I’ve been a Star Wars fan for longer than I can remember. Really, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know what Star Wars was. Of course, that fandom joined forces with my comic book fandom pretty early, and over the years I’ve read a lot of Star Wars comics.
Because there have been decades of Star Wars comics from different publishers, and dealing with many different characters, time periods, and canons, it might be kind of confusing to figure out a good place to start. In this article, I’ve provided some series that I think any Star Wars fan would enjoy reading. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list by any means, just some good suggestions. If you’re looking to get into the world of Star Wars comics, here’s where to begin.
The Original: Star Wars (1977-1986)
You definitely don’t have to read these in order to enjoy the modern Star Wars comics, but since it is the longest running Star Wars comic so far (107 issues) I thought I’d include it. Marvel started this comic as an adaptation of the original Star Wars movie by Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin, and later moved on to original stories. For a long time, this comic was the only source of Star Wars media outside of the movies themselves (and the Holiday Special of course). At times they stylistically trend more towards “comic book” than Star Wars. One issue teams Han and Chewbacca up with a green alien rabbit-man named Jaxxon. But, this comic is an important piece of Star Wars history, and if you like classic Marvel comics you should give it a try.
Star Wars: Dark Empire (1991-1992) by Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy
Although I don’t know for sure, I think a lot of aspects of Dark Empire will appear in some form or have some influence on The Rise of Skywalker. The first of Dark Horse’s Star Wars comics, Dark Empire takes place six years after Return of the Jedi. Luke is a Jedi Master, Han and Leia are married, and the Empire is rising again to crush the New Republic. Through cloning, the Emperor lives again, and Luke is forced to grapple with the Dark Side that resides inside him. Leia is also beginning to learn the ways of the Jedi and channel her own Force sensitivity. Again, many of these plot points seem like they have been adapted for the new characters in The Rise of Skywalker.
Cam Kennedy’s art on Dark Empire was ahead of its time. Rather than take the cinematic approach of most of the Star Wars comics yet to come, Dark Empire is very dynamic and stylized. It captures the raw energy of the Force like no other comic and tonally matches a story about the battle between the Light and the Dark. The coloring in this comic is also really special. Many of the pages and two-page spreads only use one or two colors, allowing shadow to do a lot of the work. It’s a more common approach nowadays (notably in Wes Craig’s art for Deadly Class) but back in 1991 it was innovative, and it still holds up as artistically powerful today. For a unique look at Star Wars, I highly recommend this comic.
Star Wars: Empire (2002-2006)
Dark Horse’s Empire series is some of the first comics I can remember buying when I was a kid. This series is an anthology of arcs, telling stories with different characters set around the time of the original Star Wars and dealing with the Imperial reign of the galaxy. These comics strike the perfect balance between smartly using characters and ideas from the movies and giving the creators room for originality. Any fan of the Original Trilogy will find them familiar, fun, and accessible.
Some cool stories in Empire are “Princess…Warrior”, which features Princess Leia in her role as an anti-Imperial activist, and “To the Last Man”, a humanizing look at an Imperial platoon trapped on an alien world. My all time favorite, however, is “Darklighter” which looks at the life of Luke’s friend and movie character Biggs Darklighter, an Imperial pilot who defects to the Rebellion and accompanies Luke on the mission to destroy the Death Star.
Star Wars: Dark Times (2006-2012) by Welles Hartley, Mick Harrison, and Doug Wheatley
Dark Times is, well, the darkest of the Star Wars comics. It takes place right after the events of Revenge of the Sith, as the end of the Republic has left the galaxy in turmoil. This series follows fallen Jedi Dass Jennir and the refugee alien crew of the Uhumele as they attempt to survive fleeing the rising Empire. Dark Times has a very Firefly feel to it, sometimes feeling like a space western, which is one of the reasons I love it so much.
Dark Times is one of the best examples of the freedom Dark Horse had to tell stories in the Star Wars universe. Some very serious topics like slavery and civilian casualties of war are tackled in these comics. In Dark Times the good guys don’t win all or even most of the time, which is actually a prominent theme of the movies. Without using characters from the movies, Dark Times gets you invested in the stories and makes you care about what happens to the heroes. It’s one of my favorite Star Wars comics of all time.
Star Wars (2015-2019)
When Disney got the rights to Star Wars, Marvel got the rights to make Star Wars comics back. Marvel’s approach has been very different from Dark Horse in that they mostly make comics about the characters from the movies. The main title, Star Wars, takes place between the original Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. It follows Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, and the droids as they go on missions for the Rebellion and continue fighting the Empire. The series also follows Luke beginning to walk the Jedi path and explains his skills with the Force and the lightsaber in The Empire Strikes Back.
Throughout its entire run, Star Wars is one of the most cinematic comics you could possibly imagine. Started by the team of writer Jason Aaron and one of my favorite artists of all time, John Cassaday, the series is dedicated to feeling exactly like one of the Original Trilogy movies in terms of storytelling, dialogue, and visual style. The series is later picked up by several different writers and artists, including the Darth Vader team of Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larocca, who continue the high quality output. One of my favorite arcs in this series is an ongoing flashback story about Obi-Wan’s exile on Tatooine and trying to maintain his secrecy while protecting Luke and the Lars homestead from a variety of dangers. I’m hoping the upcoming Obi Wan TV show adapts some parts of this comic.
Star Wars: Darth Vader (2015-2016)
Darth Vader is one of the most iconic villains in movie history and an image of pure evil, so a comic book with him as the central protagonist is unusual to say the least. Although Vader isn’t a hero and the comic book never portrays him as one, he’s just too cool for the reader to not cheer for him as he attempts to unravel a conspiracy within the Empire to destroy him. On his journey, Vader is joined by some really fun original characters, criminal archaeologist Doctor Aphra and the sadistic murder-droids, Triple-Zero and BT-1, twisted mirror images of C-3PO and R2-D2.
Written by Kieron Gillen with art by Salvador Larocca, Darth Vader is an amazing series. The first issue is one of the best Issue Ones ever and possibly the best single issue of a Star Wars comic ever. I challenge anyone to read that issue and not want to continue with the rest of the series. Although it’s only 25 issues, it tells an imaginative, well-defined story with a clear end and absolutely no drop off in quality. Gillen writes a masterpiece here, taking the best parts of Vader’s imposing presence and power from the Original Trilogy and mixing it with the best parts of the prequel’s sympathy-building for Anakin Skywalker. Larocca’s art is precise, shadowy, and moody in a way that befits the Dark Lord of the Sith while still holding onto the movie-like feel. Between the writing and the art, you can practically hear every one of Vader’s lines in the iconic James Earl Jones voice.
Bonus: The Adventures of Tag & Bink by Kevin Rubio and Lucas Marangon
Sometimes you want a comic book to make you laugh, and when you want a Star Wars comic to make you laugh, you turn to Tag and Bink. In Tag & Bink Are Dead and its subsequent followups, hopelessly incompetent Rebel soldiers Tag Greenley and Bink Otauna find themselves trapped on the Death Star disguised as Stormtroopers. Through sheer comedic coincidence, Tag and Bink end up present for and sometimes involved in every major event of the Star Wars movies. The stormtroopers that let Obi-Wan deactivate the Death Star tractor beam? Tag and Bink. The ones who blew up C-3PO on Cloud City? That was Tag and Bink too. Boba Fett didn’t fall into the Sarlacc, it was Tag in disguise. Tag and Bink is legitimately very funny, with a million jokes and references for long-time Star Wars fans. It’s great to see a comedic side to some of the serious movie characters. Tag & Bink is a unique, awesome comic that I recommend to any Star Wars fan with a sense of humor.
That concludes my introduction into the world of Star Wars comics. There are plenty more ongoing series available in your local comic shop, as well as collections available at bookstores and your local library. Oh, and in case you were wondering, there were 21 uses of the word “dark” in this article.