By Lawrence Davis
Much like the book section of the Expanded Universe, there are several defined starting points where to start in the Expanded Universe comics. Some comics are re-tellings or expansions of the books, such as the comic adaptations of the Thrawn trilogy. Others stories are completely different, such as the events of the Empire and Rebellion series. The time periods these stories take place are scattered throughout the Star Wars timeline so finding a place to start is difficult.
When it comes to where for you to start, I highly recommend reading about the different time periods to see which one sounds the most interesting to you; you can do this by checking out a copy of Star Wars: Essential Chronology. I started with the Tales of the Jedi series (which is now available in Omnibuses) from the mid-1990’s because those comics detailed the characters Naga Sadow, Exar Kun, and Ulic Qel-Droma and I found all three of them very interesting. Since then, stories have taken place during the Clone Wars, the Dark Times, and even at 145 ABY called Legacy.
First volume of the collected FOTJ, where Lawrence started in comics.
If you wish to read the comics in chronological order, it’s impossible. Currently, Knights of the Old Republic, The Dark Times, Rebellion, and Legacy are running with books being released in between; the first takes places thousands of years before the movies, the second takes place between the two movie trilogies, the third during the original trilogy, and the last takes place many years after Return of the Jedi as mentioned before.
Most of the comics can now be found in trade paperbacks or omnibuses which are great for getting a hold of whole series and not having to worry about tracking down individual issues (which costs more than getting the trade paperbacks.) This is how I’ve gotten most of the older comics, except for a few that only recently were re-released for the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars in 2007.
Once you’re caught up with the series through trade paperbacks and just can’t wait for the next one to come out, you can purchase the individual issues as they’re released. I waited for the first trade paperback volume of Knights of the Old Republic and loved the series enough to get all the issues after that volume. Other series, such as Legacy, have lost my interest, so I plan on waiting for the trade paperbacks to come out just to see what happens next, which can’t be extinguished all together for me.
Kotor: One of the comic series to keep Lawrence hooked.
Getting into the comics may be harder than getting into the books because not everywhere can you find a comic store like you can a bookstore. Some bookstores carry the comics and that may be a good place to start if you wish. But with the joys of trade paperbacks, digging into the events of the comics isn’t all that far away. Jump in wherever it sounds the most interesting, preferably the starts of series, and enjoy other wonders of the galaxy far, far away that I didn’t know I could check out until just recently.
