Star Wars Comics

[Rouge77 0]

In my opinion the comic truly is closer to ANH in feeling than the games. More light-hearted, more comic banter. It's never so dark as Legacy or Dark Times. There's always light and hope remaining. There's few tragedies waiting in the future of at least some KOTOR characters based on the games, but so far the series has delivered most of the fun the EU has given me in the last few years.

Edited August 2, 2008 by Rouge77

[Andy 60]

Hang on... which KotOR comic are we talking about here?

The old one or the new ones based on the game?

[Chickenman 9]

The old one is Tales of the Jedi. :p

[Andy 60]

Yeah but everyone always calls it Knight of the Old Republic.

[Chickenman 9]

Just bought KOTOR 1, Tales of the Jedi Omnibus 1, and The Force Unleashed.

Reading KOTOR 1 now and...I don't really like it. It's decent I guess, but a little too slapsticky for me. Also, it doesn't look like there's going to be a lot about the actual Mandalorian War, so that's a bit of a downer. Eh...I'll probably still shell out my parent's cash for the rest of the series. :p

[Rouge77 0]

KOTOR will get more serious and the characters involved in the early stages of the Mandalorian War eventually. Just persist, it's worth it. But I personally did like the early issues too, so take my opinion with a pinch of salt.

[Mara 29]

I'm really considering getting into these... any recommendations?

I might go chronological, but I might skip the boring ones. :p

[Chickenman 9]

Let's see...

The X-Wing series is probably my favorite, and you can get the whole series if you buy the Omnibus editions (only slightly more expensive than the individual trade paperbacks. Good luck finding them anyway, lol) It's about Rogue Squadron in the days after the Battle of Endor, before they disband. Really great stuff.

The Clone Wars graphic novels are also very very good. There's nine volumes and they're all written really well. They're gritty and mature, showing just that war is bloody and costly, they're very much the antithesis of the cartoon. The Jedi don't always come out on top, and even when they do it's at great cost. I highly recommend it.

Legacy is interesting. I like it, and I hated the very thought of it when it first came out. The Jedi Order has gotten itself hunted down again, there's a new Sith head honcho, fun stuff. I've only read the first two trade paperbacks though.

Empire and Rebellion are good too. Offer some fun stories from before ANH to before ESB.

[Mara 29]

So the X-wing comics are before any of the novels, then?

I had been thinking of the Legacy ones, but I'm not sure I'm ready to dive that far into the future, lol.

I saw a couple of the Omnibus ones at B&N this weekend (which is partly why I got thinking about it, ahaha). And they had a timeline in the back, but the Omnibus ones aren't in the timeline. I think the Rebellion one was one I had seen.

I need a better timeline.

Thanks, Chicken. :)

[Chickenman 9]

Omnibus isn't in the timeline because they're a collection of various story arcs, either all in the same series or all in the same theme.

And yeah. The X-Wing comics take place between The Truce at Bakura and the Shadows of Mindor. If you remember the first X-Wing novel, the squadron is being rebuilt from scratch, as they'd disbanded, so it's a whole new group of Rogues, but also has old favorites like Tycho, Janson and the like. They're also all written by Michael A. Stackpole, so the comics fit well with the series and even influence the novels in some cases. I can't reccomend them highly enough, because I'm a geek.

As for Legacy, I felt similar, but I warmed up to it. It's an enjoyable series.

I forgot to mention the Tales of the Jedi series, which is also splendid, but unlike anything else in Star Wars canon. It's more archaic, and you see traces of ancient civilization (and its certainly ancient by canon standards) with, you know...space travel. It's interesting. They're also written by Kevin J. Anderson, so it gives the backstory of Exar Kun and the ancient Sith Empire and all that fun stuff. Also established the Mandalorian culture before Karen Traviss hijacked them, lol.

[Mara 29]

Ohhh, gotcha. I remember now the one saying it was a collection of things, that would otherwise go out of print. Makes more sense.

Haha, I would probably just read them because those characters are hilarious.

Are those like the Tales novels, then, too? Tales of Mos Eisley, etc. etc.?

Maybe I will start with those, since they are at the beginning of the timeline, too. That part of (SW) history intrigues me.

Otherwise the farthest back I've gone is Darth Bane, and that's really not that far, considering.

For lack of a better timeline, I'll just use Wikipedia: comics timeline

Edited March 11, 2009 by Mara

[Mara 29]

This past weekend, my dad was showing me stuff he got at Goodwill or something (he's always buying old crap hoping to sell it on Ebay or something), and he had 3 old SW ones!

But he won't let me take them out of the plastic and read them. :(

[Mara 29]

Just finished both Tales of the Jedi omnicrons... pretty interesting, but not awesomely good or anything.

[Mara 29]

Okay, I got the first volume of Knights of the Old Republic, but I am confused about one thing.

I noticed that instead of a fifth volume, there is instead this Vector 1 and 2 in the middle. And apparently it matches up with stuff in the Legacy comics. Now, I don't want to get any spoilers from those Legacy ones, and I am wondering if I would be confused at all by skipping these and going right from vol 4 to vol 6?

[Chickenman 9]

Vector was an event designed to take place across 4 eras of the EU, with each arc leading in to the next. The events in the first arc of Vector take place in KOTOR, then they are continued thousands of years later during Dark Times, then Rebellion, then Legacy. Each arc is designed to be self contained enough that you can just read the issues that relate to your series, but it's a richer experience to read the whole thing. I certainly wouldn't skip it though. Each arc has repercussions for its respective series.

[Mara 29]

No, I am planning on eventually reading Vector.

My question was that if the rest of KOTOR would make sense if I skipped Vector 1 and 2, for now.

[Chickenman 9]

It's part of the continuing narrative. You could skip the Dark Times, Rebellion and Legacy arcs fine, but not the arc taking place during KOTOR.

I know for a fact how confusing I'm making this sound.

[Mara 29]

So Vector is essentially 4 separate stories? I thought they were more melded than that. I mean, I knew it was 4 stories/eras, but I thought they were more weaved together so you couldn't really skip areas of it.

[Chickenman 9]

They're a continuing story, yeah. It basically follows this Sith artifact that the characters of each series run into and have to deal with. It was designed so that if you only read, say Rebellion, and couldn't care less about the other three series, that you could just read the issues that take place during Rebellion, and if you weren't interested, then just continue with Rebellion.

What I'm saying is, read KOTOR, including the Vector arc that takes place during KOTOR, then set Vector aside until you're caught up in Legacy.

[Andy 60]

On a side note, have you ever thought about how awkward it is to fit the comic stories into a timeline? :p

[Mara 29]

Mmm'kay. So KOTOR 1-5, just the corresponding parts in Vector (as KOTOR 5) and on to KOTOR 6-8.

Now I just need to buy the second volume now.

[Mara 29]

Bought (and read) KOTOR volumes 2 and 3. Of the first three so far, I think I liked 3 the best. But maybe that's just because I have an RP character who's an Arkanian Offshoot. :p