Star Wars comics

[Skywalker]

So, after talking about it with Neroon, I figured it might be nice to have a separate thread for discussing Star Wars comics, both past and present.

In my opinion the comics have generally been superior in quality to the novels for a long time now, and so far that still seems to be the case now that Marvel has taken over the line from Dark Horse. I was a little nervous about the change when it was first announced that Disney had acquired Lucasfilm (while Dark Horse still had a contract with Lucasfilm, it was pretty obvious that once it expired Disney's own Marvel Comics would take over) I have to admit I'm pretty pleased with what we've gotten so far. Particularly Jason Aaron's Star Wars and Kieron Gillen's Darth Vader, which so far have been the two big ongoing titles, but I've enjoyed all of the miniseries so far, too.

So far Marvel has mostly stuck close to the OT heroes, aside from the ongoing Kanan and the upcoming Obi-Wan & Anakin miniseries, but I'm hoping now that TFA has come out that they will eventually branch out and give us some more original content. That is one thing I'll miss about Dark Horse; while of course they focused plenty of their comics on movie characters, they weren't afraid to move away from all of that and create original stories in other eras.

On that note, what are everyone's favorite Star Wars comics? Either from the Dark Horse era, Marvel's current run or Marvel's original run back in the '70s and '80s. For me, I'd have to say either the first Legacy series or Dawn of the Jedi. I remember really disliking the concept of Legacy at first so I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be as good as it did, and Dawn of the Jedi gives life to a really intriguing time in galactic history, before the Republic even existed.

 

[Mr Light]

Of the new Marvel batch, I absolutely love Star Wars. It's perfection. Darth Vader is also great. The minis have been a mixed bag. Leia and Chewie were terrible. Lando was alright. Shattered Empire was disappointing in that it didn't actually star Han Luke and Leia. Kanan is pretty good so far.

I've only read some of the Dark Horse run. The Legacy series was excellent, but I only read a few issues of the second volume it seemed very uninteresting. I still have to read the Republic series I hear its good. Going WAY back, I absolutely love Dark Empire and those early Boba Fett comics.

 

[EnsignRicky]

I haven't been too thrilled since Marvel took office. Pointless stories retelling yet another version of what happened five minutes after the Death Star was blown up. a hundred and fifty seven variant covers for every issue and where the hell is the The Force Awakens adaptation already?

 

[Joel_Kirk]

I had to think about the initial question since Marvel was extremely loose with the license back in the late 70s and early 80s.

I'm also of the camp where it becomes annoying that each and everything has to be explained (i.e. before Luke met the Wampa, the Wampa terrorized a peaceful Wampa village and stole candy from a little Wampa boy whose parents he murdered - and yes, the little Wampa boy is Force Sensitive).

Off the top of my head, I didn't mind the graphic novel version of "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" or the variant 'What If?' version of "A New Hope" where Leia is the one that is part of the Dark Side. I think it was called "Star Wars Infinities"...and I recall the first part being the strongest of the trilogy.

 

[Mr Light]

I was initially very apprehensive about yet ANOTHER story immediately after New Hope, but damn it if they didn't win me over with such stellar storytelling and art. It really feels like Star Wars.

 

[sidious618]

I've really been enjoying the comics Marvel has put out. Darth Vader has been my favorite, just smart, tragic, and fun, but all of them have been a pleasure. I like the recent Chewbacca one, although I haven't read the last issue yet, because it's an unusual comic.

The ol' Dark Horse comics were great, too. That Republic run is tough to beat. Just classic after classic.

 

[Mr Light]

Chewbacca is the first Marvel comic I've found to be an absolute waste of time. The story is an utterly inconsequential side quest, the main character just goes RRROOWWWRRRR... I just don't see the point in it.

 

[sidious618]

I thought it was a sweet comic and good for younger readers who might not have read a ton of comics before.

 

[JRoss]

I really enjoyed the old Tales of the Jedi series. Tom Veitch/Kevin Anderson's take on Star Wars created a fun and rich "branch" of the franchise, with common elements (especially the interpretation of the force) running through TotJ, Dark Empire and into the Knights of the Old Republic video games.

I also liked Infinities, JoelKirk. Star Wars Tales was a fun diversion, with a few of their stories really rising above. The classics in that series include Vader vs. Maul and this one story where the Falcon jumps into an uncharted system.

 

[Skywalker]

Tales of the Jedi is what got me into Star Wars comics in the first place. Nowadays I think some of the art design made the world look a little too primitive considering the Republic had already been around for 20,000 years by that time, but I got that they were trying to go for a different aesthetic.

 

[Ithekro]

Well there is primitive looking and then there is actually being primitive. I would think old style warp drives from Star Trek would be considered primitive in the Old Republic. They are a different technology that is slower and needs full time scans stuff to keep the ships from running into things, while hyperdrives just need to do all the calculations at the start, then just go...fast. But it is more that the Old Republic just looks like pimative technology rather than being primitive technology. It looks like someone went retro on Star Wars technology, yet it still far more advanced than anything we could do.

However Tales of the Jedi, Knight of the Old Republic and the like show us something...technology in Star Wars is fairly stagnated. It does improve by little bits over the millennia, but some of the seeming high end Imperial technology is really just someone rediscovering something someone else did millennia ago and everyone kind of forgot about it. Even in the Clone Wars series, Yoda mentions that the legends of Sith superweapons in the days of the Old Republic are true. It is just that things like that are so long ago that no one really remembers, or really believes, anymore. But somehow Palpatine and Dooku found out about some of those old weapons and are tried to make something based on them....that something becomes the Superlaser of the Death Stars...and a whole host of other superweapons in the EU and canon.

 

[sidious618]

That's why Star Wars always played as fantasy to me; it's not really interesting in science or scientific progress. It's a fairy tale, in a way (and that's not an insult).

 

[Joel_Kirk]

I really enjoyed the old Tales of the Jedi series. Tom Veitch/Kevin Anderson's take on Star Wars created a fun and rich "branch" of the franchise, with common elements (especially the interpretation of the force) running through TotJ, Dark Empire and into the Knights of the Old Republic video games.

I also liked Infinities, JoelKirk. Star Wars Tales was a fun diversion, with a few of their stories really rising above. The classics in that series include Vader vs. Maul and this one story where the Falcon jumps into an uncharted system.

Cool...

 

[Turtletrekker]

My favorite Star Wars comics are the original Marvel run that adapted and interwove through the original trilogy.

...and where the hell is the The Force Awakens adaptation already?

Considering that the adaptation for Iron Man 3 just hit the shelves last week...

 

[EnsignRicky]

My favorite Star Wars comics are the original Marvel run that adapted and interwove through the original trilogy.

...and where the hell is the The Force Awakens adaptation already?

Considering that the adaptation for Iron Man 3 just hit the shelves last week...

Yeah, it does seem that modern Marvel isn't really into doing movie adaptations anymore. But this isn't a conflicting cinematic version of one of their ongoing comics, this is Star Wars.

There must be corporate level reason for why they haven't released or even mentioned one by now, but it seems like a poor business decision to me. Comics are announced months before they're released and so far nothing. At this point, by the time an adaptation does come out, the movie itself will already be available on video. I doubt MORE people will still have any interest by then.

 

[Trek Survivor]

I love the original Marvel Star Wars comics from the 1970s/80s, and also really like the new Marvel output esp. "Star Wars" and "Darth Vader".

Most of the Dark Horse stuff - not that I was an avid reader by any stretch - always seemed to take itself far too seriously. I know uber fans may disagree, but to me, Star Wars is about fun stories.

 

[Kor]

I liked Tales of the Jedi and the first Dark Empire miniseries.

I enjoyed the way they took the mostly lighthearted action/adventure of the original trilogy, and built on it with something a little darker and edgier and more serious, and created a richer tapestry involving the mythos of the Jedi and "The Force." To me, it was like the original trilogy was the version of Star Wars that you saw when you were younger, and the Dark Horse comics were something for when you got older.

And I liked the original Marvel comics for the way they always put "The Force" in quotation marks.

Kor

 

[DarKush]

I liked a ton of the Dark Horse stuff I've read. I liked Legacy (the first volume with Cade Skywalker more than the second, however the second volume, starring Ania Solo, didn't have enough time to fully develop), Knights of the Old Republic, Dark Times, Agent of the Empire, Republic, various Quinlan Vos stories. I was also liking the Brian Wood Star Wars series. And the Darth Vader-centric books (like Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison).

Others:
Dark Empire trilogy
Crimson Empire Volume 1
Darth Maul: Death Sentence (I liked this story better than the canon Son of Dathomir)

For the new Marvel series I liked the first volumes of Star Wars and Darth Vader. I've liked what I've read of the Kanan series. I'll likely pick up the Lando miniseries when it comes out as a trade.

 

[Kor]

And I almost forgot... the Tag and Bink stuff was brilliant!

Kor

 

[Unicron]

Anyone else enjoy the Infinities stories, even if they're not perfect? I consider the ESB one perhaps the best of the lot.