Tobar said:

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But my number one must read suggestion would be Dark Times. It was the follow up series to Republic and is set between ROTS and ANH. The inspiration behind it was Obi-wan's line, "Before the dark times, before the Empire..." And believe me, the title does live up to its name. The writing by Randy Stradley and the art by Doug Wheatley is top notch. I honestly regard them as this generation's Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll start with that one. There's so much Star Wars material out there it's kind of hard to know where to start. It's like standing at the bottom of a mountain and trying to figure out how to climb it.