Empire by Delany and Chaykin

'Empire' by Samuel R. Delany and Howard Chaykin

Berkley Windhover, 1978

 

'Empire' (112 pp.) was published by Berkley Windhover under the Byron Preiss Visual Publications imprint. This was one of the more high-profile entries in the Preiss catalog, designed to take advantage of the burst of popularity in sci-fi following the release of Star Wars in May 1977.

 

I first learned of this new 'visual novel' when 'Empire' was excerpted in the December, 1978 issue of Heavy Metal magazine. But I didn't pick up a copy of 'Empire' until some twenty years ago. 

 

One thing that immediately is apparent is that illustrator Howard Chaykin did a tremendous amount of work for this graphic novel, at a time when digital artwork and desktop publishing and drawing tablets still were some 15 years (or more) in the future. The pencils and coloring all had to be done by hand, on paper.

It's also apparent that the printing technology of the late 1970s was not up to the task when it came to the process color separations in 'Empire.'  Even when making allowances for the fact that the book is nearly 50 years old, the printing is disappointingly murky and underexposed. In too many panels, the text barely is legible......

Contrasting the graphic novel image obtained by my scanner (top) with that appearing in the excerpt in the November Heavy Metal, printed using spot color on 'slick' paper (bottom), clearly we see that the magazine treatment best represents the artwork.

 

 

As for Delany's writing, well, as a New Wave author heavily invested in figurative narratives and prose, perhaps he was not the ideal choice to pen a space opera aimed at the readership of Star Wars. But he does seem to understand that he is writing for the space opera audience.

 

Delany incorporates motifs from that film, such as the 'brash young man' counterpart for Luke Skywalker: in this case, archeology student 'Wryn.' Serving as a combination of Princess Leia and Obi-Wan Kenobi is the alluring and mysterious Qrelon. The role of Darth Vader is taken by a blonde-haired man named Loiptix. In place of the Millenium Falcon, we get Qrelon's versatile ship Proteus. And standing in for the Empire are the malevolent Kunduke.

 

The plot involves efforts to overthrow the tyranny of the Kunduke by Qrelon and her rebel alliance. A key to this mission is finding a set of six crystal fragments of rare design that, when assembled, form a sculpture with the potential to disrupt the AI that enables the Kunduke to control their far-flung empire.

I won't disclose any spoilers, save to say that Wryn finds himself accompanying a driven Qrelon in her travels throughout the galaxy, searching for the crystal fragments and hoping to acquire them before the pursuing Kunduke catch up. There is plenty of action and the storyline climaxes in a suitably apocalyptic confrontation between the forces of freedom, and those of tyranny.

Should you get a copy of 'Empire' ? Well, with copies in 'good' condition starting at $34 at amazon, and one speculator asking for $646 (!!), this is no small purchase. Unless you're  a hardcore Delany fan, I would counsel waiting to see if at some point in the future arrangements are made to reissue this graphic novel in an 'enhanced' version, one that benefits from modern techniques for improving the coloration and resolution of the artwork. Hopefully this overview will guide you in your decision-making.