What future lies for the Empire?
Synopsis: Old and new faces appear as different fractions of the Empire make plans for the Alliance.
What's Good?
It's really hard to find anything good about this issue. If you're a fan of the expanded universe, there are a couple of key facts that play a role in the future of Star Wars. Another familiar character from the past, Nom Anor, makes his return putting together his plan. His appearance doesn't seem that important like in Crimson Empire II, but trust me, it make sense when it comes to the Yuuzhan Vong War.
The mysterious group that has taken Kir Kanos as a "guest" is planning to restore the Empire just like in Crimson Empire II, because there are displeased on how things are run. While they don't have that much of a role in this issue, the item they stole in the beginning will apparently be important in the future.
I really like Paul Gulacy's artwork at times. There are a lot of variety to his work even in the backgrounds. His strongest points are the single pages, especially with the one at the ending.
What's Bad?
The problem with Crimson Empire II: Council of Blood was that the first half of the series had little focus on Kir Kanos' mission, and focused more on old or the newer characters. This particular issue is similar to that. Having Feena D'Asta talk to Gilad Pellaeon about a truce with the Alliance (which is actually an important event), an attack on Leia's family or Mirith Sinn's personal problems that should have been resolved in the previous entry of Crimson Empire are distracting even for me. Somehow, I'm betting that the truce with the Alliance will play a more dominant role later.
Paul Gulacy's weakest points with the artwork has to be the way he draws faces especially with the women. They always seem to have the same expressions in every situation or their eyes are just too far apart.
Overall:
While this issue has some great tidbits on the expanded universe, it just not that interesting from a story point of view. Hopefully, issue three can make up for it.