1st (Potentially Annual) State of Star Wars Comics Thread

I've been ruminating over the quality of KOTOR since the last issue and how it stacks up against the other offerings out there.

KOTOR: Achieved brillance this past year and is my choice for 2008 MVP. From the end of Vector to Vindication, KOTOR was engaging, fast-paced, well-drawn, and all around excellent. I cared about Zayne, I cared about Lucien, and I needed to know what was going to happen. However, KOTOR hasn't retained that level of interest in recent issues, most likely due to a lack of overall direction.

For the next year: Either get Zayne back to a meaningful, long-term story, or move on to a new character somewhere else in the war.

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[u][b]Legacy:[/b][/u] For me Legacy is a mixed bag, the galactic balance is extremely interesting and there are plenty of new and interesting things to look at and talk about. However, the characters are somewhat static and Legacy bounces from situation to situation so quickly that its really hard to get significant development. As a result, a lot of the characters appear to be stereotypes. [face_shame_on_you]. Many of the Jedi seem preachy, most of the Sith seem blandly evil, and the moffs are all backstabby. Strangely enough, Cade, the character we spend the most time with, I find extremely annoying. Syn and Blue are worse, if possible. As an aside, I just realized their first names rhyme. [face_doh!] My other concerns in an otherwise stellar offering are the prevalence of 150 year old characters from Republic (Good Riddance Krayt) and the slow pace to the main story that comes from bouncing around so much. On the positive side, the Imperial Knights are very interesting, Sith Alchemy is always fun and Wyrrlock III has me excited for the future. There is plenty of promise, I just want to see more and see it sooner.

[i]Next Year[/i]: Weekly Issues! [face_drooling] Legacy has enough characters and story for a weekly comic or 4 different montly comics but I don't see that happening so I want to solidify a medium sized cast of character's and develop them. It seems like we are getting almost too many characters to keep track of and we still appear to be in introduction mode, despite being over 35 issues in. We have to wait several months just to get some resolution on storylines. Oh, and the death of Syn and Blue. [face_tongue]
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[u][b]Rebellion[/b]:[/u] Never really grabbed me due to a combination of Luke,Leia, and Han being static characters and never really enjoying the secondary characters or plot which is what Rebellion era stories really depend on since we know how the war and the big three will play out. Getting Invasion instead of Rebellion is a huge improvement.

[i]Next Year[/i]: No more Rebellion [face_skull] [face_happy]
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[u][b]Dark Times[/b]:[/u] This series is dark, compelling, and I'm eagerly waiting its return. Some of the events in Dark Times have surprised and moved me than they have in characters I've read about for ten times as long. The death of Crys was perfectly done and strangely enough, one of the highlights of Vector.

[i]Next Year[/i]: More grey Jedi making difficult decisions that are not necessarily amoral. Dark Times call for Dark Actions. I might like to see a story from Vader's point of view, hunting a Jedi successfully.[face_grin]
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[u][b]Clone Wars[/b][/u]: Could not care less. Oversaturated period with static characters galore. No knock on the artists or writers, I'm just burnt out on the Clone Wars.

[i]Next Year[/i]: The only Clone Wars comic I am interested is the Death of Ahsoka Tano, most favorably at the hands of Anakin (or Fett or Ventress). I don't know if there is any saving this comic. [face_beatup]
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[u][b]The Force Unleashed:[/b][/u] I loved the original graphic novel and while I was a bit overloaded on TFU, the story was interesting. I think Star Wars could pull off original graphic novels and should do more with them. [face_praying] There is something comforting about getting a full story at once.

[i]Next Year:[/i

 

KOTOR: My favourite of any SW comic series currently. I would have preferred a different ending to Vindication, but it was still well done and all of 2008 was extremely fast-paced. Lucien was one of the most interesting EU characters of Star Wars. This year it's been a lot slower so far, but it's "the start of a new era". I'll wait a bit before judging. I'd like to see more of Revan and Malak.

Legacy: Great when it has major story arcs with Cade like Heart of the Dragon or whatever it was called. It feels fresh and unlike any other era being worked on right now you don't know what's going to happen at all. Dialogue is strong. However, the two-part battle story arcs feel repitive and I'm usually bored by them, and Krayt's death was way too early. Also can be too slow-paced at times (summer of last year, for example). My second favourite comic series.

Rebellion: Don't read.

Dark Times: Don't read.

Clone Wars: Looks terrible like the actual series.

The Force Unleashed: Didn't read the comic but the game's story was great. Don't like that the whole game's a flashback though, and art's not great.

Vector: Started not great but was well done looking back at it.