Fannish Fifty #1: Star Wars Comics
Jan. 5th, 2023 08:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brokenmnemonicAfter debating with myself for a while, I decided to try the Fannish Fifty posting challenge colls posted up. I have no idea what I'm going to post up, but I'll feel less guilty about paying for a paid account each year if I post more than once or twice this year.
So, for my first post... recs for Star Wars comics published by Dark Horse. One of my brothers gifted me a Marvel Unlimited subscription last year and the year before, and after going through and reading runs of comics I'd wanted to read for years, I decided I should try reading up on the Star Wars comics published over the years. I've been enjoing the![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
swbookclub over the last couple of years, which was the final nudge I think I needed to actually dive into the comics.
I'm reading the comics in in-universe chronological order, using this as my reading guide: Dark Horse Star Wars comic reading order and I've reached the point where I'm reading comics set in the period immediately after the events of Star Wars: A New Hope.
For this post, I thought I'd rec some of the story runs I've particularly enjoyed. These are in the order I remember them or spot them in my goodreads history, so I apologise if it's a bit chaotic!
Star Wars: Rebel Heist. Set after SW:ANH, this is a four-part mini-series, with each issue focussing on one of the big four (Han, Leia, Chewie, Luke) as they conduct a heist for the rebellion. One of the things I like about this story is that each comic is narrated by an onlooker, rather than by the named characters, and it's interesting to see the narrators reactions and prejudices about the characters and the rebellion more generally. Issue 2, the Leia-centric issue, is basically Leia getting to be Star Wars James Bond and was the highlight issue for me.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. This was a relatively long-running comic, spanning about fifty issues, and explores some great themes. It revolved around a padawan who finds himself being hunted by a number of Jedi masters, but over 50 issues becomes a long-running found-family story that includes wars between the Republic and the Mandalorians, the slave trade, prophecies and murder mysteries... in general, I enjoyed all of this run, and some of the mini-arcs are some of my favourite Star Wars comics.
Star Wars: Jango Fett - Open Season I thought this story of rivalry between Jango Fett and a competitor was an interesting read, particularly the way it links back to a young Boba Fett. I've found the Boba Fett-centric comics to be a bit hit and miss for me, but I liked this insight into his early life with Jango.
Star Wars: Empire. This series jumps around a lot, and is basically a set of mini-arcs, some of which interconnect and some don't. Not all of them worked for me, but I thought some were very good; there's an arc dedicated to Biggs Darklighter, and a couple based on an imperial officer named Janek Sunber which cross over into the Star Wars: Rebellion series and which I thought worked well, particularly when Sunber's connection to characters from A New Hope is revealed.
Star Wars: Rebellion. Running for 16 issues, this comic is set post-A New Hope, but pulls in characters from Star Wars: Empire and Knights of the Old Republic, as well as linking back to the Clone Wars, and is generally a good story arc about the Rebellion trying to survive being hunted while still striking at the Empire.
colls posted up. I have no idea what I'm going to post up, but I'll feel less guilty about paying for a paid account each year if I post more than once or twice this year.So, for my first post... recs for Star Wars comics published by Dark Horse. One of my brothers gifted me a Marvel Unlimited subscription last year and the year before, and after going through and reading runs of comics I'd wanted to read for years, I decided I should try reading up on the Star Wars comics published over the years. I've been enjoing the
swbookclub over the last couple of years, which was the final nudge I think I needed to actually dive into the comics.I'm reading the comics in in-universe chronological order, using this as my reading guide: Dark Horse Star Wars comic reading order and I've reached the point where I'm reading comics set in the period immediately after the events of Star Wars: A New Hope.
For this post, I thought I'd rec some of the story runs I've particularly enjoyed. These are in the order I remember them or spot them in my goodreads history, so I apologise if it's a bit chaotic!
Star Wars: Rebel Heist. Set after SW:ANH, this is a four-part mini-series, with each issue focussing on one of the big four (Han, Leia, Chewie, Luke) as they conduct a heist for the rebellion. One of the things I like about this story is that each comic is narrated by an onlooker, rather than by the named characters, and it's interesting to see the narrators reactions and prejudices about the characters and the rebellion more generally. Issue 2, the Leia-centric issue, is basically Leia getting to be Star Wars James Bond and was the highlight issue for me.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. This was a relatively long-running comic, spanning about fifty issues, and explores some great themes. It revolved around a padawan who finds himself being hunted by a number of Jedi masters, but over 50 issues becomes a long-running found-family story that includes wars between the Republic and the Mandalorians, the slave trade, prophecies and murder mysteries... in general, I enjoyed all of this run, and some of the mini-arcs are some of my favourite Star Wars comics.
Star Wars: Jango Fett - Open Season I thought this story of rivalry between Jango Fett and a competitor was an interesting read, particularly the way it links back to a young Boba Fett. I've found the Boba Fett-centric comics to be a bit hit and miss for me, but I liked this insight into his early life with Jango.
Star Wars: Empire. This series jumps around a lot, and is basically a set of mini-arcs, some of which interconnect and some don't. Not all of them worked for me, but I thought some were very good; there's an arc dedicated to Biggs Darklighter, and a couple based on an imperial officer named Janek Sunber which cross over into the Star Wars: Rebellion series and which I thought worked well, particularly when Sunber's connection to characters from A New Hope is revealed.
Star Wars: Rebellion. Running for 16 issues, this comic is set post-A New Hope, but pulls in characters from Star Wars: Empire and Knights of the Old Republic, as well as linking back to the Clone Wars, and is generally a good story arc about the Rebellion trying to survive being hunted while still striking at the Empire.
