All 8 long-running ‘Star Wars’ Legends comics series, ranked (Comic book commentary)
With the new ongoing Marvel comic series, not to mention the trailers for “Episode VII” and “Rebels” Season 2, drawing interest from new and casual “Star Wars” fans, I thought it’d be a good time to look back at the ongoing “Star Wars” comic titles from the now-defunct Expanded Universe (a.k.a. Legends) era of 1977-2014.
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Legacy Volume II’ Issues 11-18 (2014) (Comic book reviews)
When the writer of a serialized TV show or comic book series gets word of the project’s cancellation and has only a few episodes or issues to wrap it up, they have three options: 1) to not change their plans at all, and just let the story end mid-stream, 2) to stick with their planned
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Legacy Volume II’ Issues 1-10 (2013) (Comic book reviews)
After Cade Skywalker’s saga came to a natural conclusion in 2011, Dark Horse launched two new titles to satiate fans of “Legacy.” The work of John Ostrander and Jan Duursema could be found in “Dawn of the Jedi,” which started in 2012, while the “Legacy” era continued in “Legacy Volume II” in 2013. Although both were
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Legacy’ Issues 48-50 (2010) and ‘War’ (2010-11) (Comic book reviews)
Writer John Ostrander brings together all the myriad factions of “Legacy” in two final, epic arcs – “Extremes,” Issues 48-50 (2010), and the six-issue miniseries “Legacy: War” (2010-11). The Fel Empire, the Galactic Alliance and the Jedi unite against the Sith Empire. Additionally, the non-Sith members of the Sith Empire finally realize the Sith are 1) evil and 2)
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Legacy’ Issues 41-47 (2009-10) (Comic book reviews)
A major impetus behind launching a series set four generations after Luke Skywalker was that it gave the writer freedom to chronicle a fresh part of the timeline. But by the time of “Legacy”Issues 41-47 (2009-10), a big appeal of John Ostrander’s saga is the way it ties back to the wider mythos.
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Legacy’ Issues 32-40 (2009) (Comic book reviews)
George Lucas was interested in the dangers of humans melding with machines, but that concept was buried by the time he got to the final drafts of his “Star Wars” films. The machine aspects of Darth Vader and General Grievous (and Lumiya and the Hunter, if you delve into the Expanded Universe) were emblematic but
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Vector’ (2008) (Comic book review)
Dark Horse editor Randy Stradley begins his introduction to the first trade-paperback volume of “Vector” (2008) by apologizing for the “crass commercialism” of the crossover project. But he needn’t have apologized. The idea of a story that travels through the four ongoing “Star Wars” comics of the time may have been commercial, but it was also just
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Legacy’ Issues 20-27 (2008) (Comic book reviews)
Coming off Cade Skywalker’s epic escape from the Sith Temple in the previous arc, “Legacy” Issues 20-27 (2008) mark an opportunity for the series to catch its breath. Rather than being a boring stretch of issues, it is enjoyable to bask in this world writer John Ostrander has constructed, especially since he shines with dialogue and humor
‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Legacy’ Issues 11-19 (2007-08) (Comic book reviews)
“Legacy” Issues 11-19 (2007-08) explore Cade Skywalker’s attempt to infiltrate the dark side without being turned, something that had already been chronicled in “Tales of the Jedi” (Ulic Qel-Droma), “Republic” (Quinlan Vos) and “Dark Empire” (Luke Skywalker). So it’s impressive that – despite the way-too-familiar nature of this story – writer John Ostrander ratchets “Legacy” to
‘Star Wars’ flashback’: ‘Legacy’ Issues 1-10 (2006-07) (Comic book reviews)
Most “Star Wars” stories firmly connect to an established part of the saga, but there are some exceptions in the Legends canon where the author(s) had unusually free reign: Tom Veitch’s “Tales of the Jedi” comics (1993) opened up the galaxy 4,000 years before “A New Hope,” Tim Lebbon’s and John Ostrander’s “Dawn of the