Star Wars

Since the release of the first Star Wars movie, the universe created by George Lucas has never stopped expanding. Beyond the movies, TV shows, games, novels, comics, and more have been created to cover many stories in the Star Wars galaxy, spanning more than 25, 000 years of history.

It was called the Star Wars Expanded Universe. But when Disney bought the Star Wars franchise, the company simply blew up this Expanded Universe in order to create a new official canon. So everything that have been published before April 25, 2014, was now part of the Star Wars Legends, the new name given to the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

A lot of comic books have been published during the past 35 years, before April 2014. Star Wars Comic books were first published by Marvel Comics from 1977 to 1986. After, Dark Horse Comics owned the license exclusively from 1991 to 2014. Pendulum Press (1978) and Blackthorne (1987–1988) also published some Star Wars Comics, and Star Wars comic strips have been distributed in the newspapers the Los Angeles Times Syndicate and Watertown Daily Times between 1979 and 1984.

This article is devoted to the Star Wars Legends or Expanded Universe, to the Star Wars comic books published before April 25, 2014. For the ongoing Star Wars Canon, you can find the reading order over here.

Read More »Star Wars Legends Comics Reading Order (The Star Wars Expanded Universe)

A young character in the Star Wars Universe, Doctor Aphra made her debut in Star Wars: Darth Vader #3 in March 2015. Created by writer Kieron Gillen, artist Salavador Larroca and editors Jordan D. White and Heather Antos, she was a breakout character and soon will go to headline her own title.

Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra, called Doctor Aphra, is a criminal archaeologist who is recruited by Darth Vader to help him get an army of droids.  Aphra is quickly established as an anti-heroine, a morally ambiguous and sometimes unreliable character who tends to use people to serve her own interests, but also makes mistakes that put her in grave danger. If she succeeds to stay alive, it’s simply because Aphra is quite smart and is good at improvisation.

The best way to become familiar with Aphra is, of course, to read her adventures following this Doctor Aphra reading order! For an expanded experience, check out our Star Wars Canon Comics Reading order.

Read More »Doctor Aphra Reading Order (Star Wars)

Does Darth Vader really need an introduction? Darth Vader is one of the most iconic villains of all time. Created by George Lucas, he is the central antagonist of the original Star Wars trilogy.

But Darth Vader was not always Darth Vader. Before, he was Anakin Skywalker, The Chosen One. He was destined to bring balance to the Force and was trained by Obi-Wan Kenobi to become a Jedi. He was one of the main protagonists of the prequel trilogy.

When Skywalker chose to turn to the dark side of the Force, and pledged his allegiance to the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, his alter ego, Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith, was created.

This is the story of a tragic hero who turned villain and became one of the most famous fictional characters ever. It’s no surprise that several stories have been featuring him in the Star Wars Universe, Legends or Canon timeline.

For this reason, Darth Vader deserves, without a doubt, his own comic reading order (with a few books). For an expanded experience, check out our Star Wars Canon Comics Reading order or our Star Wars Legends Comics Reading Order.

Read More »Darth Vader Reading Order (Star Wars)

Every Marvel reader could tell you how much the publisher loves a crossover event, for better or worse. So, I’m pretty sure no one was surprised when they finally announced a big crossover event in the Star Wars Universe.

Coming from writer Charles Soule and artist Luke Cross, Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters takes place during the Age of the Rebellion, between the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. As the official synopsis reveals, “the notorious bounty hunter Boba Fett has finally landed his greatest prize — Han Solo, frozen in carbonite for easy transport. Fett will bring the smuggler to Tatooine to collect the massive bounty placed on Solo’s head by the fearsome crime lord Jabba the Hutt. Sounds easy. What could go wrong? There’s just one problem standing between Fett and the payday…and it’s a big one. But Fett will stop at nothing to get the job done!”

What to read before Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters?

There is no background reading necessary to do before jumping into The Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters event. Still, if you want to know what’s happened in the comics before this crossover, check out our Star Wars Comics Canon Reading Order.

Read More »Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters Reading Order, a Boba Fett story

In a galaxy far, far away, humans, aliens, and droids lives numerous adventures since 1977 in the Star Wars franchise, comprised of movies, television series, video games, books, comic books, and more.

For a long time, those adventures were part of what was called The Star Wars Expanded Universe — since then renamed Star Wars Legends (see our reading order). Things changed when Walt Disney acquired the Star Wars franchise and decided it was time for a clean slate (or a reboot!). Meaning that, outside of the original six Star Wars films produced by George Lucas and certain other materials, everything that has been created before April 25, 2014, was now part of the Star Wars Legends aka the old continuity. And so, everything published after April 25 was now considered part of the new canon (it’s a little more complicated than that, but the details are not necessary here).

Marvel was actually the first company to publish Star Wars Comics in 1977 (and for the next ten years). The Star Wars comics license returned to them in 2015, and they are now the primary Star Wars comics publisher. In 2017, IDW Publishing launched the anthology series Star Wars Adventures. And in 2022, Dark Horse will resume publishing new Star Wars comics and graphic novels.

This article is devoted to the Star Wars canon, to the Star Wars comic books published after April 25, 2014. Since that date, Marvel has been quite a busy bee, helped by IDW, and a lot of Star Wars comics are published every month. It’s now time to take a closer look at all those stories…

Read More »Star Wars Comics Canon Reading Order (2024 Edition)