Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope

Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope is a 4-part comic sub-series of Star Wars Infinities. It was published from May 2, 2001 to November 21, 2001, then compiled as a trade paperback on February 6, 2002.

Publisher's summary
''A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... The events and players are very familiar but something isn't quite right. Luke Skywalker valiantly attacks the Death Star, fires his torpedoes -- and they miss their mark! Welcome to a Star Wars you never imagined, a Star Wars shattered, a Star Wars where the possibilities are ENDLESS! Dark Horse Comics is proud to introduce Star Wars: Infinities -- A New Hope, the first in a series of non-continuity Star Wars stories which are sure to delight Star Wars fans of all ages. Taking off from the end of events in the movie A New Hope, Infinities readers will follow Luke, Han, Leia, 3PO, and R2 on a journey every bit as action-packed and fantastic as the original Star Wars trilogy. Collecting the four-issue miniseries.''

Story summary
The Infinities version of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope begins with the pivotal Battle of Yavin. Events begin to change when the torpedoes fired by Luke Skywalker experience a technical malfunction and fail to destroy the Death Star, but prevent the complete destruction of Yavin 4. Unable to fire a fully charged shot from the Death Star's superlaser, Grand Moff Tarkin orders the technicians to fire at reduced power, nearly leveling the Massassi Temple on the moon’s surface and fire again to destroy the planet.

The Imperials send out a wing of TIE Fighters to pick off the remaining members of Red Squadron. Luke, driven to near-insanity by the failure of the mission and the apparent destruction of Rebel base, turns his fighter to face the TIEs alone. Eventually, Han Solo convinces Luke to flee and the Millennium Falcon jumps into hyperspace with Luke’s X-wing on its tail.

The Rebel forces attempt to flee the Yavin system, but are captured by the Imperials. The Rebel leaders are imprisoned on the Death Star to await execution, but Princess Leia is taken to Coruscant, where she is put under house arrest at the Emperor’s residence, which was once the Jedi Temple. Once there, Darth Vader subtly begins Leia's training in the dark side of the Force.

When the Falcon drops out of hyperspace and takes Luke and R2-D2 aboard after abandoning their battered X-wing, Luke and Han get into a fight when Luke accuses Han of abandoning the Rebellion. The fight quickly turns violent and, in his anger, Luke draws his lightsaber and threatens to strike Han down. Before Luke can do so, the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi appears to Luke and warns him that he is slipping to the dark side. Obi-Wan then instructs Luke to go to Dagobah and seek out the Jedi Master Yoda. Han takes Luke to Dagobah, where he begins his training under Yoda’s tutelage while Solo and Chewbacca remain on the planet and tinker with the Falcon.. Two months later, Han leaves with Chewbacca to complete further repairs on the Falcon and promises to come back if Skywalker ever needs a lift. While on Dagobah, Luke enters the mysterious cave as part of his training. There, he fought and killed a vision of Darth Vader, but was shocked when he saw that the face beneath the mask was that of Leia.

Five years passed and the story resumes when the Empire celebrates the fifth anniversary of the defeat of the Rebellion by renaming the Death Star the Justice Star and having it eclipse the sun over the capital as a symbol of everlasting peace. Leia, who is now a highly trained Sith Lord, convinces Palpatine to reinstate the Imperial Senate, which had been disbanded five years earlier. Han and Chewbacca, who had been slumming around the galaxy for five years, see coverage of the anniversary while in a bar on Ord Mantell. Surprised and infuriated that Leia was still alive and now a servant of the Empire, Solo breaks his chair over his table, and draws the attention of bounty hunters and Imperial stormtroopers. Han boards the Falcon, dodges an orbiting Imperial fleet and heads back to Dagobah.

Back on Dagobah, Luke's training is nearing completion. The last test that remains is to once again go into the dark cave. In the cave, Luke once again faces the shadow of Vader, but this time, he is able to overcome his fears and truly connect to the Force. Once he arrives, Solo makes his way into the dark side cave as Skywalker is performing the final test of his Jedi training. Han and Chewbacca then join Skywalker, Yoda, and R2-D2 for dinner, and informs Luke of what had happened with Leia and the Empire and soon after, Yoda informs Luke of a pair of shocking truths: Darth Vader is his father and Leia is his sister.

Luke has a frightening vision of Emperor Palpatine, a young Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Darth Maul and his father before turning to Vader.

The denouement finds Luke, Yoda, Han, Chewbacca, and R2-D2 flying the Falcon to Coruscant. Once there, the Falcon lands on the Justice Star where Yoda and R2 disembark. Yoda confronts Tarkin, now an admiral, and takes control of him with a Jedi mind trick into giving him control of the station, which he used to destroy the fleet in orbit over the planet.

Meanwhile, Chewbacca flies the Falcon to the planet where Luke and Han attempt to infiltrate the Emperor's palace. Once there, Luke and Han defeat a number of red-cloaked Imperial Guards armed with doublesabers and a reprogrammed, more aggressive C-3PO before confronting the Emperor and his two apprentices, Darth Vader and Leia Organa. At his master's orders, Vader turns his lightsaber over to Leia so she could duel with Luke. Luke refuses to kill Leia, but duels with her all the same. Eventually, Luke is able to connect to Leia's rational mind by revealing the fact that he is her brother. When the duel ends and Skywalker redeems Leia, the Emperor turns his rage on the twins, casting Force lightning at them. Before they can be killed, Vader attacks his master to save his children.

Luke, Leia, Han, and C-3PO are able to escape as the Emperor turns his power on Vader. They cut their way through stormtroopers, make it to the Falcon and escape the planet. Just before Palpatine can kill Vader, Yoda, who is using R2 to control the orbit of the Justice Star, contacts the Emperor and announces that he is coming. Before the Emperor can escape the palace, the Justice Star crashes into the planet, obliterating the Emperor and his greatest weapon.

The story ends a few years later on Naboo. Leia has been proclaimed the Chancellor of the New Republic after the defeat of the Empire. R2's old memory has been inserted into a new, identical body and has been reunited with C-3PO. At the very end, the specters of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin Skywalker appear to Luke and Leia.

Issues

 * Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope 1
 * Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope 2
 * Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope 3
 * Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope 4

Collections

 * Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope (TPB)
 * Omnibus: Infinities

Movies Infinities

 * Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope
 * Star Wars Infinities: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars Infinities: Return of the Jedi