Comics 200 + Marvel Comics - What is your opinion of the state of the line?

I don't think this is a statement that needs any kind of qualifier. 2006-11 had Legacy Vol. 1, KOTOR, the first few volumes of Dark Times, Knight Errant, Blood Ties, Agent of the Empire. That definitely qualifies it as one of the strongest eras DH had for the Star Wars license.

 

I'm always a little confused by the assertions that the Legends EU had "free reign". Appreciating that it's true that there are more chronological "no-fly zones" in the new EU, one has to remember that there most certainly *were* LFL restrictions during Legends. Almost every main character absolutely had character shields and that drove me a little batty, as it was clearly there at the start as a hedged bet in case new movies *were* to happen *and* they decided to use the EU as the interrim story. But the one major death of that was allowed -- Chewie -- practically guaranteed that Legends continuity would not be incorporated into any new films. At that point all bets *should* have been off, but they weren't. The main characters weren't in danger, they just had to suffer as their non-filmic partners and children had all kinds of bad stuff happen to them.

I see the old and new EU as "differently limited", is what I mean. As the films and shows fill in the timeline, there will be more places for Marvel to explore. I'm a bit over the ANH - ESB era as well, but then again that's when Aphra is set and I love that one. Moving the Vader narrative closer to ROTS was a great move and I hope to see more of the same.

 

Lucasfilm should give Marvel their own era to play around with, say five hundred years before ANH and then just let them tell whatever story/war they want within that period.

 

There have been good stories, I liked the Lando, Han and even the Obi-wan and Anakin mini-series a lot. I dislike the main Star Wars series, and even after they got a better writer on it, he's stuck with awful art dragging down his story. I haven't even read any recent issues, but the previews alone repulse me.

So far I'm mostly just bored and uninterested. I like good character stories but the main Star Wars comic is set in the well-worn post-Yavin pre-Hoth period, when the main characters have invincible plot armor. Alphra is fun, but I don't really care for the amoral (or at best deeply-flawed) protagonist story. Darth Vader isn't bad, but again nothing really new.

More than anything else, I'm disappointed that there's not much going on post-Endor and pre-Jakku. Like the Poe comic was mostly held back due to stalling until TLJ comes out, and one of the things I hate most about nu-canon is that it ended the Galactic Civil War so quickly. Like just a year after Endor and its over, so not much room for stories then. Then its mostly 30 years o peace that then becomes stagnation and ignorance, and the sequel era is still locked down, and probably will be until after IX.

Compare that to the big Clone Wars multimedia project we had between AotC and RotS, and I'm... disappointed. And kind of relieved too as I can save more money that way. I wish Marvel would try a few more things with Star Wars, but aside from Aphra, nothing really new or interesting. How about putting Weaver back on Star Wars, what's he been up to since Infinity?

 

Dark Horse was publishing Tales of the Jedi before the prequels came about.

 

I'm well aware of that, but I wouldn't put TOTJ up there with the best of DH

 

Redemption would like a word with you.

 

I think we can agree here, that Marvel's line hasn't really been that exciting lately. I miss those long character arcs from Dark Horse. They had stories that were on par with the novels. Now, I see the stories from Marvel and the novels (well, junior novels if you ask me) of star wars as being bland and non-exciting. Everything now is gearing up for movies, live action tv series, and future animation. The novels and comic books took a back ward stance.

 

I'd say that the current Darth Vader series and Doctor Aphra are pretty much on par with the Dark Horse titles from 2006-2014. If you liked Purge, Darth Vader and... and KOTOR, the aforementioned series from Marvel are well worth checking out.

 

Marvel star wars in the last 3 years have come out with twice as much comics book than dark horse did but tell less of a story. Darth Vader and the Doctor Aphra series are the best for me, even their Star Wars on-going line has waned a bit.