Comics!

[CiG]

There's even a novel by James Luceno called Cloak of Deception which does just that by being a set-up novel for The Phantom Menace.

Oh interesting. I'll have to make note of it and pick it up sometime.

To be fair, that was somewhat mitigated with the other armor and infantry they added like the droidekas, the super battle droids, the spider droids, the Vulture-class droid starfighter in Revenge of the Sith, and others. With Jake Lloyd...yeah, it probably could have been handled differently.

Point definitely taken and I considered weighing the stupidity of the 1138 battle droids against the menacing functional prowess of the droidekas, super battle droids, spider droids and so on, but I felt that the 1138 battle droids were treated as characters beyond merely being figures of antagonist violence, they're treated as slapstick comical characters. Strangely might I add.

He was actually really good in any scene involving pure emotion.

Precisely what I meant. He is one of those actors that is able to convey reasonable depth with just his facial expressions. It's a shame his experiences in the Star Wars prequel trilogy seems to have soiled him on acting. I think he basically retired...

Honestly, I didn't like Samuel L. Jackson in the films. He's cool, but he's one of those actors that just pretty much plays the same guy over and over, though he toned it down somewhat for the Star Wars films. Could also be that by now I'm tired of seeing him in every second film.

I didn't just mean the novelizations but the actual Expanded Universe material that covers events that aren't featured in the films. That being said, the OT novelizations do have some "extra stuff". I actually quite prefer the PT novelizations to those because there is just more story to the prequel trilogy that would warrant an entire novel.

Ah, okay I understand. I don't have any Star Wars graphic novels but I'm definitely interested (especially now, reinvigorated interest via that awesome depiction of General Grievous in comic book form, wow so imposing!) and so where would you recommend to start?

ALOT of SW-comics suffers from the writers being used to super heroes and general tropes of DC and marvel, which makes alot of the characters, and stories just super heroes in space (the Disney reboot is really plagued by this).

I'd always struggled for how to put into words my problems with the reboot films, this explains it perfectly.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

I agree about the Legend status of the old canon for sure. I've read alot (ALOT) of Star Wars comics and one thing I really liked about the whole thing has been how alive it feels, stories that (to an extent) are cordinated and places into a continuum. When everything I read can matter in later stories and things really are definite. When they suddenly doesn't matter anymore it kind of takes the air out of it.

Absolutely.

The Star Wars comic that I probably like the most is The Thrawn Trilogy, and I think it is for two reasons. First it is a novel-adaption which makes the story very non-comic booky. ALOT of SW-comics suffers from the writers being used to super heroes and general thropes of DC and marvel, which makes alot of the characters, and stories just super heroes in space (the Disney reboot is really plagued by this). The story is well thought out with interesting characters that really fit the Star Wars saga.

I think it also applies The Force Awakens and Rogue One in the sense that they are cut and edited in the same way that a Marvel film might. It doesn't fit at all and it really undercuts the musical score and the characters. As far as comics goes, I think Star Wars writers (from Dark Horse, anyway) understood how to not fall in those habits. With Marvel, not so much. Charles Soule's work has been the only stuff I've enjoyed from the new canon comics along with the Obi-Wan and Anakin series. Not much else.

The second thing is the art style which also is a big problem for alot of especially modern SW-comics. The super flashy and vibrat colors and gimmicky character portrayals just feels really off. It can work in pre-equals because of the tone of those movies but stories with the classic crew of Luke, Han etc should have this dirty archaic feel to it which the original , which the original trilogy gets from not using computer generated effects. The comic version of Thrawn Trilogy captures this perfectly.

I genuinely liked the sense of variety and style that artists like Cam Kennedy or Jan Duursema (for example) brought to the comics. With the OT stuff and the New Republic era stuff in Legends, there was an appropriate amount of grit that there isn't in the new canon stuff. It's too glossy.

The Thrawn Trilogy comic adaptation also go really well with Mara Jade's series.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

Oh interesting. I'll have to make note of it and pick it up sometime.

I'd recommend plenty of Luceno's Star Wars novels.

Point definitely taken and I considered weighing the stupidity of the 1138 battle droids against the menacing functional prowess of the droidekas, super battle droids, spider droids and so on, but I felt that the 1138 battle droids were treated as characters beyond merely being figures of antagonist violence, they're treated as slapstick comical characters. Strangely might I add.

It's quite cringeworthy, I'd agree. Thankfully, that isn't really prevalent in a lot of the Expanded Universe material so you'll be spared of that.

Precisely what I meant. He is one of those actors that is able to convey reasonable depth with just his facial expressions. It's a shame his experiences in the Star Wars prequel trilogy seems to have soiled him on acting. I think he basically retired...

Oh, he certainly didn't retire. Although, he wasn't fortunate enough to get cast in any other good films. The only other good one I could think of was Shattered Glass and he was excellent in that one. Nothing much else though, unfortunately.

Honestly, I didn't like Samuel L. Jackson in the films. He's cool, but he's one of those actors that just pretty much plays the same guy over and over, though he toned it down somewhat for the Star Wars films. Could also be that by now I'm tired of seeing him in every second film.

"What does the Dark Lord LOOK LIKE?! Does he look LIKE A BITCH?!"

In all seriousness, he was alright in that movie. It's just one of those things you experience in hindsight, I'm afraid.

Ah, okay I understand. I don't have any Star Wars graphic novels but I'm definitely interested (especially now, reinvigorated interest via that awesome depiction of General Grievous in comic book form, wow so imposing!) and so where would you recommend to start?

I'm glad reinvigorated interest for you. General Grievous in Legends is just far better in every conceivable way to how he is in the current continuity.

As for where to start, I'd probably recommend some of the post-Return of the Jedi material. This includes the Thrawn Trilogy (novels or comics, I'd recommend both), Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand, the Hand of Thrawn duology (follows up on the Thrawn Trilogy and foreshadows the New Jedi Order series), the Dark Empire comics, the X-Wing Rogue Squadron comics (and the novels), and Crimson Empire (which also foreshadows some stuff from NJO).

Here's some of the covers/artwork:

I'd also recommend plenty of the Old Republic era stuff as well. Primarily the Knights of the Old Republic comics by John Jackson Miller and the Tales of the Jedi comics by Tom Veitch and Kevin J. Anderson.

Those are just my recommendations. However, I'd also recommend taking a look at the Legends timeline if you want to start from the beginning with comics like Dawn of the Jedi.

 

[CiG]

So much to take in, but I'm determined!

 

[lovegd]

wow ,I may try to take some

 

[Talos of Atmora]

I personally adore The Clone Wars series, but other than that, I feel Talos is spot on here.

Did you feel that I was off-base with anything regarding the television series?

 

[Talos of Atmora]

I loved the Anakin in the series, seems far more like an actual, fun, believable character than the whiny pissboy caricature we got in the prequels.

I think the reason why I prefer Republic in that regard is due to the fact that they kept a lot of his mannerisms as they developed in the films but actually remembered to show his good traits. With TCW, I just think there's barely any resemblance. That being said, I didn't dislike that portrayal until the Mortis arc. More on that momentarily.

Quinlan Vos was awful in that show, I agree, complete fucked it up with him.

Yeah, many people I've met who liked the series end up realizing that they messed up quite badly regarding his characterization.

Ahsoka isn't pointless though, she gives him a mirror that he wouldn't otherwise have, it reflects his own stability through someone else, while also providing another interesting character.

I've always thought of Obi-Wan as Anakin's foil. Besides, the Council didn't trust him with the rank of "master" in the films so I doubt they'd put an impressionable young apprentice under his tutelage. If anything, the only time where I can genuinely say Ahsoka "worked" for me was when she was with Plo Koon which kind of opens up the possibility that her being his apprentice would have been a far better idea. Too late for that, though.

There's several other things like her crossing blades with Grievous without somehow getting killed, her easily dispatching Magnaguards, the fact that she is inserted into situations she has no place in because it becomes more and more obvious that she is Filoni's "pet character", etc.

I agree on Grievous as well, though I'll admit, I enjoyed his slapstick interactions with the B-1s a little too much. You're right though, he should've been a far more grim character. But at the same time, him being a more comedic underling provides a contrast to Dooku, who I disagree with you about. He's a little impotent at times, but other than that? Phenomenal villain, I take him seriously just about every moment he's on screen, colossal presence.

You remember when it said that there were "heroes on both sides" in Episode III's opening crawl? Well, in the Expanded Universe material before TCW, that was actually apparent. They were viewed as heroes by the Separatists because Dooku played the political game while Grievous was the broken soldier who rose from the ashes of a destroyed ship that "the Jedi apparently planted" in order to combat the Republic...to great effect. You see, that's kind of the problem. We see very little of that. The CIS, as a whole, gets so little actual development when it comes to Grievous and Dooku that they end up becoming an extremely generic faction as a result.

Also, a lot of what makes Dooku's impotence infuriating to me is from a new-canon novel called Dark Disciple which was originally meant to be part of the later seasons of TCW (which were cancelled). The crap in that novel somehow manages to do less justice to him than the series did. It's sad.

 

[Vilden]

So now I've read all the new Marvel Star Wars and my ranking:

Totally unreadable garbage:

Poe Dameron - Wth is wrong with this shit, giant eggs with weird monsters, C3PO as some super spy network guy is so off putting. This drags on without the characters developing at all.

Princess Leia - How much out of character is it possible to write a character? Why is Leia always depitcted as some super fighter-pilot going on rogue missions (Brian Woods Star Wars, I'm looking at you)? This feels so off on lots of levels. Sobby emo Leia going off on some separatist-feminist mission to perserv her race. BLM would be proud.

Darth Maul - One dimensional much? And those sarlacc-inspired monsters in the beginning, give me a break...

Below avreage:

Lando - Guess it could have been ok if it was not for the obvious superheroes in disguise thrown in, like the cat guys and the girl in flying super suit. Blablabla he gambles we got it.

Chewbacca - Not sure what to say about this more than that it felt totally uninteresting and unrelevant. Some side mission without any meaning. And Chewbacca looking like a retard crashing several ships and going around like a mad ape felt really off putting.

Obi-Wan and Anakin - Kind of liked the art, quite flashy but how is this Star Wars? I read a steam punk story that half way through turned into Battletech. WTF has big Japanese style mechas with projectile weapons (!!! X( ) to do with Star Wars?

Average:

Star Wars - this series is the longest and hardest to review because it varies quite abit, but it is ok except for the recurring theme of out of character, lazy story and lore misses that feels really off putting.

Darth Vader - Tbh I can 't exactly say which ones are the Star Wars series and which ones are the Darth Vader, but what I can say about this one is that Darth Vader is NOT Batman no matter how much marvel wishes it. STOP with the superhero poses and wind blowing capes, it is embarassing. Aphra makes most of this book for me.

Kanan - Not so sure about this one, could be below average too. Not familiar with the characters. Sometimes it was ok sometimes not. Few of the characters felt beliveable. Especially the smugglers/gangsters and the Clone Troopers were tendious.

Doctor Aphra - I had high hopes for this one because I like her and all, and it's ok, but her dad thing feels really thin. Not buying it at all.

Shattered Empire - Liked the setting and the art but not so much more. Thin story with forced characters and if I read someone saying "buckethead" again i'll fucking cry.

Actually good:

Han Solo - The only series I really liked. Felt on character, interesting concept with a race and I enjoyed the other racers. This is how it should be done!

Not sure if I missed any series?

 

[Talos of Atmora]

@Vilden There was the Vader Down series which was a pretty underwhelming crossover between Darth Vader and Star Wars.

 

[Vilden]

Ha yeah just imagine it together with the Star Wars and Darth Vader reviews. Nothing new except I had to read them in the right order.

So what spawned this is that I've had "Star Wars ALL" on my pull list for the last ten years (so I get every single issue released) but I've actually until know never really read the new marvel books. So I decided to plow through them all this far. Not sure if it is/was worth it.

 

[TageRyche]

I wasn't crazy about the Princess Leia miniseries, and I've skipped all the solo character minis except the Han Solo series which I have but haven't read yet.

I have read some of the Star Wars and Darth Vader series and I've enjoyed what I've read, but I'm way behind on both of them.

 

[CiG]

Does anybody in here read Red Sonja?

 

[TageRyche]

Does anybody in here read Red Sonja?

I did, but I've recently stopped reading the series.

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/winnebago-graveyard-1-of-4

This looks really promising. There's a bigger preview here with a more detailed description of what the overall storyline is as well as some artwork samples.

 

[CiG]

Woah, those panels showing the cultists sacrificing that couple, looks really awesome.

 

[TageRyche]

You can check out my recap of what I did on Free Comic Book Day this past weekend HERE!

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

Throw Up Some Horns for Heavy Metal’s New IRON MAIDEN Comic Book

!!!

 

[CiG]

I am thinking about buying volume 1 of New Lone Wolf and Cub.
First impression is, yeah this looks pretty fucking good.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

Whats everyone's favorite comic book run? Not favorites, but all time favorite.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

ok fuck you guys.

Frank Miller's Daredevil sits at the top of my list.