Review: Star Wars: Agent of the Empire Volume 1 – Iron Eclipse / Writer: John Ostrander / Artist: Stephane Crety / Publisher: Dark Horse / Release Date: October 26th

Set in that sweet spot between Revenge of The Sith and Star Wars: A New Hope, Dark Horse’s latest offering in its long line of Star Wars spin-offs is Agent of the Empire – Iron Eclipse, a tale that is clearly inspired by the adventures of James Bond and Jason Bourne.  It’s an unusual fusion of styles; super spies and space operas, and it’s as cheesy as it sounds.

Imperial Agent Jahan Cross is the titular Agent of the Empire, and he’s everything you’d expect from a Star Wars version of James Bond; smooth talking, highly competent in a fight and deadly with the ladies. He’s even got a grumpy boss and a deeply unimpressed mad inventor who provides him with missions and toys. The plot of this little adventure is also straight out of a Bond movie; we have a private individual with their eyes on galactic domination and it’s up to Jahan to get to the bottom of it and save the Empire, though not before causing huge amounts of property damage and blowing lots of things up. Of course, Jahan trumps bond in terms of devastation, but only because Bond doesn’t have as much access to spaceships and robots as Jahan does.

Because this is a Star Wars tie-in, Chewbacca and Han Solo turn up for a cameo. This is a little uncalled for as they’re only there to remind the reader of what galaxy the whole thing is set in, and that is quite clear from the start. Despite being inspired by Bond, the size and scale of the tale is very much Star Wars from start to finish.

Agent of the Empire – Iron Eclipse adds nothing to the Star Wars universe; we get no insight into the inner workings of a galactic secret service or any further revelations on the nature of the life in the Empire; what we do get is a cracking action adventure romp which will have you humming the Bond theme all the way through.