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greedoinheels) wrote2016-11-21 12:14 am
greedoinheels) wrote2016-11-21 12:14 am
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Canon Comics: A Guide by Beginners for Beginners
I haven't updated this thing in a while, so I thought I should do so with something I know way too much about. Comics books. Or just the new canon Star Wars comic books.
But this obsession is rather new. I've only seriously started collecting Star Wars comics in the last few months, and only new canon ones at that. The Star Wars Comics community on reddit has been a huge help in keeping me up on what's coming out when, so if this sparks your interest to try collecting them (or you've already started) then I certainly advise you check it out.
If collecting comics isn't your thing, you could always read them online for free at Read Comics. If collecting is your thing, I would first advise you to check out your local comic book store (support those guys!), but if you live in a shit area like I do, I've started using TFAW for comics that I must have. You can also check out Midtown Comics, MyComicShop, or even get a subscription through Marvel (though I've heard bad things about their service).
Without any further ado, here's a working list of canon comics. Be aware that there are a ton of Star Wars comics out there, but some go into the Legends or Legacy category. Since Disney bought the rights, some things aren't canon anymore. That said, I don't know anything about the Legends stuff. I've only been collecting new canon material. So, here we go!
Not to be confused with the original series that started in 1977, this is the new canon comic books centered around our OT trio, just like old times. It's set between ANH and Empire with a current run of 27 comics, still an on-going series. It also ties into another series with a crossover that I'll get into in a second. The art is meh, but the story is pretty good. It's still the centerpiece, though, so it's obviously a must have/must read set. You'd be surprised how many times Luke and Vader had an encounter before that faithful day on Bespin.
Here's that crossover series I mentioned. From what I can tell, this is everyone's favorite run of the Star Wars comics, and for good reason. Vader's a total bastard with such a deep backstory, it's amazing. The series is finished with a nice round number of 25 comics, and is definitely a must read if you're here to enjoy yourself. Around the middle, they crossover with the Star Wars comics, producing a one shot issue called Vader Down, then both series go back and forth between titles before separating again. It's really exciting, honestly. I'm probably too excited about it. It was just really awesome and this series is great.
Next is Kanan. If you've watched Clone Wars and Rebels, then you know who this kid is. If not, great, you're just like me! Basically, this is set during and just after the prequel trilogy, following the last jedi padawan, Kanan. It's a 12 issue run that finished some time ago. The art is not as great as it could be, being a bit cartoonish, but the story is pretty good and the cover art is wonderful. Otherwise, I'm a terrible noob when it comes to this series.
Well now, what do we have here? Now we've got a story. This is another fan favorite comic centered around everyone's favorite not-backstabber, Lando Calrissian. It's a finished 5 issue miniseries that's not too hard to find. Basically, it's set right before and during the OT, featuring Lando and Lobot getting into a shit situation with the Empire over a smuggling deal gone really really bad. The art is pretty good in here, too. For the story alone, this one's a definitely pick-me-up.
Ah, my first love. Don't let the cover art fool you. These guys have very little to do with this story. To put into context, this was the first piece of canon material set after Jedi before TFA came out. So this was basically the first glimpse into what the future held. This is set during and right after the Battle of Endor following Shara Bey, an A-Wing pilot of the Rebellion who fought alongside a Duros named L'ulo and wife of a Pathfinder named Kes Dameron. Did I trigger something yet? This is an epic 4 part miniseries with beautiful art and incredible sequences centered around Poe Dameron's parents in their hay day, more particularly Poe's late mother. It's incredible. It does feature Han, Leia, and Luke, before the happy couple decides to settle down on Yavin-IV with their young son. If you're a fan of the new series, you have got to read Shattered Empire. No excuses.
This one is very much a black sheep. Or a Dark Horse, considering that's the company that published this 4 issue title. Way back in the day, Marvel sold the rights to Star Wars comics over to Dark Horse, so they made a lot for a time. Their last run was this series before Marvel suddenly decided that they really want this franchise back what with J.J. Abrams and everything. Disney allowed this miniseries to remain canon, which was an incredible gift to Dark Horse. See, Darth Maul was a popular character of an unpopular trilogy to a dying fandom when they released this limited run of books. Now that Star Wars is roaring through space again, it's big and famous and beautiful. And these books suddenly went from shit to expensive as hell. If you happen to have some lying around, it would probably be very beneficial for you to google the process of grading comic books. If you don't have any of these, I've heard that they can sometimes go on sale at MyComicShop for cheaper prices than Amazon. Basically, this is the coup de gras of new canon. The story is apparently pretty good, too. It's based during the Clone Wars.
Now this is a cool series with cute artwork. This 5 issue miniseries centers around Leia after the Battle of Yavin, and mostly focuses on how she hones the sadness of losing Alderaan to anger against the Empire and hope to make a better future. It's really good, goes much deeper into Leia's characterization, which is spot on, and introduces some wonderful new characters to us. It's not as incredible as some others, and it is short, but it's so good and wonderful. And Leia is so badass.
This one is known amongst the fandom as meh. It's okay, kind of cute, not really memorable. It's not absolutely atrocious, but I've yet to meet someone who said, "Holy shit! Did you read the new Chewbacca!?" But I digress. This 5 part miniseries is still cute and lovely, especially if you wanna give a little love to everyone's favorite fourth wheel of the trio THAT NO ONE EVER REALLY ACKNOWLEDGES but I'm not bitter or anything.
Now if you want to see something beautiful? This 5 part series set a while after TPM is written by Charles Soule, the same writer of Lando, and the art is by Marco Checchetto, the same amazing man who did the art for Shattered Empire. Needless to say, it's beautiful. And if you're like most of the Star Wars fandom, starved for good canon material to come out of the prequels era focusing on the Jedi, then this series is definitely for you. If you're not going to get any other books out of this list, at least get these. They're so wonderful.
Okay! Here we go! These are by far my favorite, but I'm totally and unashamedly bias. Still, we're getting an on-going series based in the sequel era, so what's not to love? This series, currently set at 10 issues but more will likely come around, is set just before TFA, following Poe and his team of starfighter pilots on a quest to find Lor San Tekka and that damn map. It's written by the same guy who did Lando and Obi-Wan & Anakin, drawn by Phil Noto, the guy that basically drew for every other series on here. So it really is a great series, getting a look into the Resistance and glimpses at Poe's personal life. A lot of L'ulo, Snap, Jess, Karé, Leia, BB-8, etc. We still don't know if Kes is alive or anything about Poe's sexuality, but it's still an awesome series anyway. Plus Poe has his own totally-gay, morally-ambiguous, actually-interesting villain. And there's some amazing variant covers, too.
This one-shot book is not at all a fan favorite, which is kind of a shame because I really liked it. This centers on Threepio slightly before TFA and focuses on just how he got that red arm. It actually manages to bring into question the morality of A.I. vs human intelligence, ala Ghost In The Shell or Blade Runner, which is amazing and shocking all at once. And the art is very different but highly enjoyable. However, this issue tends to have a pretty upscale price considering the demand for it, so that blows. But it's still a great little thing to read, though. And it even ties into the Lego game! (I gotta say, it's freaking incredible how much really ties into that game, but I digress again.)
This is such a good series, though. Like I'm legitimately invested in this one. An on-going 5 part miniseries, this centers around Han after ANH as he tries to go back to smuggling to pay off Jabba. Leia calls him up for a mission with the Rebellion, and he can't exactly say no to Leia. So now Han has found himself in the space version of Mad Max as he tries to win a deadly race to find the traitor hidden among the Rebel spies. It is so good and that art is wonderful, done by Mark Brooks. Because it's so shockingly good, you may have a hard time finding copies of these. So much so that there was a Hastings exclusive variant released when Hastings announced that they were closing, so many fans assumed the variant would never see the shelf, AND YET I MANAGED TO GET ONE AHHHHH!! But anyway, definitely check it out. If you're unsure about getting into these comic books, I'd say this is a great one to start off with. The story is so good that it'll suck you right in.
The comic adaptation of the movie released in 6 parts. Like many adaptations, the original is so much better. You can certainly pick these up as a die hard fan, like I've been doing, but they really don't provide anything that we didn't already know and some things were even left out or rushed through. It's okay. It's meh.
I know, you're confused. That's because this is the first time that a comic book original character got her (or his) own story line complete with their own title series. It's pretty cool and no one is more deserving of it than Doctor Aphra. Or, okay, maybe some people are, but she's cool, too! She's a character from the Darth Vader books who helped the Empire and eventually sold them but then returned to the Vader's side for him to "execute" her, which didn't work out seeing as how she's still kicking. And kicking pretty well, might I add. Though, I have to say, in the Darth Vader books, she looked a lot more asian than she does here. But I guess we'll see. This series will begin release in December 2016.
And you're confused again because I just listed the Darth Maul comics! Well, this is a new series coming out February 2017 that also features this badass. Set to be another 5 issue miniseries, this story takes place before TPM and is meant to be an origin story of sorts. I'm not sure why, but I'm oddly looking forward to it.
And that's it for now! I'm sure I'll come back later and update this with more series or something, but this is a basic guide to the comics. I probably should have just listed important things that everyone needs to know from them, but where's the fun in that. Anyway, thanks a lot! I promise to post some actual discussion worthy topics again soon.
But this obsession is rather new. I've only seriously started collecting Star Wars comics in the last few months, and only new canon ones at that. The Star Wars Comics community on reddit has been a huge help in keeping me up on what's coming out when, so if this sparks your interest to try collecting them (or you've already started) then I certainly advise you check it out.
If collecting comics isn't your thing, you could always read them online for free at Read Comics. If collecting is your thing, I would first advise you to check out your local comic book store (support those guys!), but if you live in a shit area like I do, I've started using TFAW for comics that I must have. You can also check out Midtown Comics, MyComicShop, or even get a subscription through Marvel (though I've heard bad things about their service).
Without any further ado, here's a working list of canon comics. Be aware that there are a ton of Star Wars comics out there, but some go into the Legends or Legacy category. Since Disney bought the rights, some things aren't canon anymore. That said, I don't know anything about the Legends stuff. I've only been collecting new canon material. So, here we go!
Star Wars (Marvel 2015)
Not to be confused with the original series that started in 1977, this is the new canon comic books centered around our OT trio, just like old times. It's set between ANH and Empire with a current run of 27 comics, still an on-going series. It also ties into another series with a crossover that I'll get into in a second. The art is meh, but the story is pretty good. It's still the centerpiece, though, so it's obviously a must have/must read set. You'd be surprised how many times Luke and Vader had an encounter before that faithful day on Bespin.
Darth Vader
Here's that crossover series I mentioned. From what I can tell, this is everyone's favorite run of the Star Wars comics, and for good reason. Vader's a total bastard with such a deep backstory, it's amazing. The series is finished with a nice round number of 25 comics, and is definitely a must read if you're here to enjoy yourself. Around the middle, they crossover with the Star Wars comics, producing a one shot issue called Vader Down, then both series go back and forth between titles before separating again. It's really exciting, honestly. I'm probably too excited about it. It was just really awesome and this series is great.
Kanan
Next is Kanan. If you've watched Clone Wars and Rebels, then you know who this kid is. If not, great, you're just like me! Basically, this is set during and just after the prequel trilogy, following the last jedi padawan, Kanan. It's a 12 issue run that finished some time ago. The art is not as great as it could be, being a bit cartoonish, but the story is pretty good and the cover art is wonderful. Otherwise, I'm a terrible noob when it comes to this series.
Lando
Well now, what do we have here? Now we've got a story. This is another fan favorite comic centered around everyone's favorite not-backstabber, Lando Calrissian. It's a finished 5 issue miniseries that's not too hard to find. Basically, it's set right before and during the OT, featuring Lando and Lobot getting into a shit situation with the Empire over a smuggling deal gone really really bad. The art is pretty good in here, too. For the story alone, this one's a definitely pick-me-up.
Shattered Empire
Ah, my first love. Don't let the cover art fool you. These guys have very little to do with this story. To put into context, this was the first piece of canon material set after Jedi before TFA came out. So this was basically the first glimpse into what the future held. This is set during and right after the Battle of Endor following Shara Bey, an A-Wing pilot of the Rebellion who fought alongside a Duros named L'ulo and wife of a Pathfinder named Kes Dameron. Did I trigger something yet? This is an epic 4 part miniseries with beautiful art and incredible sequences centered around Poe Dameron's parents in their hay day, more particularly Poe's late mother. It's incredible. It does feature Han, Leia, and Luke, before the happy couple decides to settle down on Yavin-IV with their young son. If you're a fan of the new series, you have got to read Shattered Empire. No excuses.
Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir
This one is very much a black sheep. Or a Dark Horse, considering that's the company that published this 4 issue title. Way back in the day, Marvel sold the rights to Star Wars comics over to Dark Horse, so they made a lot for a time. Their last run was this series before Marvel suddenly decided that they really want this franchise back what with J.J. Abrams and everything. Disney allowed this miniseries to remain canon, which was an incredible gift to Dark Horse. See, Darth Maul was a popular character of an unpopular trilogy to a dying fandom when they released this limited run of books. Now that Star Wars is roaring through space again, it's big and famous and beautiful. And these books suddenly went from shit to expensive as hell. If you happen to have some lying around, it would probably be very beneficial for you to google the process of grading comic books. If you don't have any of these, I've heard that they can sometimes go on sale at MyComicShop for cheaper prices than Amazon. Basically, this is the coup de gras of new canon. The story is apparently pretty good, too. It's based during the Clone Wars.
Princess Leia
Now this is a cool series with cute artwork. This 5 issue miniseries centers around Leia after the Battle of Yavin, and mostly focuses on how she hones the sadness of losing Alderaan to anger against the Empire and hope to make a better future. It's really good, goes much deeper into Leia's characterization, which is spot on, and introduces some wonderful new characters to us. It's not as incredible as some others, and it is short, but it's so good and wonderful. And Leia is so badass.
Chewbacca
This one is known amongst the fandom as meh. It's okay, kind of cute, not really memorable. It's not absolutely atrocious, but I've yet to meet someone who said, "Holy shit! Did you read the new Chewbacca!?" But I digress. This 5 part miniseries is still cute and lovely, especially if you wanna give a little love to everyone's favorite fourth wheel of the trio THAT NO ONE EVER REALLY ACKNOWLEDGES but I'm not bitter or anything.
Obi-Wan & Anakin
Now if you want to see something beautiful? This 5 part series set a while after TPM is written by Charles Soule, the same writer of Lando, and the art is by Marco Checchetto, the same amazing man who did the art for Shattered Empire. Needless to say, it's beautiful. And if you're like most of the Star Wars fandom, starved for good canon material to come out of the prequels era focusing on the Jedi, then this series is definitely for you. If you're not going to get any other books out of this list, at least get these. They're so wonderful.
Poe Dameron
Okay! Here we go! These are by far my favorite, but I'm totally and unashamedly bias. Still, we're getting an on-going series based in the sequel era, so what's not to love? This series, currently set at 10 issues but more will likely come around, is set just before TFA, following Poe and his team of starfighter pilots on a quest to find Lor San Tekka and that damn map. It's written by the same guy who did Lando and Obi-Wan & Anakin, drawn by Phil Noto, the guy that basically drew for every other series on here. So it really is a great series, getting a look into the Resistance and glimpses at Poe's personal life. A lot of L'ulo, Snap, Jess, Karé, Leia, BB-8, etc. We still don't know if Kes is alive or anything about Poe's sexuality, but it's still an awesome series anyway. Plus Poe has his own totally-gay, morally-ambiguous, actually-interesting villain. And there's some amazing variant covers, too.
C-3PO
This one-shot book is not at all a fan favorite, which is kind of a shame because I really liked it. This centers on Threepio slightly before TFA and focuses on just how he got that red arm. It actually manages to bring into question the morality of A.I. vs human intelligence, ala Ghost In The Shell or Blade Runner, which is amazing and shocking all at once. And the art is very different but highly enjoyable. However, this issue tends to have a pretty upscale price considering the demand for it, so that blows. But it's still a great little thing to read, though. And it even ties into the Lego game! (I gotta say, it's freaking incredible how much really ties into that game, but I digress again.)
Han Solo
This is such a good series, though. Like I'm legitimately invested in this one. An on-going 5 part miniseries, this centers around Han after ANH as he tries to go back to smuggling to pay off Jabba. Leia calls him up for a mission with the Rebellion, and he can't exactly say no to Leia. So now Han has found himself in the space version of Mad Max as he tries to win a deadly race to find the traitor hidden among the Rebel spies. It is so good and that art is wonderful, done by Mark Brooks. Because it's so shockingly good, you may have a hard time finding copies of these. So much so that there was a Hastings exclusive variant released when Hastings announced that they were closing, so many fans assumed the variant would never see the shelf, AND YET I MANAGED TO GET ONE AHHHHH!! But anyway, definitely check it out. If you're unsure about getting into these comic books, I'd say this is a great one to start off with. The story is so good that it'll suck you right in.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
The comic adaptation of the movie released in 6 parts. Like many adaptations, the original is so much better. You can certainly pick these up as a die hard fan, like I've been doing, but they really don't provide anything that we didn't already know and some things were even left out or rushed through. It's okay. It's meh.
Doctor Aphra
I know, you're confused. That's because this is the first time that a comic book original character got her (or his) own story line complete with their own title series. It's pretty cool and no one is more deserving of it than Doctor Aphra. Or, okay, maybe some people are, but she's cool, too! She's a character from the Darth Vader books who helped the Empire and eventually sold them but then returned to the Vader's side for him to "execute" her, which didn't work out seeing as how she's still kicking. And kicking pretty well, might I add. Though, I have to say, in the Darth Vader books, she looked a lot more asian than she does here. But I guess we'll see. This series will begin release in December 2016.
Darth Maul
And you're confused again because I just listed the Darth Maul comics! Well, this is a new series coming out February 2017 that also features this badass. Set to be another 5 issue miniseries, this story takes place before TPM and is meant to be an origin story of sorts. I'm not sure why, but I'm oddly looking forward to it.
And that's it for now! I'm sure I'll come back later and update this with more series or something, but this is a basic guide to the comics. I probably should have just listed important things that everyone needs to know from them, but where's the fun in that. Anyway, thanks a lot! I promise to post some actual discussion worthy topics again soon.