RIP Star Wars comics

[Tom Foolery]

As I’m reading the newest Vader series, it occurred to me that he had no input into the design of his Vader armor, nor did he ever make any kind of noticeable aesthetic changes or upgrades to it.

That seems wrong to me. I’m gonna blame Lucas on not having the foresight to work that into the third film, and instead paying fanboy service at the last minute because he was running out of time to tie the third film to the fourth one. “Oh god, gotta show Vader in his costume, gotta show the Death Star, gotta get Leia to Alderaan, gotta get Luke to Tatooine...oh fuck only got three minutes of screen time to shovel all this is at the very end!!!”

[Tom Foolery]

Went into one of the other local shops last week(the guy that had the stroke last year) and picked up most of the Age of Republic/Age of Rebellion oneshots that came put over the last few months, and also TIE Fighter 1 and 2. I spent over $60 but man, he seemed super appreciative that I dropped that much in his store. He was super excited looking thru all his boxes(he’s very disorganized) finding the issues for me.
Still need Dooku and Jabba issues, and I don’t think Luke or Vader issues have come out yet.

[Tom Foolery]

Dark Horse has a new Star Wars series coming out next week. It looks to be the all ages replacement for the IDW books.

[anarky]

Their first release was a 500-page collection of English translations of Rebels comics from Germany.

God bless you, Dark Horse

[anarky]

I have a confession to make. I could never get into all the Tales of the Jedi comics from the 1990s, or Dark Horse's further forrays into the Old Republic. I've had a pretty cursory knowledge from the shit-tons of reference books. But I decided to take the plunge.

First, Dawn of the Jedi. That shit is great. One thing I've always thought was cool about Legends-era EU was you can go back however far you want, and there's always thousands of years of history that's forgotten and kind of alluded to. Building on all the craziness of Tython and the Rakata Infinite Empire was a stroke of brilliance, and the only complaint is Disney killed this series prematurely. They were clearly setting up years worth of subplot. But, hey, part of the story, as I found out, is par for the course.

Next, all the 90s stuff. I'm not done. Chronologically, I've just finished Dark Lords of the Sith. And... whoof. First, I never realized how much heavy lifting those reference books did. Most of the large developments that they outline in meticulous detail? Not in the comics. What was the Great Schism, or the Hundred Year Darkness? Who were the Dark Jedi who conquered and interbred with the Sith? Fucked if I know, or at least from these comics. They're mentioned, but things that happened in the past. The comics were clearly written out of order, over many years, by multiple writers, with a pretty ineffective editor. These are huge fucking contradictions, too: was Naga Sadow a slave to the Dark Jedi who fled his masters and went to Yavin IV, or the final Dark Lord who narrowly escaped the (not Dark) Jedi? If no one knew the last of the Dark Jedi escaped justice and encountered an unnamed race called the Sith, why are they afraid the Sith will return?

All the stories so far have been much shorter than I expected. The overall storytelling style feels more like it's from 1950s EC comics than 1990s Star Wars. Maybe that's what put me off initially. They're not bad, though. The art feels retro, but it's gorgeous. The completely fucking bonkers aliens designs are some of the best frigging sci-fi designs ever. I'm actually enjoying everything, though it ain't what I expected.

[Tom Foolery]

I skipped over my SW box entirely in my back issue read. I should start peppering them into my reading schedule. One SW series, one non-SW series. Otherwise I’ll get burned out on a SW binge read. But the main books had two or three Events crossing over, Crimson something, Dark Droids, there was a Bounty Hunter war or saga or something. So I’d have to start reading all four series simultaneously. Bleh.

And the way I have that box ‘sorted’ is just a complete mess. The four main ongoing books are at the front. Thats easy enough. But all the minis and oneshots are from different eras, and they aren’t chronological, or alphabetical, or anything. I think I was doing High Republic together, and Disney+ adaptations together, but the rest is just…no rhyme or reason other than when they were released.

[vynsane]

i didn't really read much of the Dark Horse SW comics, but Dark Empire/Dark Empire II are awesome. the art especially.

[anarky]

I've been taking a breather before jumping into KOTOR (and planning to play the game in the proper points in continuity).

But all of the quality inconsistencies of the entire Tales of the Jedi series of miniseries was worth it for Redemption. That was a fucking masterpiece. I just wish there was a tad more to the buildup to really hammer home how close Ulic and Nomi were, and how far he fell.

And, yes, vyn, fuck yes, Dark Empire is one of the most gorgeous comics of all time, inside and out. Cam Kennedy may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I love his SW work so much.