Ebay. It was a over a hundred dollars as you said astronomically high. I feel like a fool but i i’ve wanted them since the 1990s and i never bought them when i could find them for cheaper.
Still not as much as buying Star Wars number 1 and all of Marvel Star Wars before online sales, i had to go all over to many comic shops to find first printings.
addendum:
I’m really disappointed in the Marvel Epic Collection Dark Empire, the paper is terrible the thickness of the book won’t allow it to lie flat, looks like they printed a digital comic or file and its horribly over bright.
I should’ve stuck to collecting the printings of Dark Horse first editions. Now its too late to cancel the Boba Fett reprinting i also purchased, and i’m sure it will have the same horrible magazine paper. Which isn’t right for a trade edition of a book, nor is the lack of a decent cardstock for the cover. If Marvel thinks this is acceptable they’ve truly gone done hill. It looks like a bargain edition except at 40 dollars msrp for volume its anything but.
Edit: the Boba Fett Enemy of the Empire reprinting is fantastic and on high quality paper, so i have no idea what happened to Dark Empire.