DuracellEnergizer said:
Yeah, but retconning in the EU has gotten so far out of hand that it's become a massive coronary of a joke.
Take the post-ROTJ Marvel comics for example. Those stories outright declare that the Empire swiftly collapsed following the Battle of Endor, leaving only a few remnants here and there. But, more-or-less beginning with the Thrawn trilogy, the later EU in the 90s depicted an Empire that stayed strong following the Battle of Endor, only collapsing several more years of conflict with the Rebels. These two takes on the post-ROTJ Empire don't mesh at all, but that hasn't stopped the losers who run the EU from shoving round pegs into square holes and declaring it all as "canon".
I haven't read the Marvel series up to the post-ROTJ era, but doesn't that fit with The Thrawn Trilogy, which shows only a few Imperial "remnants here and there", one of which really only shows itself once Thrawn and his great scheme comes into play? I will agree that the Post-Thrawn books such as "Truce at Bakura" and so forth show a very much alive Empire. Personally, I definitely liked Zahn's vision the best, where the Empire was markedly wounded and limited, yet still present. The post-ROTJ Marvel series seems unrealistic (even for a Marvel series fan such as myself) and a lot of those post-Thrawn '90s books make it seem as though ROTJ never happened!
As for all the ret-cons? Yes. They're terrible. I don't mind ones such as the "Tan" one, since an original trilogy film overrides it. Now when the Prequels and Prequel-related works ret-con things...then I get a little pissed, as I know you yourself did. We both remember how cool The Clone Wars and Darth Vader & Boba Fett's origins were before Lucas got involved...