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A DIY Star Wars comics universe

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So I’ve been thinking about what a series of comic fan-edits might look like. What if all the EU comics material was pooled together, and recreated into a definitive series. Stories would be edited, emphasis might be shifted perhaps away from the core film storylines, and the core character base may expand.

I’ve recently returned to Star Wars comics after not touching them for over 15 years. The EU, and the comics especially, really lost some of its excitement and energy for me at the time when the PT was released, as it greatly contradicted my own vision of those events. The EU product line really seemed to explode and it became more and more difficult to maintain interest.

The transition of much of the EU material to LEGENDS, seemed to end much of what had been grown over the decades, so it seems more finite and complete. With this in hand, I have returned to reading much of that material that I had previously dismissed, and some of it is really great. I have amassed decades of comics now, and find the volume and scope of what has been produced both overwhelming and exciting.

What strikes me is how much of a mixed bag it is. Awesome and awful, original and cliched. There are numerous contradictions and repetitive storylines. Jedi-turns to the dark side repeats over and over again, as well as the references to pre-ANH events which clearly happen differently after 1998.

Where much of it fails, is how exciting events happen within the stories (for instance Shadows of the Empire) that never get a mention in the films (and by extension the comic adaptations of the films) - which limit the believability greatly. Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker meet and interact so much within the earlier comics - so the emphasis and drama of both ESB and ROTJ are somewhat lessened.

If EU comics was to be considered as a whole narrative - and entirely separate from the other EU materials, and the core trilogies, what would that narrative be? What would you edit out/change/ignore or emphasise? Would the events of core films play out differently to compensate for other storylines? Could edit other EU comics to retell the PT perhaps?

What do people think?

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All you need is the Classic Star Wars collection.

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- Golden Age of the Sith and Fall of the Sith Empire would have been true to what was established in Dark Lords of the Sith

- no Sith poison

- no Sith amulets

- Luke wouldn't turn dark

- Dark Empire would take place immediately after ROTJ

- Dark Empire II and Empire's End wouldn't exist

- Legacy wouldn't exist

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Tobar said:

All you need is the Classic Star Wars collection.

 Maybe its mw just being grown up - but the classic MARVEL and the Daily strips are really enjoyable to read. It might be the throw-away absurdity of some of it, or just how it resonates with the era of the OT.

darklordoftech said:

- Golden Age of the Sith and Fall of the Sith Empire would have been true to what was established in Dark Lords of the Sith

- no Sith poison

- no Sith amulets

- Luke wouldn't turn dark

- Dark Empire would take place immediately after ROTJ

- Dark Empire II and Empire's End wouldn't exist

- Legacy wouldn't exist

 Tales of the Jedi is great - I always loved the idea of a Sith species, that gradually became an secular organisation.


If you were to consider changing the comic adaptations of the films - ie alter some crucial plot elements for a better plotline overall - what would you change? And think Radically - this might be a whole new approach to the story.

Would the Emperor in fact be an ancient Sith survivor, perhaps even be Naga Sadow (or make Naga Sadow Palpatine) - art could easily be recoloured/altered. Would he survive the DSII, and actually die in Dark Empire?

Could Leia NOT be Luke's sister - could you rework another character (perhaps a non-romantic Mara Jade or Lumiya fill this role?)

Perhaps Luke could spend more time with Ben Kenobi? Maybe Anakin's story could be retold?

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The core of my own personal SW Comics Universe would consist of:

The Tales of the Jedi comics (the Fall of the Sith Empire and The Sith War storyarcs would be heavily revised and expanded)

"George R. Binks"

Most of the original pre-ROTJ Marvel comics (including most of Alan Moore's stories) and some of the post-ROTJ Marvel comics

Most of the Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson comic strips

A Valentine Story

Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand

The Thrawn Trilogy (revised & expanded)

Dark Empire (revised & expanded)

Dark Empire II (completely rewritten, with Palpatine removed)

Empire's End (same as above)

All the various Boba Fett miniseries and one-shots released in 1995-2000

Crimson Empire

Crimson Empire II: Council of Blood

Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost (completely rewritten)

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ben_danger said:

Tobar said:

All you need is the Classic Star Wars collection.

 Maybe its mw just being grown up - but the classic MARVEL and the Daily strips are really enjoyable to read. It might be the throw-away absurdity of some of it, or just how it resonates with the era of the OT.

darklordoftech said:

- Golden Age of the Sith and Fall of the Sith Empire would have been true to what was established in Dark Lords of the Sith

- no Sith poison

- no Sith amulets

- Luke wouldn't turn dark

- Dark Empire would take place immediately after ROTJ

- Dark Empire II and Empire's End wouldn't exist

- Legacy wouldn't exist

 Tales of the Jedi is great - I always loved the idea of a Sith species, that gradually became an secular organisation.


If you were to consider changing the comic adaptations of the films - ie alter some crucial plot elements for a better plotline overall - what would you change? And think Radically - this might be a whole new approach to the story.

Would the Emperor in fact be an ancient Sith survivor, perhaps even be Naga Sadow (or make Naga Sadow Palpatine) - art could easily be recoloured/altered. Would he survive the DSII, and actually die in Dark Empire?

Could Leia NOT be Luke's sister - could you rework another character (perhaps a non-romantic Mara Jade or Lumiya fill this role?)

Perhaps Luke could spend more time with Ben Kenobi? Maybe Anakin's story could be retold?

I've definitely given thought to The Emperor being ancient. He could be the power behind the throne of all the Sith, the Dark Jedi who started the Great Schism, the creator of the Sith species, or all of the above.

Veitch initially wanted to write about the Great Jedi Purge. It would have involved Obi-Wan among a group of Jedi, with the rest of the group getting wiped out throughout series and ending with Obi-Wan moving into his hut. Seeing that concept would be interesting.

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This may or may not be the best place to post this but whatever. I'm trying to get into Star Wars comics and trying to figure out where to start. Any suggestions?

Closely related, I don't mind reading digital versions of books (in some ways it's more convenient) but for comics I much prefer physical copies. Unfortunately it seems pretty much every physical SW comic is out of print. I can find a few on ebay and such for cheapish (still trying to see if I can get the first Marvel "A Long Time Ago" omnibus for less than $30 - JEDIT: amazing luck, I JUST checked Amazon and got a copy for $20) but I don't know what to look for. Classic Star Wars is good? Wookiepedia tells me there's a lot of Classic Star Wars. Anything specific or just all of it?

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DominicCobb said:

Wookiepedia tells me there's a lot of Classic Star Wars. Anything specific or just all of it?

 Yup.

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Tobar - would you know of anywhere I could get hold of the Daily Star Wars Comic Strip stories that aren't on the dailysw blog? (A New Beginning, Showdown and The Final Trap).

I'm really not into the Darkhorse recolour/cut/paste job and  much prefer the original newspaper serial format.

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darklordoftech said:

Veitch initially wanted to write about the Great Jedi Purge. It would have involved Obi-Wan among a group of Jedi, with the rest of the group getting wiped out throughout series and ending with Obi-Wan moving into his hut. Seeing that concept would be interesting.

Ahh that would have been so great! Shame he never wrote it, might have made a better ep III!

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Ben_danger Have you try search amazon.com yet?

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I've been reading the original Marvel run for the last week and it's sort of the best thing in my life right now. I'm on issue 18 now. It's not really the typical Star Wars stuff but that's part of what makes it great. It'll be interesting to see where it goes.

Will get to Classic Star Wars sometime soon. 

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^Yeah, it's by far my favorite Star Wars material outside the original movies.  Read Classic Star Wars between issues 38 and 39, as 39 is the start of Empire Strikes Back and Classic Star Wars leads right up to it (while issue 38, Riders in the Void does not).

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ben_danger said:

I’m really not into the Darkhorse recolour/cut/paste job and  much prefer the original newspaper serial format.

While I too prefer them in their original strip format. It should be noted that they actually got Al Williamson to come back and reformat it for them. He was involved at every level of the process: drawing new transitional pages and expanding panels. He even threatened to quit if they didn’t follow his color guide to the letter. So it’s something to keep in mind when considering the Dark Horse reprints.

Though it goes without saying that the same cannot be said for the initial Manning run.

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I got the whole Williamson set on a whim after looking at some samples and deciding they looked awesome. Obviously on this site we all care about the original versions and I'm no different but ultimately the revisions are in a format that is easier to read and the changes were of course minimal and simply serve the new format and it was all supervised by Williamson. So who cares basically?

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Tobar said:

While I too prefer them in their original strip format. It should be noted that they actually got Al Williamson to come back and reformat it for them. He was involved at every level of the process: drawing new transitional pages and expanding panels. He even threatened to quit if they didn't follow his color guide to the letter.

I'm mildly surprised to learn this. When I first read the Dark Horse collections and saw this lady

wearing red pants that obviously weren't intended to be there when the art was originally drawn, I'd assumed that some puritanical editor was engaging in some non-Williamson-approved censorship.

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Palpatine and Vader would survive ROTJ, Vader wouldn't be Luke's father, and Leia wouldn't be Luke's sister. Luke would have lots of adventures instead of dealing with family drama and Vader would be Luke's archnemesis, not his tragic father. 

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Byss would be the true homeworld of Palpatine. Palpatine would be a "monster" who emerged from the supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy.

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I’ve always wanted to see Veitch unrestrained by Lucas and KJA (that would mean his ideas for the prequel and post-ROTJ eras, his ideas for the Sith species and Great Sith War, etc.)

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ben_danger said:

Tobar said:

All you need is the Classic Star Wars collection.

Maybe its mw just being grown up - but the classic MARVEL and the Daily strips are really enjoyable to read. It might be the throw-away absurdity of some of it, or just how it resonates with the era of the OT.

I was born roughly a decade after Marvel stopped making SW comics, and I never read them until I was in my late teens, yet they’re some of my favorite SW material. I do find some of it a tad too goofy even for my taste (the whole Aduba-3 thing is a good example), but the Archie Goodwin issues from the late 70’s are some of the best EU material I’ve ever read. Apart from simply capturing the sense of adventure in ANH and adding some surprisingly interesting new characters, I really appreciate them for simply being untouched by the canon-obsession that came later. I mean, they refer to “warp-speed”, the designs are completely insane, and Jabba is a yellow walrus-man, but I actually think that’s part of it’s charm. They’re just good and entertaining stories that was never concerned about following a canon of any kind.
(The old Marvel illustrations are pretty awesome as well, especially the Infantino ones.)

darklordoftech said:

Veitch initially wanted to write about the Great Jedi Purge. It would have involved Obi-Wan among a group of Jedi, with the rest of the group getting wiped out throughout series and ending with Obi-Wan moving into his hut. Seeing that concept would be interesting.

So Dark Empire II (I haven’t read Empire’s End yet) was based on this idea? It sounds very similar.
Although I did enjoy Dark Empire I & II (though I’ll admit it was mostly for the art), I did find the story to take a surprisingly dark turn which felt slightly out of place in the New Republic timeline. It makes sense if it was based on a Jedi-purge story-line.
I’d love to see a “Legends/Infinities” comic written by Veitch, and illustrated by Cam Kennedy.

PS. Why does so many people have a problem with the Emperor returning. I though t was a nice way to continue that particular subplot from ROTJ which was never really allowed to flourish due to Lucas’ suddenly deciding to make it more child-friendly. Also the OT was more centered around Luke and Vader so Palpatine was ever that particularly important to the overall emotional story, he was mostly just there for the sake of the lore. So post-Vader, it makes sense to make to expand him into a more important character. And a younger one works much better to offset Luke and the new Jedi’s in my opinion.
I also like the idea of Palpatine being more of an ancient evil character (more in a Sauron kind of way) as opposed to just some random Sith from Naboo as he was later retconned into. The idea of him as this evil energy entity that possess (cloned) bodies is a lot more interesting, too me at lest.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

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Did anyone here like the Brian Wood written Dark Horse Star Wars? I read it on Marvel Unlimited last year and really enjoyed it. There were some peaks and valleys but for the most part it was a fun read.

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ZkinandBonez said:

darklordoftech said:

Veitch initially wanted to write about the Great Jedi Purge. It would have involved Obi-Wan among a group of Jedi, with the rest of the group getting wiped out throughout series and ending with Obi-Wan moving into his hut. Seeing that concept would be interesting.

So Dark Empire II (I haven’t read Empire’s End yet) was based on this idea? It sounds very similar.
Although I did enjoy Dark Empire I & II (though I’ll admit it was mostly for the art), I did find the story to take a surprisingly dark turn which felt slightly out of place in the New Republic timeline. It makes sense if it was based on a Jedi-purge story-line.
I’d love to see a “Legends/Infinities” comic written by Veitch, and illustrated by Cam Kennedy.

PS. Why does so many people have a problem with the Emperor returning. I though t was a nice way to continue that particular subplot from ROTJ which was never really allowed to flourish due to Lucas’ suddenly deciding to make it more child-friendly. Also the OT was more centered around Luke and Vader so Palpatine was ever that particularly important to the overall emotional story, he was mostly just there for the sake of the lore. So post-Vader, it makes sense to make to expand him into a more important character. And a younger one works much better to offset Luke and the new Jedi’s in my opinion.
I also like the idea of Palpatine being more of an ancient evil character (more in a Sauron kind of way) as opposed to just some random Sith from Naboo as he was later retconned into. The idea of him as this evil energy entity that possess (cloned) bodies is a lot more interesting, too me at lest.

I mever thought of the possibility that dark Empire II was based on Veitch’s
Jedi Purge concept, but it’s definitely possible. I agree with you 100% when it comes to Palpatine. I always got the impression that he was an ancient evil force and not just the latest in a long line of Sith Lords. His survival makes sense in a comic-book universe, especially if you’re looking the Flash Gordon roots of Star Wars as Veitch was.

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ZkinandBonez said:

PS. Why does so many people have a problem with the Emperor returning. I though t was a nice way to continue that particular subplot from ROTJ which was never really allowed to flourish due to Lucas’ suddenly deciding to make it more child-friendly. Also the OT was more centered around Luke and Vader so Palpatine was ever that particularly important to the overall emotional story, he was mostly just there for the sake of the lore. So post-Vader, it makes sense to make to expand him into a more important character. And a younger one works much better to offset Luke and the new Jedi’s in my opinion.
I also like the idea of Palpatine being more of an ancient evil character (more in a Sauron kind of way) as opposed to just some random Sith from Naboo as he was later retconned into. The idea of him as this evil energy entity that possess (cloned) bodies is a lot more interesting, too me at lest.

I personally have no problem with the reborn Emperor – at least in the first Dark Empire. Come Dark Empire II & Empire’s End, though, I felt his presence was a hinderance and crippled what could have been a truly great story about Luke and his nascent Jedi Order taking on the remnants of Palpatine’s dark side elite.

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daileyxplanet said:

Did anyone here like the Brian Wood written Dark Horse Star Wars? I read it on Marvel Unlimited last year and really enjoyed it. There were some peaks and valleys but for the most part it was a fun read.

I wasn’t a fan. The out of left field, "Oh yeah guys, Leia was a fighter pilot didn’t you know?" thing was ridiculous and was not supported by anything that had come before it or after. The cast felt out of character to me in that series. Personally, I think it was the first big sign of a decline in quality at DH. Not that I’m happy that Marvel took the license. DH at their worst was still better than modern Marvel on their best day.

Thinking on it. None of DH’s attempts at a regular series starring the Big Three really worked. Though I do have to admit I’m probably a bit prejudiced in the matter. Seeing as I consider a mix of the original Marvel run and the daily newspaper strip to be the definitive story of what happened between SW and ESB.

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