Star Wars: Crimson Empire is a comic book series of three story arcs published by Dark Horse Comics and written by Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley. The first series, titled Crimson Empire, was launched in December 1997, concluding in May 1998. The followup series, Crimson Empire II: Council of Blood, was released in November of that year, concluding in April 1999. After the end of the second story arc, a third was planned for release in 2001; the one shot comic Hard Currency was released as an introduction to the new storyline. However, the project would ultimately be shelved for a decade, eventually being revived in 2011 as Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost, the conclusion to the series storyline.