Lit Story Archeology: Early EU Publishing Schedule and Story influences

Recently I am digging up the Wookeepedia calendar and publishing year by year for the early EU publications in the 90s.

It really is interesting to see the order of release and how different it is from what one may have imagined. I was lucky to start collecting early in the 90s with Zahn novels and else, comics coming later, etc. but as I started in german and translations were slow and international shopping and internet not what they are today, I was glad to get it all and soon on release date even.
But I'd never have guessed how early some stories were published or along which others. And which had not been published or done yet at all and only came later despite feeling earlier, not just chronologically but in how characters evolved and were set up.

Rediscovering the EU from a publishing schedule perspective opens up interesting angles of cross-story pollination and influence and new spots of "why was this not done?" and "wait, did these stories I thought disconnected actually have some influence on each other".


F.e. how fast they progressed in the timeline is interesting. Not all was as chronological in progression as it would later be NJO onwards. First the Thrawn Trilogy and Dark Empire opened the era up. What followed is wild!


The Jedi Prince series with Glove of Darth Vader begun publishing before the Zahn trilogy even was done in between Dark Force Rising and The Last Command! And before Dark Empire was finished as well!!!

Now nag on that! Books and Comics doing a Palpatine story in paralell but disconnected? Zahn's Noghri denied to be Sith, but Comics allowed to bring a certain Sith back and explore ancient Sith in DE's offshoot Tales of the Jedi.

Makes one wonder if comics and novels Palpatine stories may have met in a DE novelisation that never came despite the Zahn comics getting a comic adaption alter on.

Only then after were Truce at Bakura etc. coming to fill in the leadup to Thrawn. As well as COPL, but, surprise, COPL only released after the first book of the Jedi Academy trilogy and premiered Kirana Ti before she would appear in the second JAT book released after COPL.

And before all the later post ROTJ books and trilogies, "The Crystal Star" was published staring the Solokids from books and comics together and giving them distinct personalities and specialities aka YJK#0 kinda.

X-Wing books started released only after the first few YJK books were out. Yes, the filling of the post ROTJ happened rather late and the clear throughline rushing forward into the timeline was different from what some may have imagined. Zahn set the stage, Truce and COPL lead up to it, DE set the stage from the other side, JAT united both, but with the birth of the next generation the timeline rushed forward to Crystal Star and then YJK/JJK to build up the new generation for a staring role. The Corellian Trilogy also co-staring them would come after the first YJK books only! Children of the Jedi, Darksaber, etc. would come after only to flesh out and fill in the post ROTJ era till YJK.


Now with early issues between comics and novels about timeline placements, who leads the way and storyplans differing between both. Even some viewing the Zahniverse too military scifi vs. the comics esoteric approach to Jedi, Sith and the spiritual world of SW. A lot of story potential was lost in limbo as both developed in paralell, as comics went distant past rather free of the novels pushing ahead and taking on their characters. Still comics adapted Zahn, but novels never adapted DE beyond the radio drama expansion.

The sudden end to the Jedi Prince series... its ignoring in favor of COPL is another mystery after its Palpatine story would have fit perfectly into the Dark Empire novelisation to retell the comics from a different pov with added plotlines. Much like the many years later only addition of the plots of Mara Jade, Kyle Katarn and Lando Calrissian during that era via MotS and rpg adventure hooks by Abel G. Pena.

KJA masterfully tried to unite comics and novel stories by referencing both to a degree even if novels shunned Dark Empire despite comics not shunning novels. Both in JAT and JJK/YJK one clearly feels and sees the repercussions of the comic storylines, the Palpatine stories, fears and legacies, even if not adressing Luke's dark sting as that was more anathema to the novels it seems except a brief overpowered Luke in the Black Fleet Crisis etc. limiting himself fearing his own power.

I do wonder if there are abandoned ideas or denied proposals for KJAs JAT or YJK likewise where his casts he created tried to emulate the movie heroes and reference every previous story. For YJK he drew from Dathomir, Hapes, Kashyyyk, Alderaan, Corellia, Coruscant etc. all places and cultures. For JAT he did the same but some characters, original as they are, feel like they could have been someone else originally.

Gantoris to me feels like he could have been an adult Ken Palpatine. Less because of his original backstory, but more because of his characterisation and fate. Tempted by the Dark Spirit but refusing it and rather facing death than to giving in to darkness. Maybe some closure to that character that was refused to neither acknowledge the Jedi Prince series, nor end the character.
Then again, would Ken have survived Dark Empire had he given a story during it? And was he given none, nor it a novelisation, because the comics refused to acknowledge Ken in the first place? Or what did Veitch etc. think of Jedi Prince and Ken? He neither referenced Mara Jade after all. Both would have been no brainers to include or reference at least in DE2 or 3 if not in 1.

Especially after revisiting the publishing schedule, I think there is something mysteriously off about the lack of a DE novel despite all the creators issues and publishers issues with each other. And now the question is, was Ken Palpatine, the Glove of Darth Vader, etc. involved in this or even crucial to it not happening?

Is the question not what killed Jedi Prince, series and character, but rather did Jedi Prince kill the DE novel?

 

There were less restrictions on what the EU could do with ancient Sith than there were for what it could do with movie-era Sith. If Zahn’s Noghri-as-Sith idea was approved, that would precluded everyone besides Vader from being a Sith Lord.