It's graphic novel
The Wrong Side of the War collects issues 35-40 of the Empire series. The collection consists of only two stories:
1) Model Officer (Story: B-, Art: A-)
When several Imperial strikes on Rebel bases don't go as planned, Darth Vader senses- and finds- a traitor in the ranks, and uses the turncoat to unwittingly further the Imperial agenda.
2) The Wrong Side of the War (Story: B-, Art: A-)
Janek "Tank" Sunber, introduced in volume 3, is on Kalist IV supervising slaves recently transported from the conflict on Jabiim (from volume 6). There he runs into his old buddy from Tatooine, Luke Skywalker, who's undercover as an Imperial officer and part of a Rebel plot to steal the base's fuel and free the slaves (as this happens soon after Episode IV, and the identity of the pilot who blew up the Death Star is not known, Luke can apparently pull off the ruse- thus, Janek doesn't know where Luke's loyalties lie). Janek, growing increasingly uneasy as Imperial atrocities mount, nevertheless tries to stop Luke when his Rebel connections are revealed. Janek fails, and Luke & crew (to include Deena Shan, also seen earlier) escape with their spoils. In the end, we see Janek pondering which side is the right one, and another Imperial officer pleased with the seemingly-disastrous outcome, hinting that the Rebels are playing into a larger Imperial plot.
The first story was decent and only one issue long. The second (the other five issues collected here) was similarly okay, but nothing to write home about.* That they ended the 40-issue Empire series on a cliffhanger bothered me; Empire was followed by a short-lived story arc (16 issues) called Rebellion, and I think they picked the story up there, but I remember reading them years ago and being unimpressed, so I don't think the overall story ended as well as I hoped.
Rating: B
*but apparently something to blog about
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