Tales Of The Jedi | 1993-1998 comic book series | a general discussion thread

About Tales Of The Jedi:

(most of this has been copied from the TOTJ wookieepedia page, as background for anyone unfamiliar with this comic book series)
 

Tales of the Jedi is a comic book series covering eight story arcs, all published by Dark Horse Comics from 1993 to 1998.

Set during the Old Republic era, six of the eight Tales of the Jedi story arcs take place during the time surrounding the events known collectively as the Great Sith War (circa 4000 BBY), a conflict instigated by Sith forces aimed at galactic domination:

Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon
The Saga of Nomi Sunrider
The Freedon Nadd Uprising
Dark Lords of the Sith
The Sith War
Redemption

The remaining two story arcs occur circa 5000 BBY (around 1000 years before the 6 story arcs above), and revolve around Sith Lord Naga Sadow and his schemes to invade Republic space:

The Golden Age of the Sith
The Fall of the Sith Empire

TOTJ introductory crawl:

The background:

The first story arc, entitled Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon, was written by veteran Star Wars author Tom Veitch and was part of the first series of comics, which eventually became known as Knights of the Old Republic. Veitch went on to write the next two story arcs, The Saga of Nomi Sunrider and The Freedon Nadd Uprising, and co-authored the fourth story arc, Dark Lords of the Sith, with fellow author Kevin J. Anderson.

With the successful completion of Dark Lords of the Sith, Anderson continued the Tales of the Jedi series as the sole storyline writer, with Veitch opting not to continue writing for the series.

Anderson went on to write the final two story arcs, involving main protagonist Ulic Qel-Droma, completing The Sith War in the spring of 1996 and Redemption in the fall of 1998. In the years between the writing of The Sith War and Redemption, Anderson pioneered two more story arcs, both taking place 1,000 years before the other Tales of the Jedi stories and introducing readers to the events surrounding the Great Hyperspace War.

The Tales of the Jedi saga also produced several non-comic productions, such as the Tales of the Jedi Companion, a sourcebook for West End Games’ Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, and two different audio dramas based on various Tales of the Jedi comics. Tales of the Jedi was also the inspiration for the popular Knights of the Old Republic video games.
 

RIP Tom Veitch & https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Tom_Veitch & https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Kevin_J._Anderson
 

2008 interview with Kevin J. Anderson on TOTJ:

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Wookieepedia:Interview/Kevin_J._Anderson

2008 interview with Tom Veitch on TOTJ:

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Wookieepedia:Interview/Tom_Veitch

1998 interview with Christian Gossett on TOTJ:

https://web.archive.org/web/20190730114031/http://theforce.net/jedicouncil/interview/gossett.asp
 
 

Comic book cover art for TOTJ (from https://youtini.com/series/tales-of-the-jedi):

About the TOTJ Audio Book release:

‘Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi (The Complete Unabridged Saga)’ : a 17 video YouTube Playlist from LibriDocs

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL69wE1yyWEuQuZltChSE3syMAbJCUhUUC
 

The video description:

'The audio book deviates from the comic book at times. Both the audio book and comic book are unabridged: every page in the comic is shown at least once. Most of the music was added by me as well (occasionally in a leitmotif-fashion) as the original audio book had very little although I left what music it had intact. It is fast in parts so you might need to use the pause and rewind buttons sometimes.

Rest in peace to Tom Veitch who wrote this story.’
 

wookieepedia page for TOTJ audio drama release page: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Tales_of_the_Jedi_(audio)

Dark Lords of Sith audio page: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Tales_of_the_Jedi:_Dark_Lords_of_the_Sith_(audio)

About the TOTJ Companion book:

‘Tales of the Jedi Companion’ : an 11 minute YouTube video from RPGGamer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un-d9ks3zhU : a flip through type video with talk about the Companion project & TOTJ
 

The video description:

'Tales of the Jedi Companion is a sourcebook for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, published by West End Games on August 1, 1996.

The book covers information related to the first three story arcs of the Tales of the Jedi comic book series by Dark Horse Comics—Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi — Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon, Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi — The Saga of Nomi Sunrider, and Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi — The Freedon Nadd Uprising.’
 

Wookieepedia page for the TOTJ Companion: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Tales_of_the_Jedi_Companion

TOTJ Story and game inspired spinoffs; prequels, sequels, crossovers etc:

 
TOTJ Legacy: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Tales_of_the_Jedi_(comic_series)#Legacy

KOTOR 1 (2003): https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Knights_of_the_Old_Republic
KOTOR 2 (2004): https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Knights_of_the_Old_Republic_II:_The_Sith_Lords
TOR (2011): https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_The_Old_Republic

Vector comics (2008): https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Vector
 

There are a number of ‘KOTOR’ & ‘TOR’ novels / comics / games threads, inspired by Tales Of The Jedi, in the EU Index thread.

About the ‘Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic’ comic series (2006-2010):

 
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a monthly comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics that ran for four years, beginning January 25, 2006 and ending with its fiftieth issue on February 17, 2010. Written by John Jackson Miller, Knights of the Old Republic saw a variety of different artists and cover artists draw various issues of the series, and KotOR serves as a sequel to the earlier Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi comic series and a prequel to the popular Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game.

Wookieepeedia page: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Knights_of_the_Old_Republic_(comic_series)

The 2022 “Tales Of The Jedi” animated series, that plays on the popularity of this comic series, by unjustifiably using the same name and logo, and didn’t even have the decency to include a dedication or acknowledgment that Tom Veitch had recently passed away in it, is here:

Tales of the Jedi (animated series) - General Discussion Thread

(Dave Filoni taking from the EU to alter and use in his own projects, without any credit given to the original creatives, is a familiar trait)

Tom Veitch, Kevin Anderson and the TOTJ creatives basically created much of the ancient society, culture, and lore for both the ancient Jedi and the Sith. The galactic history of the Star Wars universe.

Holocrons, dual-bladed lightsabers, jedi dueling with a saber in each hand. Various compelling new characters, ship and creature designs, and some beguiling world building.

Obviously, this was well before the Jedi were given a major overhaul with several “rule/lore” changes introduced by George Lucas for 2002’s Attack Of The Clones, there wasn’t a “no attachments” rule for the Jedi. Jedi were free to marry, have relationships, have children, had some possessions, and their own homes. They even had different colored lightsabers, not just green or blue, and the Sith or antagonists didn’t always use red sabers either.

Personally, Veitch’s & Anderson’s Jedi are way more interesting and engaging than the regimented and dogmatic Jedi of the Prequels. Although Prequel-Jedi do have the drawback of seemingly being specifically written that way, as part of “reasons why Anakin fell to the dark side”.

It felt hugely significant as it was the first depiction of the Jedi at their height, and also featuring details of the historical Sith, which as the time little was known about. The fairy-tale knight-errant story of a Jedi, fallen Sith, with and complex and conflicting central character elevated the story. Compelling side characters, fleshed out with their backgrounds struck a chord with readers, and left us wanting more. There were many striking ideas with engaging execution in TOTJ, solid storytelling, all immersing you deeper into that familiar Star Wars universe.

For me, the TOTJ team certainly left behind one of the most impressive legacies in the EU. 35 issues of enthralling reading.
 

What did you guys think about the TOTJ comics?

Okay, so I actually just finished reading this series and was preparing to write up my own little review so this thread is perfect timing!

I really liked it. It’s an epic in every sense of the word: it features war, love, loss, revenge, and redemption. It’s corny, dated, and cheesy at some points, but Tales is so incredibly human.

One of my favorite aspects was the idea of what it means to be a Jedi- what the spirit of a Jedi truly is. It’s about the choices you make daily. It’s about facing the consequences of your actions. It’s about accepting the past and knowing you can’t change it, but making a choice to act and make things better in the moment.

Ulic Qel-Droma’s story was a rollercoaster, and Exar Kun was a cool villain. Again, the series has its clunky moments, but it made me feel things like pity, disappointment, and concern for the characters.

The art is mostly fine. It’s mostly in 90’s styles but it’s fair. There’s only one issue or so where I thought the art was poor. David Roach’s art in The Saga of Nomi Sunrider Part 2 and Chris Grosset’s work in the Redemption arc were my favorites. The aesthetics of the series was perfect.

Also, Redemption was fantastic! It was so incredibly done. Poetic and with lots of meaningful imagery and themes.

To summarize, Tales of the Jedi was a worthy read despite some of its quirks.

of_Kaiburr_and_Whills said:

The art is mostly fine. It’s mostly in 90’s styles but it’s fair. There’s only one issue or so where I thought the art was poor. David Roach’s art in The Saga of Nomi Sunrider Part 2 and Chris Grosset’s work in the Redemption arc were my favorites. The aesthetics of the series was perfect.

Agree 100%. Roach’s art is outstanding and I wish he’d returned for future arcs. Alas, it wasn’t to be. I think Dario Carrasco’s linework was competent, but it was muddied by atrocious inking, making The Sith War/Golden Age of the Sith Empire/Fall of the Sith Empire my least favourite arcs to revisit.

I think KJA did an alright job on the series after Veitch left. It’s probably his best writing on SW, full stop. I dislike how condensed the events of the Great Hyperspace and Sith Wars are, though. I don’t know if this was a creative choice on his part or if there was a mandate from on-high forcing him to tell the whole story within a few finite miniseries, but it makes these wars feel smaller and less impactful than they should’ve been.

darklordoftech said:

Ludo Kressh seems to be a road not taken for the Sith. I wonder what would have hapoened if the Republic discovered a Kressh-ruled Sith Empire.

I once thought I’d love to see that whole story told one day, even all of TOTJ, in animation or live-action. But now I think they’d just just screw it up, so it maybe best it is just left alone.

So many curious and fascinating ideas and stories in the early EU. Pre 2002-2005 “rules”, especially.

Kressh and a few of the other Sith Lords depicted in The Golden Age of the Sith Empire appear out of step with the Sith who showed up post-1999.

Can’t imagine the social Darwinist Sith of Lucas, Karpyshyn, Ostrander, etc. showing such compassion.

Someone on this forum shared a pre-TESB Starlog article which speculated about Darth Vader and Sith moral codes. I wish I’d bookmarked it.

Superweapon VII said:

I think KJA did an alright job on the series after Veitch left. It’s probably his best writing on SW, full stop.

For sure.

I dislike how condensed the events of the Great Hyperspace and Sith Wars are, though. I don’t know if this was a creative choice on his part or if there was a mandate from on-high forcing him to tell the whole story within a few finite miniseries, but it makes these wars feel smaller and less impactful than they should’ve been.

A more grand-scaled conflict is a missed opportunity. An editorial mandate seems quite likely.

I wonder if Veitch and Anderson were signed on for a specific amount of issues beforehand or if they only got deals to do one arc at a time?

MinchD36 said:

Tales of the Jedi is my favorite EU Comics is a shame that this story never had an animated series in the 90s i imagine it being similar to He-Man or Thundercats

Something like this, then:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkxE3fKS_Js

*shudder*