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 As you have all no doubt heard by now, Disney's acquisition of LucasFilm, and with it the entire Star Wars brand, has been causing quite a bit of a stir lately. Probably the biggest news, next to the announcement of a new sequel trilogy of films and an undetermined number of potential future spinoff films, was the news that the entire Expanded Universe that has built up around the franchise over the past 35 years is being discarded completely. Every piece of Star Wars media made before 2015 that is not one of the six feature films or two CGI TV shows has been thrown out of the official continuity. Predictably, this has caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth amongst the world's associated turbo-nerds and wookieepedia editors, but for most of the normal, casual fans of Star Wars, this is great news. For years now, apart from a small handful of good titles, the official continuity has been absolutely packed full of bland, uninspired, and often downright laughable garbage. Not only that, but the timeline during and after the original trilogy era became so cluttered and convoluted that any casual reader would have to sift through a mountain of Wookieepedia articles just to understand who some of these characters are or what the hell is going on. Ultimately, Disney didn't shell out billions for the Star Wars brand just to sit on it, and in order to grant future titles any amount of creative freedom, they decided to wipe the slate clean. So what happens next? From now on, all future Star Wars comics will be published by that other recent high-profile Disney acquisition, Marvel Comics. All Star Wars comics published by Marvel starting in 2015 are now part of the new official continuity. This isn't actually the first time that marvel has published Star Wars material. Back in the early 80s, when Star Wars was still a brand new cultural phenomenon, Marvel handled the official tie-in comic for the films. These were market for kids and made with almost no oversight from Lucasfilm at all, often resulting in some content that seems bizarre and out-of-place today. Eventually, by the time that the Expanded Universe started getting big in the 90s and LucasFilm began taking an interest in keeping their official continuity in check, the license to publish Star Wars comics had moved over to Dark Horse. There it stayed for over two decades, until Star Wars and Marvel were once again reunited under Disney. How have they been doing so far? I'll leave it up to you to determine the actual quality of the new titles for yourselves, but so far, sales numbers have been very encouraging. According to some sources, Star Wars #1 has become the highest-selling single issue in over twenty years. The launch of both Darth Vader and Princess Leia have also been pretty impressive as well. Time will tell if these numbers remain reasonably steady for future issues. Star Wars Writer - Jason Aaron Artist - John Cassaday (#1-6) Simone Bianchi (#7) Stuart Immonen (#8-12) Colorist - Laura Martin (#1-6) Justin Ponsor (#7-12)   The flagship series of the new Marvel launch, simply titled Star Wars. Beginning a short time after the destruction of the first Death Star near Yavin, the Rebel Alliance plans to use their victory to their advantage, launching several offensive attacks on Imperial targets across the galaxy. The crew of the Millennium Falcon are sent in disguise to destroy an Imperial weapons manufacturing facility, where a close encounter with Darth Vader leads Luke to begin to doubt himself and his abilities. Darth Vader Writer - Keiron Gillen Artist - Salvador Larroca Colorist - Edgar Delgado   After the destruction of the Death Star, Darth Vader must answer to the Emperor for his failure. Faced with a serious loss of prestige in the eyes of his master, Vader is sent by the Emperor on several degrading (to him) errands in order to fix the situation. But Vader has his own ambitions, and begins working in secret to amass his own resources, and uncover the identity of the Rebel pilot who destroyed the Death Star. This series occurs at the same time as, and runs directly parallel to the main Star Wars series above, with events in one series having an effect on the other, and vice versa. Princess Leia Writer - Mark Waid Artist - Terry & Rachel Dodson Colorist - Jordie Bellaire   A 5-issue miniseries, beginning slightly earlier than the two previous series, immediately after the medal ceremony at the end of A New Hope. The Rebels must quickly evacuate their base on Yavin IV before the empire comes back and finds them. Leia learns that the Empire has been hunting down the last surviving citizens of Alderaan, and sets out with a rebel pilot named Evaan to save as many as she can. Kanan: The Last Padawan Writer - Greg Weisman Artist - Pepe Larraz Colorist - David Curiel   This series follows the backstory of the Jedi Kanan Jarrus from the TV show Star Wars: Rebels, during a flashback to the end of the Clone Wars. Kanan is a 14-year-old padawan named Caleb Dune when Order 66 is issued and his master is killed. In order to survive, he must go into hiding alone, concealing his identity as the last of the Jedi are being hunted down. Lando Writer - Charles Soule Artist - Alex Maleev Colorist - Paul Mounts   A 5-issue miniseries that takes place before Lando's debut in The Empire Strikes Back, exploring the character's more roguish days prior to becoming the administrator of Cloud City. Accompanied by his cybernetic assistant Lobot, Lando will embark on a quest to steal a highly coveted starship. Shattered Empire Writer - Greg Rucka Artist - Marco Checchetto Colorist - Andres Mossa   A short 4-issue miniseries, set to debut in September. Shattered Empire is set immediately during and after the battle of Endor at the end of Return of the Jedi. This series mainly follows a Rebel pilot named Shara Bey and her husband Kes Dameron. Chewbacca Writer - Gary Duggan Artist - Phil Noto   A five-issue miniseries. The series will begin publication in October. The story sees Chewbacca, the titular character, temporarily stranded on a planet during a mission for the Rebel Alliance. With the help of a friend, he comes into conflict with the Galactic Empire. VirtualStranger fucked around with this message at 11:39 on Dec 25, 2015 |
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Apr 26, 2015 04:23
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Soule/Maleev/Lando I assume this'll be the world's greatest comic.
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Apr 26, 2015 04:27
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Teenage Fansub posted:Soule/Maleev/Lando That cover alone has me expecting great things. He's a complicated man, but no understands him but his Lobot...
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Apr 26, 2015 04:45
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I just found out that John Cassaday will be leaving Star Wars after the end of the first arc in issue #6. I don't think there's been any word on who's replacing him.
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Apr 26, 2015 05:41
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I knew Darth Vader was an rear end in a top hat but man he's a really huge rear end in a top hat in this.
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Apr 26, 2015 05:44
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VirtualStranger posted:I just found out that John Cassaday will be leaving Star Wars after the end of the first arc in issue #6. Stuart Immonen will be taking over at issue #8. I thought Han would get a mini after Leia, but Lando? Yes, so much yes.
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Apr 26, 2015 05:56
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In many ways, I think that putting out The Star Wars was emblematic of everything Dark Horse tried to do and why it didn't really work. After 20 some years of putting out fan fiction about minor characters and spin-offs explaining video game continuity, they got their hands on the ultimate non-canon story, the one by George Lucas himself. For better of for worse, it exists, but now that style of storytelling is over, in favor of telling stories about the characters people have heard of and care about. And drat if the new Marvel books aren't fun and reader friendly. Dark Horse often left my scratching my head and asking "ok, so this is after Truce at Bakura, but before The Courtship of Princess Leia, so what is Mara-Jade's present relationship with Luke vs his relationship with that other Jedi lady from Dark Empire?"
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Apr 26, 2015 07:08
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OhFunny posted:Stuart Immonen will be taking over at issue #8.  Toph Bei Fong posted:And drat if the new Marvel books aren't fun and reader friendly. Dark Horse often left my scratching my head and asking "ok, so this is after Truce at Bakura, but before The Courtship of Princess Leia, so what is Mara-Jade's present relationship with Luke vs his relationship with that other Jedi lady from Dark Empire?" Let's check in in 20 years.
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Apr 26, 2015 07:37
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VirtualStranger posted:I just found out that John Cassaday will be leaving Star Wars after the end of the first arc in issue #6. That doens't surprise me, really.
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Apr 26, 2015 15:18
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In 20 years Disney will be the president and we will all be living in new states with new names after all of their major franchises.
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Apr 26, 2015 20:43
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Khanstant posted:In 20 years Disney will be the president and we will all be living in new states with new names after all of their major franchises. People already use Mickey Mouse as a protest vote so if Disney were to actually put him on the ballot I wouldn't be surprised if he won.
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Apr 26, 2015 21:03
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SW and Darth Vader are awesome, I like that Marvel is putting their top tier creatives on these books. Unlimited recently added a ton of the old Dark Horse Star Wars comics. I'm reading Legacy and was wondering if there's some sort of resource about which books are worth reading?
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Apr 26, 2015 21:45
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Darkman Fanpage posted:I knew Darth Vader was an rear end in a top hat but man he's a really huge rear end in a top hat in this. His comic and issue 2 of the main Star Wars series are some of the funniest poo poo I've ever read though.
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Apr 26, 2015 21:58
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Ensign_Ricky posted:His comic and issue 2 of the main Star Wars series are some of the funniest poo poo I've ever read though. This page is perfect in every way. 
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Apr 26, 2015 22:04
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VirtualStranger posted:This page is perfect in every way. Hell, even this segment from Issue #4 of the main series got a good laugh from me. 
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Apr 26, 2015 22:17
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Busting Vader down to Scrub Lord of the Sith is one of the rare conventions that both makes narrative sense and allows him to go on cool adventures.
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Apr 26, 2015 22:25
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Khanstant posted:In 20 years Disney will be the president and we will all be living in new states with new names after all of their major franchises. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcAWgFsmTn4
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Apr 26, 2015 22:26
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achillesforever6 posted:Can't wait to go to New San Francisco! How about New Fressie?
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Apr 26, 2015 22:45
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Ensign_Ricky posted:Hell, even this segment from Issue #4 of the main series got a good laugh from me. Oh yeah this is amazing.
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Apr 26, 2015 23:46
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OhFunny posted:Stuart Immonen will be taking over at issue #8. Immonen doing Star Wars sounds like one of those things that just makes sense. After being initially not too enamored with the main series I've turned a corner and really enjoy it. I haven't picked up Kanan (any opinions at all?), but Leia and Vader are great and those two new miniseries sound fantastic.
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Apr 27, 2015 14:10
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I'm currently waiting on the trades for the main series; I might try the Lando series when it's out monthly, though, because I like Lando. Of course, as anyone who's seen my posts on the subject will know, I was and am a massive Dark Horse Star Wars fan, all the way back to the comics that started coming out to cash in on The Phantom Menace. I'm keen to give the new stuff a whirl but I also appreciate that Marvel's giving the DH stuff full-size collections in the Epic Collection line.
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Apr 28, 2015 19:18
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I assume that the original DH releases didn't have "Legends" on them and that's the marketing adspeak they're using for "These comics don't count y'all".
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Apr 28, 2015 19:21
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zoux posted:I assume that the original DH releases didn't have "Legends" on them and that's the marketing adspeak they're using for "These comics don't count y'all". Yes, the 'Legends' brand is being used for the comics and books from the pre-Disney EU.
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Apr 28, 2015 19:22
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zoux posted:I assume that the original DH releases didn't have "Legends" on them and that's the marketing adspeak they're using for "These comics don't count y'all". No; they were about as official as it got at the time, but obviously that's no longer the case. Of course, since I'm not a complete wanker* I don't need stories to "count" or whatever to enjoy them. So long as I'm entertained by them, their canonicity or lack thereof doesn't trouble me. *I'd say enjoying Star Wars comics makes me only mostly a wanker.
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Apr 28, 2015 19:26
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You just know that somebody out there had a breakdown when Disney declared the EU non-canon.
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Apr 28, 2015 19:36
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Wheat Loaf posted:No; they were about as official as it got at the time, but obviously that's no longer the case. Of course, since I'm not a complete wanker* I don't need stories to "count" or whatever to enjoy them. So long as I'm entertained by them, their canonicity or lack thereof doesn't trouble me. Oh yeah I don't give a poo poo personally.
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Apr 28, 2015 19:41
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Darkman Fanpage posted:You just know that somebody out there had a breakdown when Disney declared the EU non-canon. 'Someone'? More like hundreds/thousands of them. Me, I'm a little bummed that some cool stories are being thrown out so we can do less ambitious stuff, but eh, poo poo happens.
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Apr 28, 2015 19:43
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Darkman Fanpage posted:You just know that somebody out there had a breakdown when Disney declared the EU non-canon. Wookiepedia seems to have gotten over it now, but for a while they were ridiculusly pissy about it. The Star Wars thread in Book Born once linked to a blog post which highlighted some of the especially ridiculous examples; remember how on 5 November 2008, a whole bunch of "pray for Obama to fail" websites went up as soon as the electionw as called? It quite honestly reminded me of that. There's people who want the new EU to fail because apparently the like of Darksaber and The Crystal Star are hills worth dying on.
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Apr 28, 2015 19:59
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Honestly, if the Ewok Adventure isn't canon, we may as well just throw out all of the movies.
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Apr 28, 2015 20:22
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VirtualStranger posted:This page is perfect in every way. I loved that so much. Darth Vader has just been such a fun comic to read.
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Apr 28, 2015 21:36
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Hahaha you are on fire and also dead
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Apr 28, 2015 21:37
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I picked up Vader on a whim and am loving it. The OP says that things in the main series tie in to it? Am I missing out on stuff?
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Apr 28, 2015 23:42
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TwoPair posted:I picked up Vader on a whim and am loving it. The OP says that things in the main series tie in to it? Am I missing out on stuff? There are four Star Wars comics by marvel on a rotating release each week, all are good. The main comic and the Vader comic are roughly concurrent, supposedly there will be some overlap (Jabba mentions a wookie working for Vader that we see in his comic).
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Apr 28, 2015 23:50
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TwoPair posted:I picked up Vader on a whim and am loving it. The OP says that things in the main series tie in to it? Am I missing out on stuff? The very first Vader issue refers to something that resolves in issue 3 of Star Wars, so I don't think they are doing a concurrent timeline.
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Apr 28, 2015 23:52
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DV #1 begins after SW #3 It's impossible to tell the exact chronological order until every issue comes out, but so far the order goes: SW #1 SW #2 SW #3 DV #1 SW #4 DV #2 DV #3 DV #4
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Apr 29, 2015 01:05
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So I'm a big fan of murderous R2D2 and C3PO in issue #3 of DV.
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Apr 29, 2015 01:15
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Wheat Loaf posted:Of course, since I'm not a complete wanker* I don't need stories to "count" or whatever to enjoy them. So long as I'm entertained by them, their canonicity or lack thereof doesn't trouble me. Splinter of the Mind's Eye for Life!  
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Apr 29, 2015 05:00
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I like that the artist straight up drew katana blades, considering that's what lightsabres are. (And I think Splinter of the Mind's Eye is the coolest title for a Star Wars thing ever, and am sad that it was wasted on a pretty bad book)
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Apr 29, 2015 16:31
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It was the first EU material there'd ever been, wasn't it? I think it just about predated the holiday special.
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Apr 29, 2015 16:51
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Darkman Fanpage posted:You just know that somebody out there had a breakdown when Disney declared the EU non-canon. The guy that runs stardestroyer.net contributed to two books of ship stats so he could win internet Wars vs. Trek slapfights, which got decanonized along with the rest of the EU. Did his tears fill a bucket? a bathtub? We can only speculate.
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Apr 29, 2015 17:02
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