A while back, I attended the wedding of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade in the Dark Horse book Union. Now, I figured it was finally time to get to know the bride, so I picked up a copy of her title book, By the Emperor's Hand, in which we get to know her in her primary role as the Empire's chief assassin.

This takes place before she and Luke were dating. Actually, she'd tried to kill him once, at Emperor Palpatine's command, but hadn't succeeded (obviously). She meant to get back to that mission someday, but then the whole Endor/Death Star II thing happened and it became somewhat moot. (Oddly, Mara's vision of the Emperor's death shows him being attacked jointly by Skywalker and Darth Vader, both wielding lightsabers. This certainly doesn't agree with the movie version of his death; perhaps something happened in the novels I'm not aware of.)

Here, she's after the chief of Black Nebula, a galactic criminal syndicate. This was her last mission for Palpatine, and her sense of duty demands she complete it.

Mara is a cunning and versatile fighter -- she is not Force sensitive, but has mastered numerous Jedi techniques through the Emperor's training. A nice touch for readers (who likely know Mara best from the Star Wars line of novels, rather than comics) is the depth of her personality. She's not good, she's not evil, but she's very, very loyal.

Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole, both veteran Star Wars scribes, have written a densely packed and entertaining story about this beloved character. Carlos Ezquerra's art is bold and clear, a strong visual presentation of the tale. All in all, that makes By the Emperor's Hand a big win for fans and a good way to get to know Mrs. Skywalker from back in the day.