - Soldier for the Empire
by William C. Dietz & Dean Williams
published by Dark Horse Comics and Boulevard Putnam

        A source of fierce debate among Star Wars fans over the years has been the issue of whether the many Star Wars computer games released by LucasArts over the past several years are a part of the official Star Wars “canon.”

     Well, Dark Horse Comics and Boulevard have just tossed some very interesting fuel onto that fire with the release of Star Wars: Dark Forces—Soldier for the Empire.  It’s not a novel in the traditional sense, but it’s not a comic-style graphic novel either.  Dark Horse prefers the term “graphic story album:” a hardcover novella that is illustrated throughout and published on a very glossy, heavy paper stock. The result is an extremely handsome volume.

       Solider for the Empire is the first of a trilogy of graphic story albums based on the innovative PC games Star Wars: Dark Forces and its sequel Star Wars: Jedi Knight — Dark Forces II.  Because this is the first time the actual characters, events, and storyline from a Star Wars PC game have been portrayed in Lucasfilm-sanctioned literature (no, the X-wing books don’t count), the canon issue presents itself interestingly enough, and the results are mixed.

     The story is written by noted SF author William C. Dietz, and chronicles the adventures of Kyle Katarn, an idealistic young Imperial officer fresh out of the Academy.  During his graduation, Kyle is awarded a medal of valor for actions taken during his “Omega Exercise,” wherein the senior cadet leads an actual stormtrooper squad into a real combat attack on a Rebel communications asteroid. After a hard fought skirmish, Kyle decides to spare the lives of several Rebel prisoners so his stormtrooper contingent will have enough ammunition to defeat the Rebel reinforcements that inevitably arrive. However, Kyle doesn’t truly spare the prisoners in order to save ammunition. He does it because he doesn’t want to preside over anyone’s merciless murder, and because he shares a sort of epiphany with one of the prisoners — a young woman — during a thoughtless moment of eye contact.

        Shortly after his graduation ceremony, Kyle learns that his father, Morgan Katarn, has apparently been killed by elements of the Rebellion, and he boards a passenger ship to begin the sorrowful trip home. While on board, he spots the female Rebel whose life he spared during his “Omega Mission” and confronts her.  The young lady, (who fans of the Dark Forces game will have already identified!), shows Kyle proof that, not only was his father secretly a Rebel leader, but his murder was carried out by stormtroopers disguised as Rebels. At this point Kyle decides he’s been fighting on the wrong side and, after being chased by an Imperial Governor and a clever Rodian bounty hunter (that rarest of all beings!), and offers to join the Alliance.

        Once in the company of fellow Rebels, Kyle is given a mission:  steal the plans to the Empire’s newest weapon — the top-secret Death Star — from an Imperial research facility on the planet Danuta. From here, the last ten pages or so read like the first level of the Dark Forces game, with Kyle storming through the Imperial base, blasting everything in sight, and occasionally picking up spare ammunition from dead Imperials.

        The characters in Soldier for the Empire are the strength of Dietz’s narrative.  Cameos by Lando Calrissian, Mon Mothma, and a Captain Thrawn are right on the money, and the new villain, a blind Dark Jedi named Jerec (who is featured in the Jedi Knight game), is incredibly fascinating, though we see too little of him.  Dietz also does an admirable job of breathing life into the game’s protagonist Kyle Katarn.  The only problem is that the author has gone into so much trouble to create a backstory for these interesting characters and situations that Soldier does little more than become that backstory, serving little other purpose than to tell the reader what made Kyle who he is today.  In Kyle’s case, it’s not quite interesting enough to consume the contents of an entire book.

        Still, Dietz is a good writer, and the next two volumes, Rebel Agent and Jedi Knight, promise to be much better.

        What makes Soldier so very worthwhile, however, is the fabulous artwork of Dean Williams.  Each of Williams’ 25 paintings is given an entire page.  To give them any less space would be a crime.  Ranging from tight shots so thoughtfully rendered you can almost hear the characters’ interior monologues just looking at them, to vast panoramas filled with action, Williams’ breathtaking interpretation of the tale is enough to make this book a must-have for any Star Wars devotee.  The style is sort of Bill Sienkiewicz-meets-Dave Dorman with Williams displaying a storytelling ability few of today’s artists can match.

        Audiophiles need not fret either, for just as this is no ordinary Star Wars hardcover, neither is the audio adaptation merely some actor reading an abridgement of the book into a tape machine while he’s in between gigs on Broadway.  In order to properly translate the very visual Soldier into the audio medium, Dark Horse has enlisted HighBridge Audio and none other than Tom Voegeli (producer of all three Star Wars radio dramas) to assemble a full-cast audio drama based on the book.  (Unfortunately, director John Madden is not along for the ride.)  Also adding to the familiarity of the adaptation is veteran Star Wars radio drama narrator Ken Hiller.

        The adaptation is scripted by John Whitman, known and loved by many Star Wars fans as the man who oversaw and wrote the audio dramatizations of Dark Horse’s Dark Empire Trilogy and the Tales of the Jedi series.  (In a strange twist of fate, Whitman’s alternately known and loathed by some as the author of the Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear young adult series.)  Despite this possible shortcoming, in many ways Whitman’s script is superior to Dietz’s prose.  Gone are many of Dietz’s earthbound references of “beer,” “e-mail,” and characters having “to pee”; instead, more scenes are added that deal with Kyle’s hidden, but slowly-emerging Jedi abilities.  The production quality is such that the tapes could easily be considered lost episodes of Star Wars: The Radio Drama.  They haven't yet been released on CD, but my fingers are crossed.

        One caveat regarding the audios:  don’t expect them to live up to their package’s billing.  The box proudly proclaims that that it contains “three hours on two audiocassettes.”  This is just not true.  The total running time of the program is one hour, fifty-three minutes, twenty-eight seconds.  Maybe this is nit-picking, but that’s a pretty far cry from three hours.  Soldier is still well worth the price, though.

        All in all, Star Wars: Dark Forces — Soldier for the Empire could have been much better, but it seems as though it is just a building block to another, better book or two).  There are plenty of questions left unanswered.  What is going to become of Kyle’s growing acquaintance with the Force, and what role will the Dark Jedi Jerec play in this?  Also, Kyle only secured half the Death Star plans on Danuta.  What of the other half?  [Ed. Note: The other half was stolen during “Operation Skyhook,” as chronicled in the Star Wars radio drama.]  And will Star Wars fans accept the storyline of a video game as canon?  One thing is certain:  with all of the expository material out of the way, William Dietz is free to get on with the business of telling one heck of an adventure story!

ECHO STATION Grade: B

 
(Contributor Scott Ryfun previously gave us the lowdown on See-Threepio's Christmas Carolling ability, still on view in the ECHO STATION Compendium:Special Edition)