Are comics really a neccessity for following the EU?

I'm not too big a fan of the comic medium. The story arcs take too long to come to conclusion and delays are a pain in the butt. Right now I'm just reading the novels. Is that good enough for following the EU? Or should I break down and get the 4 issues a month of the comics?

 

You could always just purchase Trade Paperbacks... they come out about as often as the novels do.

But yes, you're missing arguably the best part of the EUssagessage if you're skipping the comics.

 

Get TPBs, if you want to read the stories. If you don't care, just read summaries on Wookieepedia.

 

Comics is where it's at.

 

If I had to choose one, I'd go with the comics over the novels any day.

 

I'd just get the TPBs. In my opinion, the comics are superior to many of the novels.

 

Yes, pretty much.

You'll never get any payoff if you don't read Legacy.

 

I only got into the comics last summer and now I'm kicking myself (and buying trades to catch up) for what I'd been missing all this time.

 

Definatly pick up a TPB. Since the Legacy stuff will probably never get a book, the comics are the only place you can get that story. At least for now.

 

Yes, bizarrely, the comics tend to play Star Wars "straight" while the novels try to be "relevant."

 

For the story of Luke, Leia, and Han in the time after the movies, the novels are mostly all you need. For pretty much anything else, you're going to need the comics.*

Quality-wise, I'll echo the thoughts of the others in saying that they're some of the best EU work.

*That's not to say good stories haven't been told in the novels outside that area; in fact, my favorite SW novels are. Just that for other eras/characters, the comics hold a far larger chunk of the story.

 

I don't read comics as often as I should, but as I get more money I'll finally read the Legacy and KOTOR comics. I think it does add something special to the general storyline, but if you can't find the comics, Wookieepedia will do until you can.
Though definitely there are some comic arcs that I'd like to see novelized, and vice versa.

 

Is it possible to follow without reading the comics?

absolutely. For that matter, you can follow EU without reading books to...I've successfully kept up with LOTF without cracking a page since Tempest.

Do you miss a lot of important stuff?

not really.

Do you miss a LOT of general stuff?

METRIC TONS.

Take that as you will.

 

I always tell my stupid little story when someone asks this question....so here goes...

I used to just prefer novels. After all, Novels seem "Grown Up" and comics are for children...right?

I was given Legacy #0 and Legacy #1 by my Uncle who goes to conventions. Apparently he got them for free and knew I liked Star Wars so he gave them to me. I did the gracious be thankful "Smile and nod" thing and tossed them in the back of my car. I got bored enough one day waiting in my car and read them. I thought "Hey, this is pretty darn cool!" I went on the purchase the next few issues, started branching off into KoToR and finally started buying all sorts of stuff (I life within walking distance of a comic store that had a lot of older stuff like Tales of the Jedi for face value). I really couldn't believe what I was missing with my bias towards Novels.

Here is the thing about the delays and waiting for the issues to come out....I'd be more alarmed if I wasn't aggravated by the delays. After all if it didn't bother me that they took so long to come out, it would probably be because I wasn't that interested in them.

 

Depends what you mean by "important". The only info on the fall of the GA, rise of the second Empire, and return of the Sith as a galactic power is in the comics. Similarly, the entire Mandalorian Wars are being told there too. The destruction of the Sith at Ruusan, until relatively recently, was a comic-only story; Palpatine's successor and the second Emperor of that government had his story told in the comics, as did the last person to claim that title; the first post-Rebel government was created in the comics, and with the exception of Truce at Bakura and its sourcebook, they're the only source to detail it; even the Sith owe their return to the comics with Lumiya.

So I'd say that missing the comics you do miss some pretty important stuff. Maybe not so much in the Solowalker-family-after-ROTJ field (though even that has Dark Empire and Marvel, the latter of which is responsible for covering a huge chunk of their OT-era activities), but overall, certainly.

 

Well, I started reading the EU at thirteen with no prejudice against comics. So I read Dark Empire and one of the Tales of the Jedi comics, and they were okay, but not amazing. The art was okay but not really much like the characters I had in my head.

I know there are some who'll crucify me for saying so, and other's who'll totally agree, but basically, DE and TOTJ didn't set my world on fire. They didn't show me how awesome comics could be, and basically, they were horribly average even to my thirteen year old self, when held up against things like the Thrawn Trilogy.

Though in retrospect, there are things about both series I enjoy more now than I did then.

So I didn't really pay much attention to the comics. Figured that like most comics I'd tried to read, they'd frustrate me with their inability to exploit the medium to its awesome potential the way the Sandman series did; the way Watchmen did. I figured they'd be two-dimensional adventure stories about fighting and looking cool and not a lot else.

So I didn't pay them much attention until a year or so ago, when I heard about Legacy and loved the notion, and decided to pick up the first arc because my local comic shop had the back issues. From there I hopped onto the KOTOR train, and now I'm reading Dark Times too.

And having caught up on some of the other titles, I have to agree with what everyone else has been saying.

DH might not have been producing amazing comics ten or fifteen years ago, but they sure were five years ago.

I cannot say enough good stuff about Legacy or KOTOR. DT's first arc is pretty awesome too. As is Jedi Vs Sith and large chunks of Republic and I'm sure a lot of stuff I've never even heard of.

The comics really are excellent. They tell intelligent, thought-provoking stories, they develop characters, they give you epic, galaxy-spanning material, and they give you fantastic adventures and fight scenes too; they've just dropped the two-dimensional aspect. Well, except for the art Which is the other thing - all of the above and it's illustrated. No one ever gets too old for picture-books! It's the next-best thing to the movies. Better in some ways because the lack of budget and cgi constraints means that nothing ever gets scaled down, or turned into an easier sort of alien to build/animate.

 

Honestly, I've only ever read the novels and have had no problem keeping up. Plus I'm afraid the comics might bring me that much closer to the...Dork Side...muahaha muahahah muahaha.

 

in case you've forgotten, you've asked this before

 

But seriously, when I was a kid I read my share of comics, but none of these SW comics were available back then. I'm afraid that picking up a comic now that I'm all growed up might just be kind of juvenile. My wife gives me a hard enough time about reading the novels, she'd probably flip if I told her I went and bought some SW comics. Next thing you know, I got a set of storm trooper armor in the closet

 

BTW what does TPB stand for??

 

Trade paperback. It's the collections of comics bound in book form.

 

Is it like one big comic or is it just text?

 

Comic.