Lit GENERAL QUESTION THREAD (What to read? Where to start? What's canon? What's not? Duros, etc.)

KOTOR comics!

Golden Age of the Sith

I'm reading Dawn of the Jedi:Force War right now. Once I finish those books, is there a good order to read the comics in?

Do the later issues (post GHW) have a good story/character development? I just bought them so I guess I'll figure that out soon, but I'd like some opinions ahead of time.

That's an interesting question...the TotJ comics that take place post-GHW are the first chronologically published tales, so they tend to stand on their own. Generally speaking, Redemption is seen as the best tale from that group of comics, and I think it's a pretty interesting character study. The two previous volumes, "Dark Lords of the Sith" and "Sith War" are not looked on as fondly, but they strike people in different ways. I've met quite a few people who are pretty big fans of them. My problem with them is that they don't really offer what they promised. The "Dark Lords of the Sith" have a very odd connection to the actual Sith and the comics' presentation of it has generally been ignored by later stories. "Sith War" doesn't really portray much of a Sith War, and really shows what appears to be a couple of terrorist attacks alongside a long drawn out trial.

The first volume "Knights of the Old Republic" is not really a self-contained narrative and more of a collection of short stories. However, the characters introduced become more integrated and involved in "Sith War" and "Dark Lords of the Sith", which really makes the original stories in "Knights of the Old Republic" really pay off. "The Freedon Nadd Uprising" is only really talked about because before the omnibus program, it was one of the most rare comics around. Unfortunately, the story is pretty stupid and not really engaging, but it does connect the dots between the less linear storytelling of "Knights of the Old Republic" and the story of the Great Sith War in the later comics.

It should be noted that some of the characters in the post-GHW comics originated as part of the backstory for "Dark Empire" and then were later used in the Jedi Academy Trilogy and associated works around the time that these comics were published. On that basis, due to so much material being written about them and around them, I think the later issues are pretty rich in character development. For the story, YMMV, but personally I enjoyed them much more than the GHW issues.

While "Dark Lords in the Sith" and "The Sith War" may not deliver on thier promises, do they still have enjoyable elements?

It depends on what you find enjoyable I suppose. One complaint by the originator of the TotJ, Tom Veitch, was that the story began to emphasize Exar Kun to the detriment of the other characters of Ulic and Nomi. However, Exar is one of the most popular EU characters, and his exploration of the dark side is interesting. It's not my favorite study of falling to the dark side, but it's still fun to watch.

Also, if you like the art style, you'll see quite a lot of interesting stuff from the first double-bladed lightsaber, to ancient Mandalorians. Another interesting thing is the large variety of alien species that are mostly isolated to these stories and are never really referenced again. Some people find that off-putting, but I liked it.

There's a lot to like in there, so don't make my comments put you off to it.

Thanks for the info. You're comments aren't putting me off. I'm going to be interested anyway. I loved KOTOR games and so these comics sounded interesting (there were a lot of references). Also, some of the plot elements sound good. I was mainly asking to find other opinions before reading. Thanks again.

okay question.... Darth Maul, son of Dathomir. Not an infinities right?! new st canon. Can someone tell me how he would have survived being cut in half by Obi Wan and falling down the endless shaft???

another question. Why are these new novels, that can be preordered on Amazon so expensive? since when is a paperback $15, or $16 ? And why arent these available for Kindle???

also did not know about this coming out

Maul's anger kept him alive.

"With hate, all things are possible. And my hate is strong!"

Which paperbacks? They look like hardcovers, and they are listed as available for Kindle.

well amazon says paperbacks on rebel heist and Darth Maul, but i was just informed that those are comics.

I just finished Truce at Bakura! Really enjoyed it. A couple things could have been done better, but I liked the plot. Where should I go next?

Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor or the X-Wing series.

the Marvel comic omnibus series

Already have Shadows of Mindor on my shelf! I'll start it tonight. I owned 28 Star Wars books from over the years, but never dug into them until now.

Okay so admittedly I'm a bit of a newbie to the EU, I've done the thrawn trilogy which was very enjoyable so where would be the logical place to go after that?

Dark Empire is next chronologically - some people on this forum like it - though somewhat less people, it seems, like Dark Empire II and Empire's End.

The Truce at Bakura and The Courtship of Princess Leia were published early in the Bantam era.

And there's the Jedi Academy Trilogy - not very popular but fairly important to the early EU.

Cheers man, I'll get on them! Does the Corellian trilogy fit in around these as for some reason I've got them lying around the house

Do people know if it is "not very popular" over all or just here?

My impression is that Kevin J. Anderson is widely considered a bad writer in general.

Though I think the JAT's stock among SW fans has risen in recent years, mostly because of a backlash against certain really bad writers of more recent novels.

They fit in about 9 years after The Thrawn Trilogy - I've always thought them OK.

Does Xizor know that Palpatine is a Force-user?

Given that he was right near the Emperor, allowed to listen in to his speech on how "There is a great disturbance in the Force. We have a new enemy" to Vader, I would think so.