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

So what the heck happened to Lott Dod anyway? Even Wookieepedia has nothing.

I always sort of thought he died in ROTS - did the authors all assume the same?

 

I admit I am biased, but I would say Shadows of the Empire. By no means is it introductory in terms of the Star Wars timeline, but for an initial introduction to get into reading Star Wars books I would say that is a good place to start. It takes place right smack in between ESB and ROTJ and heavily draws from both. A lot of the same characters and cross over story lines are in it. It is pretty easy to connect the dots to the films that it takes place between. And lastly, it is a great standalone story that will keep your interest. And that's not intended in any way to be a knock on other stories, like I said I am biased, because I love Shadows.

 

Where do you read your Star Wars Comics??

 

So, what is the deal with the whole canon issue?

Was there a specific day recently where Lucas camp officially announced that all non-movie related material became not canon? Or did this happen over a period of time to the point that just everything eventually became not canon? What is even the whole deal regarding this? Is it as black and white as everything non-movie related now being not canon? Was this all a recent thing?

I'm just trying to wrap my head around this before I dive into the deep end that is the Expanded Universe. If somebody could just explain to me what has gone on with the whole canon/non-canon debate I would really appreciate it. From what I gather there has been some sort of recent development. I'm not asking about the merits of the canon/non-canon debate and what should and shouldn't have been done. I'm just asking straight up what happened recently officially from Lucas camp that everything seems to have gotten axed. Am I even right about that?

 

This was the announcement:

http://www.starwars.com/news/the-legendary-star-wars-expanded-universe-turns-a-new-page

 

Thank You.

So...nothing really changed? I'm still confused.

I didn't really gather from the article that anything was fully axed. Just that there will be more of an effort to keep everything interconnected and that an official story group has been formulated to oversee that. It says that it won't follow the same stories in the post ROTJ Expanded Universe, but that it won't discard it either. And that creators of new Star Wars will have access to elements of the EU.

How does one go from reading this announcement to figuring out exactly what is canon and what is not? Also, say for a story like Shadows of the Empire that happens pre-ROTJ, but that I have been told is now officially not canon, how is this determined exactly?

 

Basically it's "The movies, TCW, and everything going forward from this announcement is canon, everything else, is Legends".

 

Okay, I see, thanks for the replies.

Still seems weird that they can potentially borrow elements from a story and make it canon while other elements from that same story would stay in the Legends category.

 

It is a bit. James Luceno in particular is fond of borrowing elements from his own older books - there's several references in Tarkin to events from Cloak of Deception and Dark Lord.

 

Not weirder then that Flash Gordon, Superman, the Shadow, the Oz books and many others have done similar things

 

I see it as exact timeline plots are erased, but the bits of elements in and ; under those plots are able to be grafted in

 

Hello, people!

Has anyone read/bought the Ultimate Star Wars (DK) book? I've just pre-ordered the Star Wars: Everything You Need to Know (which seems pretty cool), and I'd like to know if the other one is worth buying. Thanks!

 

Do mean online or do you want hard copies?

Online: There's Comixology.com, Marvel.com, itunes, there are many sites.

Me personally I prefer hardcopies which I buy at Hastings and Barnes and Noble.

 

I like pulp adventure, detective and scifi novels. Throwback stuff. Are there any star wars books like that?
I was hoping A New Dawn would be like that but it was a chore to get through.
I've grabbed samples of a lot of other books but everything seems really boring, or the characters you think you're going to be reading about barely feature in the stories.

In the meantime I'm reading the movie novels until I can find the right type of books for me.
Legends, new canon, I'm down for anything that doesn't read like star trek with star wars dressing.

Also, I'm new to reading star wars books.

Any advice?

 

"Detective/Mystery" subplots crop up now and again. The middle book in Michael Reaves's Coruscant Nights trilogy. Jeff Grubb's Scourge. Michael Stackpole's I, Jedi.

 

As far as pulp adventure goes, you can't really beat the original Brian Daley Han Solo trilogy. The Lando trilogy is similar, and Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor is an intentional throwback to that era (though it's not for everyone).

 

Thanks to you both. Gonna check those out for sure!

 

I wish they would have done some corran horn offshoots with detective stories, but the one they have, "I Jedi" was cool


Gonna miss some of the EU characters

 

You might get on well with Shadow Games and Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, both also by Reaves.

 

What is some "essential" comic reading? I mostly only read the novels, but there are certain events that happen in comics that are referenced by many other works that I feel are important for any EU fan to read. The big one that comes to mind is Dark Empire. Union seems pretty important too, just because it's weird only reading the books and having Luke go from single to married without any wedding taking place. Are there any other comic stories that you would consider "essential reading?"

 

Some of the X-Wing comics introduce plot points followed up on in the novels.

Sate Pestage's death at Krennel's hand, for example - ties in to Isard's Revenge - the murder, plus, more importantly, the murder of Pestage's family, is part of the New Republic's reason for going after him.

The Phantom Affair explains how Mindor got to be the way it was in Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor (and was written first).

The Knight Errant comics tie in to the Knight Errant novel somewhat, as well.

And Jedi vs Sith is also pretty important to Zannah and Darovit in the Bane novels - showing how they got to where we meet them in the novels, in the first place. (Again, comic was written first).

 

Is there anything in current canon stating there was additional fighting on and around Yavin after the Death Star was destroyed? I'm thinking of the Empire retaliating against the Rebellion. I know the opening crawl of The Empire Strikes Back suggests something because it states the Rebels were driven from their base by the Imperials, but I'm curious if a battle is specifically confirmed anywhere (maybe the Ultimate Star Wars reference book)?

 

double post

 

A battle hasn't been confirmed as far as I'm aware, in fact the opposite has been implied. Princess Leia #1 showed the Rebels immediately packing up to leave Yavin Four (like, literally right after the ANH awards ceremony). We don't see the evacuation in its entirety, but from the material that comes directly after Princess Leia (Heir to the Jedi and the other Marvel Star Wars series) doesn't reference a battle and gives the impression that the Rebels got away from Yavin before the Empire arrived to retaliate.

 

I'm not sure if this is really a general question, but this is the only thread where this might fit.

In Vision of the Future, when Luke proposes to Mara in the flooding chamber, Mara says, 'you mean if we get out of here alive?' And Luke says, 'I mean regardless.' What does he mean by that? How can they possibly get married if they don't make it out?