What Happened Between A New Hope And The Empire Strikes Back?

Now that Marvel has re-acquired the licensing rights to publish Star Wars comic books from Dark Horse Comics, the task begins on filling in the gaps that took place in between each of the movies.  There have been a number of comic books and novels that have been published over the years that have covered these time periods, but after Disney bought LucasFilm, all of these books became "legends," and were labeled not officially part of the Star Wars canon.   Some of these time periods have started to be known through Disney's Star Wars: Rebels, as well as the cartoon Star Wars: The Clone Wars.  Now, Marvel is publishing the story of what happened during the three years that took place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.  Here's what's been happening with each of the main characters from the Star Wars universe:

Han Solo

So how was it that Han Solo stuck around with the Rebels after the destruction of the Death Star?  It was pretty obvious that he had no interest in joining the fight, yet there he was on Hoth, running a scouting mission opposite Luke at the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back.  So what changed?  We've seen in the comics that Han was recruited to help a strike team attack and destroy The Empire's Weapons Factory Alpha on Cymoon 1.  The attack was a success, but it put Han on the Empire's radar, and landed him on their "Most Wanted" list.  With both the Empire and Jabba the Hutt gunning for him, his smuggling days were pretty much over, so in order to stay alive, he continued to stay with the Rebels.  It did come with a price, though. During his stay with the Rebels, his ship, the Millennium Falcon, was torn apart by scavengers.  This is one of the reasons that he and Chewie were working on the Falcon while stationed on Hoth.  It also allowed him to become closer to...

Princess Leia

Leia now has her own comic book from Marvel, and hers is more of a side story than a "fill in the gaps" story.  We actually get to see her being the Rebel leader that they say she is in the movies.  Her story picks up right after the final scene of A New Hope. 

Alderaan is considered to be one of the birthplaces of the Rebel Alliance.  So why after its destruction are they have a celebration ceremony after the destruction of the Death Star?  An Alderaan-born soldier asks her just that, and during their conversation, Leia tasks him with the mission to find other Alderannians, and to try to find a way to preserve their history and their people.

Leia and Han's relationship begins to grow through this series as well, and also follows them in their task to find a new base, which leads them to Hoth.  Which leads us to...

Luke Skywalker

At the end of A New Hope Luke can barely use the Force, and with Obi-Wan gone, how does he get to the point where he can summon his lightsaber while being held captive in the Wampa's lair? 

Luke is set to get his own series later this year, called Heir to the Jedi.  In it, Luke realizes early on that his anger and frustration is leading him away from the Force, and closer to the Dark Side.  He starts to trust in his own instincts more, and learns to rely less on other people.  He will meet Darth Vader face-to-face for the first time, and also have a fight with Boba Fett, so keep a close look out for this series.  And since I brought him up, let's talk about...

Darth Vader

Not only did Darth Vader let the destruction of the Death Star take place, but he was also placed in charge of Weapons Factory Alpha, which as I mentioned earlier, the Rebels destroyed.  During this battle, Vader comes into contact with the X-Wing pilot that destroyed the Death Star.  During their encounter, he realizes that Luke is wielding his old lightsaber, the one from when he was Anakin Skywalker, and starts to "feel" the connection that he has with Luke.  He also notices that Obi-Wan has disappeared into the force, and ends up confronting his old master through meditation.  All of this causes him to become more powerful with the Dark Side of the Force.

He doesn't come out of the two defeats completely unscathed, though.  After the destruction of Weapons Factory Alpha, the Emperor demotes Vader and places him under the command of Grad General Tagge.  This causes Vader to weigh his options, and he decides to find the young Skywalker, train him in the ways of the Dark Side, and then overthrow the Emperor and rule the galaxy with Luke by his side.

In the comics, Vader also makes a visit to Tatooine where he has a meeting with Jabba the Hutt.  This meeting allows Vader access to Jabba's bounty hunters, which he plans to use as his own separate resource away from the Empire, if the need ever arises.  One of the bounty hunters that Jabba gives him access to is...

Boba Fett

Boba Fett is "loaned" to Vader, along with a Wookie bounty hunter named Black Krrsantan, for a secret mission...finding Luke Skywalker.  This leads to Boba Fett being charged with capturing Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back, in order to lure Luke to the cloud city of Bespin.  During his mission, Boba Fett does come face-to-face with the young Jedi-to-be while Luke is out trying to find more clues about who the Jedi were and how to become one.

I hope this wan't too long for everyone, but the upcoming stories sound too good to pass up and I wanted to share them with everybody.  Hope you enjoyed todays post!  If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them in the comments section below!