by Jonathan The 8 Star Wars Expanded Universe Stories Worth Saving

Recently, the big news (that should have come to no one’s surprise) was that Marvel would officially start publishing Star Wars comics in 2015, just in time to coincide with Episode VII’s release and the end of Dark Horse Comics’ license that began in 1991. Shortly after the news was made official, fans began speculating about the statuses of their favorite Star Wars Expanded Universe stories from both the comics, video games and books and whether or not they’d just be thrown out. Zack Haddad and I even speculated a bit ourselves on last week’s podcast. Well, yes. The majority of them will be thrown out, especially because they’ve got to make room in the canon for new Star Wars movies… and because if anyone’s going to be printing money on an existing Expanded Universe you can sure bet it’s going to be Disney. They do own it after all.

And don’t be surprised if Disney’s expanded universe ends up becoming just as big, if not bigger, than the one we’ve had for the past three plus decades that’s about to be scrapped and replaced.

That being said, it is a sad time for many Star Wars fans as these stories meant a lot to them. And for the majority of my life (i.e. pre-Prequels) I counted myself as one of them. I read every book and comic and played every video game that had a Star Wars logo on it (you know, like Star Wars: Yoda Stories back in 1997). So I’m a bit sad as well because a lot of those stories were great, and in a time before the post-Prequels explosion, they were our only chance to visit that galaxy far, far away.

So without further ado, I present to you the Star Wars Expanded Universe stories that I believe should be preserved. May the Force Be With Them.

Tales of the Jedi

In a perfect galaxy, this Dark Horse Comics series would be safe from being scrapped to make room for future films and Disney’s Expanded Universe. These stories (all 8 story arcs) took place during the Old Republic era and catalogued the Great Sith War and older Jedi Order. That was an entire 5,000 years before the Battle of Yavin (or BBY to the Star Wars faithful) so they shouldn’t tread on anything Disney plans to do in Episode’s VII, VIII and IX. If anything, they laid the ground work, along with the video game Knight of the Old Republic, for a strong history to both the Jedi and the Sith. Written by Tom Veitch and Kevin J. Anderson (two of my favorite Star Wars comic writers), I hope these stories survive the purge somehow… but it doesn’t look good.

The Thrawn Trilogy

This one is an obvious choice. In 1991, when the first book Heir to the Empire was published, the Star Wars brand was barely on any fan’s radars. Combined with Dark Horse Comics’ first title Dark Empire, these three books were instrumental in not only bringing Star Wars back to life but also establishing a strong sequel of sorts to the original trilogy of films. Following the campaign of Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn, who got a pretty good promotion I guess after the explosion of the second Death Star, this series remains the bench mark for any of the Expanded Universe novels that came afterwards. I remember reading them in middle school and feeling like I was back in the theater watching the next series of Star Wars stories. Throwing these three books out of canon will hurt more than pretty much anything else on this list.

Dark Empire

This one’s another biggie, especially for me, and is about on par with The Thrawn Trilogy. If it wasn’t for a younger me spying Dave Dorman’s gorgeous cover to issue #1 from across the street while on vacation with my father, I’d probably never have gotten back into comic books, much less be writing comics today. Written by Tom Veitch with incredible, striking art by Cam Kennedy, Dark Empire told the story of a resurgent Empire that has retaken Coruscant and is in the midst of it’s own uprising. Luke travels to a Dark Side world called Byss and discovers that Emperor Palpatine is being reborn through younger clones (oh, and Luke almost goes to the Dark Side). Not only does Dark Empire have the pace and tone of a great Star Wars story but it also introduced some great locations to canon, like Nar Shaddaa, the smuggler’s moon, the setting for the already jettisoned Star Wars 1313 game. While major scenes in the Prequels took place on familiar places like Tatooine, Dark Empire did what any good Expanded Universe properties are supposed to in making the Star Wars galaxy seem as limitless and awe-inspiring as the original films.

The Star Wars Newspaper Strips (1979-1984)

These are enormously overlooked gems… but they shouldn’t be. In fact, these might be the purest forms of Expanded Universe stories out there, released concurrently with the original film trilogy. From 1979 to 1984, The Star Wars Comic Strip was published in newspapers. Really, though, what you’re looking for is the run that Archie Goodwin wrote with art by Al Williamson that literally took place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Dark Horse collected and rereleased them years ago in a title simply called Classic Star Wars and did a great job of them. Seek these issues out if you can because unlike Splinter of the Mind’s Eye (the 1978 novel that at the time was the “sequel” to A New Hope), the Goodwin/Williamson stories felt like classic 70s and 80s Star Wars. Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie and the crew planet hopped from planet to planet looking for a new home for the Rebellion after the Battle of Yavin, the entire time trying to avoid Imperials and a vengeful Vader (who was not yet revealed to be Luke’s father of course). And Han continues to try and resolve his debt with Jabba the Hutt while escaping his bounty hunters as seen in the fantastic storyline The Bounty Hunter of Ord Mantell. These stories were fantastic and much better than the Star Wars comics that Marvel was printing at the time. Sadly, they may have already been thrown out of canon as this is the same point in the Star Wars timeline that Dark Horse’s current Brian Wood series takes place during. That being said, these stories are as pure original Star Wars as it gets on this list and they deserve their pace in the canon.

The Han Solo Adventures Trilogy

If the rumors are true and Disney really wants to make films based on a younger Han Solo’s adventures, then they should look no further for a basis to them than this series of books released between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. These three novels, Han Solo At Star’s End (1979), Han Solo’s Revenge (1979) and Han Solo and the Lost Legacy (1980), were not only chock full of swashbuckling space adventure but also shed light on questions left unanswered by the Star Wars films, like “what exactly were the circumstances of Han and Chewie meeting?” and “how did Han Solo get that scar on his chin (you know, the Harrison Ford scar!)?” Well, this trilogy of books answered all of them in classic 70s science fiction fashion! Like the Goodwin/Williamson comic strips, these stories were flush and consistent canon long before the Prequels started contradicting things (like how come Han doesn’t believe in the Force when his best bud die Chewie fought with Yoda in the Battle of Kashyyyk?). Lando did have his own mid-80s book series, The Lando Calrissian Adventures (made up of 3 books), but they needed some retconning to make them fit the Expanded Universe and are really only memorable because they cover the period of time Lando flew the Millennium Falcon before losing it to Han and because they introduced the Star Wars card game of Sabacc seen in other parts of the Expanded Universe.

Dark Forces and Dark Forces: Jedi Knight

Aww, the good old days of PC gaming, when most games wanted to be Doom clones… but some of them were actually really, really good! Remember the giant jet-packed Stormtrooper mech suits you had to fight in Dark Forces? And the live action cut scenes from Jedi Knight (not to mention the incredible Boba Fett battle on the lava refinery planet)? Those were the days! Unlike in the X-Wing and Tie Fighter games which were incredible but basically stuck to the backdrop of the Star Wars rebellion we were already familiar with, the Dark Forces games took off on their own and placed you in new unfamiliar planets battling against brand new villains and characters (like the evil Sith Lord Jerec from Jedi Knight). For the first time, this felt like the Star Wars universe being expanded on, from the first mission in Dark Forces to steal the Death Star plans for Leia (just before A New Hope) to the final battle in the Valley of the Jedi in Jedi Knight. And your character of Kyle Katarn was the catalyst, giving you first person freedom to explore the Star Wars universe, moreso than you had ever had to that point. Heck, you could even turn to the Dark Side in Jedi Knight, which took place a year after the Battle of Endor. As great as these stories were, I have to give a shout out to Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire, the semi rail based shooter that employed the first live action footage filmed in the Star Wars universe since Return of the Jedi. I loved that game to death (mainly for the excitement of the cut scenes)… but like the first Rebel Assault, its not really something that needs protecting from continuity scrubbing (in fact, the trench run in the first Rebel Assault already contradicts Luke’s run in A New Hope so get rid of it!).

The X-Wing Novels

If you read one series of non-Timothy Zahn Star Wars novels in the 90s Expanded Universe, it should be these four books, X-Wing: Rogue Squadron, X-Wing: Wedge’s Gamble, X-Wing: The Krytos Trap and X-Wing: The Bacta War, written by Michael A. Stackpole. Yes, they might be pretty safe from the continuity scrubbing due to how well they mirror the events of the original trilogy but who knows what’s up for reinterpretation! Regardless, these books followed Wedge Antilles and Rogue Squadron from adventure to adventure across the galaxy as they fought for the Rebel Alliance (and then the New Republic). I preferred the Michael A. Stackpole books but you can’t go wrong with the Aaron Allston written X-Wing: Wraith Squadron, X-Wing: Iron Fist and X-Wing Solo Command either. Dark Horse Comics even did a few comic book adaptations of these books that weren’t bad as well (but the novels are preferred). Also worth mentioning, and probably continuity scrubbing proof, would be the Tales books Tales From The Mos Eisley Cantina, Tales From Jabba’s Palace and Tales of the Bounty Hunters… you know, because you just had to know what Max Rebo was up to before ending up on Jabba’s ill-fated sail barge that fine desert day. There are two more books, Tales From The Empire and Tales From the New Republic, that offer a bit more Expanded Universe stories in them and veer away from the films but their placement in the Star Wars timeline grant them a giant target on their heads. Welcome to retcon city, guys.

Shadows Of The Empire

This one’s big, as it was one of the first major multimedia releases within the Star Wars brand that did not involve a film’s release. Concurrently with the novel of the same name was the release of a Shadows of the Empire video game on Nintendo 64 (and later PC), comic book and even a soundtrack (which was pretty bad ass… as we didn’t think we’d be getting any new John Williams music anytime soon)! The storyline bridges the gap between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (so it might be safe from destruction!) and surrounded the planned rescue of Han on Tatooine and a new challenge to Vader’s place in the Empire at the hands of the crime lord Prince Xixor (who kind of looks like a Scarran from Farscape). In the game, you played as Dash Rendar, who is a bit of a scoundrel himself and tasked with tracking Han Solo’s capture as it passes hands Boba Fett to Jabba with some other bounty hunters thrown in for good measure. I don’t remember the game being that bad, and you do end up having to save Leia again, and the comics and the book were good if not pretty entertaining (although I told you before, the X-Wing and Zahn novels are really all you need). The comics might be the most solid version of the story (since the game has not aged well), mainly because of Kilian Plunkett’s dynamic artwork and because writer John Wagner (writer of A History of Violence and co-creator of Judge Dredd!) can write a great mega city chase sequence with tons and tons of your favorite Empire Strikes Back bounty hunters thrown into the story to boot!

So there you have it, my list of the Star Wars stories that I don’t think should be scrubbed in lieu of a new Expanded Universe. Yes, you will notice two things: I removed the storyline in which Chewbacca dies saving Han and Leia’s kids (and I’m pretty sure Disney will too) and that I didn’t pay much attention to Star Wars and the Expanded Universe post-Prequels. The truth is… it just hurt too much! Clearly, from what you just read, I consumed and was passionate about all things Star Wars right up to May 1999 (which made dating in high school and college kind of hard) but then let my passion slide.

And that’s where you come in. If there are any other Expanded Universe story lines that you love and think should be protected from the Disney erasers, tell me about them in the comments below (you know, like the two Ewok movies…)! I am looking forward to the new Star Wars movies quite a bit and with fresh new eyes, knowing that all things must come to pass. But of course, as a fan running a fan site, I needed to take this time to earmark my favorites for you and invite you to share yours as well. May the Force be with you.