Star Wars Comics. Where to begin?

[Zero Hunter]

I love the Dark Horse comics they were doing just before Disney took over. My favorites were the stuff that had nothing to do with the main crew for the most part.

Star Wars: Purge - Set right after Epidsode 3 and show Darth Vader in his first outing hunting down surviving Jedi.



Star Wars Omnibus: Dark Times Vol 1-2 - Collects the books after Episode 3 and tells the tale of a jedi named Dass Jennir who survived Order 66 and what he had to do to survive in the now Empire controlled galaxy.



Star Wars Omnibus: Knights of the Old Republic Vol 1-3 - The story of a young padawan named Zayne Carrick framed for the murder of his classmates and forced to go on the run and solve the mystery of why he was framed and clear his name.

[sirmarkus]

Damn, those look really neat!

[Carabas]

I tried the Dark Times books back when Dark Horse first made them and couldn't get into them, but Knights of the Old Republic was a heap of fun.

[ChrisIII]

I heard that the Vader annual actually contradicted a bit of Catalyst (The rogue one prequel novel).

[Kaled]

From Dark Horse I would say Dark Empire because that is what brought Star Wars back to comics and it is a good story. Then the Crimson Empire stories, Star Wars Legacy and the Rogue X-Wing series.

But the best is to get the first Star Wars series done by Marvel. The current series is okay but does not hold a candle to Marvel's original Star Wars series.

[ChrisIII]

It also had, I think, a lot more creative freedom at times compared to the more modern Star Wars comics; it even anticipated some of the movie and novel plots a bit. "To take the Tarkin" had Luke and co. disguise themselves as Imperial workers to take on a new Death Star style weapon, which has some similarities to ROTJ. Also the series had merchandise-friendly aliens who helped the rebels such as the Hoojibs, sort of like the later Gungans and Ewoks. The Lumiya storyline-with Luke falling in love with a fellow rebel pilot who turns out to be an Imperial spy, and then later having her become a "dark jedi" villain, sort of foreshadows Mara Jade (She's even red-haired). She later played a big role in the "Legacy" novels, which, like the current movies, had Han and Leia's son fall to the dark side.


I remember that the comic's status in continuity was debated for a while until the 00's which started incorporating more of their storylines into the then-current canon, as well as aliens like the Zeltrons. Although there were still a few oddball storylines like Wedge being stuck on Hoth and having "grown up" with Luke (The writer mistook Biggs for him, I think). Same comic also killed off Janson despite him having a role in the later EU. I think the "fix" was that it was a joke story Wedge and Janson told.

[WebLurker]

It also had, I think, a lot more creative freedom at times compared to the more modern Star Wars comics; it even anticipated some of the movie and novel plots a bit. "To take the Tarkin" had Luke and co. disguise themselves as Imperial workers to take on a new Death Star style weapon, which has some similarities to ROTJ. Also the series had merchandise-friendly aliens who helped the rebels such as the Hoojibs, sort of like the later Gungans and Ewoks. The Lumiya storyline-with Luke falling in love with a fellow rebel pilot who turns out to be an Imperial spy, and then later having her become a "dark jedi" villain, sort of foreshadows Mara Jade (She's even red-haired). She later played a big role in the "Legacy" novels, which, like the current movies, had Han and Leia's son fall to the dark side.

Actually, the Tarkin story came about because of a lack of freedom; it was going to be an actual second Death Star, but LucasFilm vetoed it without comment, because of the then-secret plot of the next movie. The writers were pretty amused in retrospect that they'd accidentally come up with part of the movie's story on their own and that Lucasfilm okayed the story with only superficial changes to the battle st

I remember that the comic's status in continuity was debated for a while until the 00's which started incorporating more of their storylines into the then-current canon, as well as aliens like the Zeltrons.

Under Legends, old Marve stuff was called "S-canon," basically meaning that the canoncity was unclear until other works either confirmed or refuted them. In practice, by the end, pretty much everything was re-canonized, albeit with the occasional retcon to fix mistakes. Zeltrons have actually come back into Disney canon now.

Although there were still a few oddball storylines like Wedge being stuck on Hoth and having "grown up" with Luke (The writer mistook Biggs for him, I think). Same comic also killed off Janson despite him having a role in the later EU. I think the "fix" was that it was a joke story Wedge and Janson told.

Yeah, I think that explanation was in a random magazine and I think showed the dark side of trying to make everything fit; they twisted themselves into pretzels rather than just being able to say "yeah, that's not canon, but enjoy it for its own merits if you wish."