The comic book world has been awash with new Star Wars comic books the past year. While the majority of these books take place in the years between Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, one four-issue series took place starting at the end of Return of the Jedi. That book bore the title of Shattered Empire with the curious slugline of Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
While the first three issues seemingly just tell a bit more of the story after Return of the Jedi with cameos from literally every Star Wars character you love, the fourth issue drops a doozy of a clue as to what might happen in Episode VII next month (okay, I still get chills thinking that it’s NEXT MONTH). This isn’t really a spoiler because we can’t confirm anything and it takes place far before the movie, but this is your warning if you don’t want to read on. If you want a hint at something very cool in the movie about Poe Dameron then read on.
Shattered Empire follows Shara Bey, a pilot in the resistance who is worried about her husband (also in the resistance) and her newborn son and how they will make a life after the war. She’s present at the battle of Endor and has a close encounter with Luke Skywalker (she almost shoots down the Y-Wing he flew out of the Death Star at the end of Jedi and issue 1 of this series), as she recounts in issue 4:
As Luke points out, Shara has a number of adventures in the wake of Endor that ultimately lead to two points:
1. The war isn’t over and may never be over. So she can’t just leave when they’ve won–she’ll have to leave the war to build a life. And
2. The series of adventures led her to Luke Skywalker and a covert mission he needs a female pilot to assist him on.
No surprise, Shara becomes that pilot in the fourth issue and they bluff their way into a secret Imperial base to recover something very valuable to Luke. Once inside their bluff is called but the base commander wants to know why they risked everything for…some trees?
Luke decides to good guy monologue the Imperial officer and tell him why they matter.
Trees from a Jedi temple? Is Luke going to become a landscaper with all his free time?
Oh…of course. They’re Force Trees. I mean, that makes perfect sense. Because Jedis.
The majority of issue 4 follows Luke and Shara as they escape from the base and it has some fantastic action sequences (really, pick it up) but no surprise here that they both escape with the two trees. And Luke starts talking with Shara about how she’s probably going to be leaving the war and settling down. She thinks it’s small talk but it’s more than that.
That’s right, Luke is going to take one tree to grow some Force Apples or maybe make a sweet Force Tire Swing, but in the meantime he’d like Shara to take the other tree with her. So that way…there is…another. Yeah, I just Yoda-rolled you. But Shara takes the tree and plants it in her new homestead.
Aw, isn’t that sweet? That’s how the series ends, with her and her husband starting a new life free from war and with a Force Tree growing in their backyard.
Wait, I did say this was a clue about Poe Dameron, right? And so far we’ve only talked about Shara. But that’s because of who Shara is, which is revealed in a single panel of issue 2:
Shara is married to Kes Dameron. Her son is Poe Dameron. And Shattered Empire just told us that Poe Dameron grew up with a Force Tree in his backyard! We’ve been so focused on Rey and Finn and Kylo Ren that we forgot a major up and coming (if not already established) movie star in Oscar Isaac was cast as Poe Dameron. Why cast an actual name for just the role of a pilot?
It seems like Poe Dameron may have some surprises in store for us come NEXT MONTH (oh, there go the chills again).
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