Star Wars: Shattered Empire #2

No fandom has ever had it as good as Star Wars fans have it today.  Think about it; we get a steady supply of new stories and they matter to the overall Star Wars narrative.  These stories matter when we watch the latest movies or television series, play the newest video games, or read the newest novels and comic books.  Star Wars characters and concepts are used across the different media and each story contributes to a single canon.

Contrast how the Star Wars brand handles this to the Marvel brand.  Marvel has a wildly successful cinema universe, but the stories in the comics do not matter to the movies.  Sure, the creators of Marvel movies stitch together characters and concepts from the comics for their stories, but there is no canon that ties both together and the movie creators are free to mold what they borrow into whatever they want.  Marvel will change the character in the comics to more approximate the character in the movies.  For example, an African-American Nick Fury Jr. was invented to replace the Caucasian Nick Fury as head of SHIELD so the comic character resembled the Nick Fury in the movies played by Samuel Jackson.  Another example is Tony Stark's personality change in the comics to match Robert Downey Jr.'s wisecracking portrayal in the movies.  (This is a personality change that many Marvel character's undergo when they make the leap from their four-colored world to the big screen which is a huge part of the successful Marvel cinema formula.  Anyone who is familiar with the Marvel cinema and comic universes can immediately tell that the traditionally stoic Thor in the comic had little in common with the more jocular Thor in the movie except his costume, hammer, some of his associates, and the fact he calls Asgard home.)  Despite altering the characters in the comics to resemble the characters in the movie, Marvel's comics and movies do not tell one story and neither is important to the other.

This difference is huge to me as a Star Wars comic fan.  Emperor Palpatine's Operation: Cinder first shown in the 4-issue Star Wars: Shattered Empire mini-series and expanded on in the video game Star Wars Battlefront II and the novel Aftermath: Empire's End will provide a backdrop for events that occur in the upcoming The Rise of Skywalker movie.  We've all heard Palpatine's cackling in the teaser trailer which hints at a return of the main villain of the Skywalker saga and Shattered Empire lays the groundwork for that potential return.

Star Wars: Shattered Empire #2a - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 2015)

Shattered Empire was released as part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens branding used for books and comics that tied into the first sequel movie.  It deals with the aftermath of the Battle of Endor that ended the reign of Palpatine and Darth Vader and famously introduces Poe Dameron's parents, Shara Bey and Kes Dameron.  The four issues follow Bey, a rebel pilot who fought at the Battle of Endor, as she participates in mop-up operations but it is the opening pages of the second issue that introduce Operation: Cinder.  Captain Duvat, aboard the Star Destroyer Torment in the Outer Rim, orders the bridge cleared after Lieutenant Gulin tells him the messenger has arrived.  The bridge clears as the red robed messenger approaches the Captain.  Upon verifying the Captain's identity the messenger's blank black face screen displays Palpatine's and exclaims:

Captain Duvat.  You, and a handful of others unknown to you, have been selected for a particular honor.

Resistance.  Rebellion.  Defiance.  These are concepts that cannot be allowed to persist, Captain.  You are but one of many tools by which these ideas shall be burned away.

Operation: Cinder is to begin at once.  Heed my messenger.  He shall relay to you your target.

The messenger swiftly exists the bridge and the crew return to their stations.  Captain Duvat tells Lieutenant Gulin: "The message was from the Emperor himself, Lieutenant."  The issue ends a few days later with the Star Destroyer Torment releasing climate disrupting satellites over the planet Naboo as Captain Duvot tells Lieutenant Gulin his orders are to scour the planet.

Star Wars: Shattered Empire #2b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 2015)

Star Wars: Shattered Empire #2c - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 2015)

Star Wars: Shattered Empire #2d - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 2015)
Disposable Heroes exclusive

As explained in media beyond the comics, Operation: Cinder is enacted not to benefit the Empire, but to deny the Rebellion knowledge that Palpatine possessed and to hasten the downfall of an imperfect Empire that was unable to protect it's Emperor.  When you are in the theater this December, think about how cool it is knowing the seeds for what are transpiring on the screen were first revealed in a comic book tie-in for The Force Awakens published over four years earlier!