Star Wars comics - Where to start?

[TordelBack]

The funny thing is I think Lucus Film had to approve the stories so either they didn't know Luke and Leia's relationship

It's safe to say that Lucas & Co. had no idea about Luke and Leia's deeply improbable connection right up until Return of the Jedi was being written, much as Vader-as-Luke's-father didn't exist as a concept until TESB.  The Yoda/Ben exchange on Dagobah in TESB ("That boy was our last hope"/"No. There is another") is generally supposed to have referred to (at the time) Han Solo.

[Colin YNWA]

The funny thing is I think Lucus Film had to approve the stories so either they didn't know Luke and Leia's relationship

It's safe to say that Lucas & Co. had no idea about Luke and Leia's deeply improbable connection right up until Return of the Jedi was being written, much as Vader-as-Luke's-father didn't exist as a concept until TESB.  The Yoda/Ben exchange on Dagobah in TESB ("That boy was our last hope"/"No. There is another") is generally supposed to have referred to (at the time) Han Solo.

Really, wow I never knew any of that. I always thought Lucas had a lot of the back story worked out before even Star Wars - wasn't an original draft kinda a contracted version of all three films?

[ukdane]

Wasn't Luke "Starkiller" originally going to be a girl?

Didn't know about Han being the "other" one. Was he going to be revealed to be a "related" Skywalker Jedi, or just a lost Jedi?

That image of Jabba might have something to do with the original Jabba footage from StarWars ANH where the Irish actor (can't recal his name) is shown, and over whom Lucas CGI'ed Jabba in the remastered edition.

[Dandontdare]

much as Vader-as-Luke's-father didn't exist as a concept until TESB

Yeah, there's also a mention of Obi Wan Kenobi visiting a planet with two of his greatest pupils - Darth Vader and Luke's father.

[locustsofdeath!]

Google the 'Secret History of Stars Wars' (sorry to lazy to find the link...although not, evidently, to type out this apology) and you'll get a good look at how more 'forethought' Lucas put into his story. I'm as big a Star Wars fan as everyone, but the best mythology Lucas has created has been the one about the creation of Star Wars. Anyway, as far as comics go, I really like the early Dark Horse stuff, Dark Empire 1 and 2, those cool Jabba stories, all those mini-series.

[Jim_Campbell]

The new Star Wars series -- "Invasion" -- with Colin Wilson on art is ticking the right boxes for me. It looks great and I seem to be understanding it so far without having to have read about a gazillion other comics. Colin, unsurprisingly, looks like he was born to draw this sort of thing.

Good stuff.

Cheers

Jim

[locustsofdeath!]

The new Star Wars series -- "Invasion" -- with Colin Wilson on art is ticking the right boxes for me. It looks great and I seem to be understanding it so far without having to have read about a gazillion other comics. Colin, unsurprisingly, looks like he was born to draw this sort of thing.

Good stuff.

Cheers

Jim

Damn, looks like I picked the wrong title to pass up this month. I have been waiting for Dark Horse to put out a Star Wars comic that interested me (which they haven't since the old Tales of the Jedi mini-series), and this might have been it. I had it in my hands...but decided that I collect too many titles already. I suppose I'll have to take a second look at this.

[TordelBack]

Ugh, I thought the Invasion one was very weak - nice interior art to be sure, and Wilson's work on Legacy has been great as well.  Knights of the Old Republic is still the way to go for me, top story, great old-school atmosphere and an endearing cast (that said, the most recent issue was meh in the extreme, centered on a clumsily-drawn 'origin of Darth Revan' segment - it's usually way better than that).

The Secret History of Star Wars stuff is actually a pretty good read, but most of the 'Lucas mythology' is exposed as such in mainstream sources like the indispensable Annotated Screenplays and even the authorised Making of Star Wars, both an excellent use of any fan's time.  

The great thing you learn about Lucas in these books is that he wastes nothing, not a name, not an idea, not a concept drawing - everything gets recycled and appears on screen eventually.  His claim of having it 'all worked out'  (even the Prequels, lord help us) is true -from a certain point of view- in the sense that his many, many drafts and jottings included Anakins and twin Jedi children, the most powerful Jedi being one Mace 'Windy', clone soldiers, falls to evil and redemptions, even planet names like Utapau and Mustafar (from Revenge of the Sith) are being put on lists back in the early '70s.   The actual sequels that emerged were (thankfully) heavily moderated by some great writers and Directors, and the plots and character arcs largely shaped on the fly - but all drew from the deep wells of Lucas' scribblings.

The (excellent) Clone Wars cartoon is the extreme example of this, where every bit of concept art Ralph McQuarrie ever produced is being dusted off and worked up as rather nice monsters and background colour.

[Jim_Campbell]

Ugh, I thought the Invasion one was very weak - nice interior art to be sure

TBH, I have no frame of reference. I'm approaching this as someone who isn't a big Star Wars fan. The titles I've glanced at seemed to be reliant on you having read other stuff, or be more knowledgeable about the Star Wars universe than I am. 'Invasion' seemed to be a nice, straight-forward SF story ... perhaps not particularly Star Wars orientated beyond Wilson making it look like it belongs in the Star Wars universe, but there you go!

Cheers

Jim

[TordelBack]

'Invasion' seemed to be a nice, straight-forward SF story ... perhaps not particularly Star Wars orientated beyond Wilson making it look like it belongs in the Star Wars universe

True enough, I suppose.  My problem may be that I'm coming from the opposite 'obsessive fan' end of the market: the Yuuzhan Vong invasion occupied a dozen or more Expanded Universe novels, starting 10 years ago, and it just feels like a tired subject for a new comic at this point.  Obviously wouldn't be the case if you were more-or-less new to it.