Star Wars: Empire #13

The cover tagline says it all — "A Stormtrooper's Dilemma!" and "Treason on the Death Star!" — and David Michael Beck's cover art delivers the tension in vivid style, depicting a white-armored stormtrooper looming over a fallen Imperial officer, blaster raised and glowing with a red-hot charge. It's a striking, morally charged image that sets up Jeremy Barlow and Patrick Blaine's story "What Sin Loyalty?" as something more psychologically complex than a typical Star Wars action tale. Dark Horse's Empire series consistently found compelling corners of the Imperial galaxy, and this 2003 issue looks to be no exception.