Does anyone here still read old EU books or comics?

[TDG]

Hello all,

I don't need to tell about the old Expanded Universe that existed prior to Disney buying the Star Wars franchise and discarding the old canon and the reasons why.

My question is if there are still people who read the old Expanded Universe books, perhaps even still buy them.
I rediscovered the Star Wars EU through Star Wars comics by Dark Horse that were sold cheap at a bookstore specialized in selling old stock for low prices though I did know that the Star Wars franchise was being continued again since the early 90s (I had heard of Thrawn and I had bought Star Wars Dark Forces), I bought these comics I think around 1995 or 1996.

While I did buy a lot of the comics it would be years later before I decided to get some of the books such as the Thrawn trilogy, Hand of Thrawn duology, the X Wing books, the Young Jedi Knights, and the last Star Wars books that I bought were the Han Solo Adventures by Brian Daley.
My experience with the books of the old EU is rather mixed. This might sound a bit of blasphemy perhaps for the more hardcore SW fans (confession, I am more of a ST fan but I do like old Star Wars) but I really do not care for the majority of the books, especially the ones that focus a lot on war such as the New Jedi Order books or books set during the Clone Wars, or stories about Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader or Obi Wan.

The Thrawn books (in particular the first three) and the X Wing books were of course focused a lot on war and while I do enjoy those, Zahn more than Stackpole though because of his ideas and style of writing, what I rather missed in a lot of Star Wars books is a sense of adventure. Sometimes the world building also felt a bit limited as if the writers were afraid of breaking the setting.
In that regard I enjoyed the Han Solo books by Brian Daley a lot more, less focus on politics and war, more... hmm would "swashbuckling" be the right description?
Oh and before I forget which I also rather enjoy for a change, no Jedi or Sith, just Han Solo and Chewbacca going around having adventures in the hope of striking it rich while dealing with pirates, slavers, mercenaries, and the Corporate Sector Authority.
I really wish Brian Daley had written more Han Solo books at the time. They might be a bit simple compared to what came later but they did a lot of world building.

While most of my interested in Star Wars has waned since Disney bought the IP (interest in Star Trek has waned as well due to almost similar reasons) I still occasionally think about picking up some Star Wars books that I did read but never owned or have never read and owned.

On my list are;
Classic Star Wars by Archie Goodwin and All Williamson. Same would go for Star Wars the Early Adventures by Russ Manning. I believe the IDW collections include all the Sunday newspaper strips as well.
Star Wars X Wing Rogue Squadron comics by Dark Horse (I have most of the books so I would like the comics to complete it)
Star Wars Galaxy of Fear and Junior Jedi Knights (I know these books are for kids but I rather liked Galaxy of Fear)
I, Jedi (people's opinions on this book seem rather mixed)
And I wonder if the Tales of... books are worth reading

[Circa]

Short answer, yes. I still have a shelf full of old EU books that I hold dear. Just because they aren't canon doesn't mean they don't exist anymore. They never were technically canon anyway, no books really were outside of the novelizations and films/shows. Nothing changed other than an official statement when Disney took over. But I digress. Not a fan of getting into that topic.

Your list looks interesting. I, Jedi is one of my favorite Star Wars books, especially because it's connected to Jedi Outcast and Academy (you even here Corran Horn mentioned by Luke in JKA). I highly recommend picking that one up. I think it has mixed reviews because it's in first person which is pretty rare in the fiction fantasy genre, especially in Star Wars books. It's really good though.

I'm currently reading through the old Jedi Apprentice YA novels that I read as a kid. They are actually really incredible for YA books. That's not just nostalgia speaking, because I only read a handful of them and even the ones I never read are great. If you like Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan and that era of SW before the Clone Wars started, I highly recommend checking them out. It's my favorite era of Star Wars because of those books. The sequel series Jedi Quest is great as well, from what I remember. I plan to read all of those after.

Speaking of that era, the new books coming out about the new High Republic era look very intriguing, and I am definitely looking forward to reading those. The Jedi are the best part of SW to me, and having an era where they are the amazing heroes and are a thriving group of knights that we see in the prequels and what we see Luke strive to be by himself is what gets me excited.

[TDG]

On 10/5/2020 at 5:08 PM, Circa said:

Your list looks interesting. I, Jedi is one of my favorite Star Wars books, especially because it's connected to Jedi Outcast and Academy (you even here Corran Horn mentioned by Luke in JKA). I highly recommend picking that one up. I think it has mixed reviews because it's in first person which is pretty rare in the fiction fantasy genre, especially in Star Wars books. It's really good though.

Well one of the criticisms I kept coming across in reviews was that Corran felt to much like a Gary Stu in this story and the writing of Stackpole himself; how he writes the sentences.
My main criticism towards Stackpole has often been that he sometimes does too many continuity nods to other SW writer's work such as to Zahn to the point that I sometimes wonder if the man had any ideas of his own, and that his world building was of such a lower "scale" or degree of quality than that of Zahn.
Okay, he primarily wrote "war" stories as the tales of Rogue Squadron left little room for different type of adventures the "main heroes" had, they are pilots and Rebel/New Republic personnel and not adventurers.
Still I would like to have Star Wars I, Jedi because I already have most of the X Wing books. I am a bit more reluctant however to get KJA's Jedi Academy trilogy (for one the Sun Crusher).

Same kind of goes for a lot of other books set during the New Republic era such as the whole Callista trilogy, the Correllian trilogy, the Black Fleet crisis, the New Rebellion, the Truce at Bakura, the Courtship of Princess Leia.
Bantam's SW releases were so mixed in quality.
Outside Zahn's, Stackpole, and Allston's works the only material in this period which I care about is Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight, Mysteries of the Sith, Jedi Outcast, and Jedi Academy (the game).
BTW a shame that there never was an X Wing or Tie Fighter game set during this period.

On 10/5/2020 at 5:08 PM, Circa said:

I'm currently reading through the old Jedi Apprentice YA novels that I read as a kid. They are actually really incredible for YA books. That's not just nostalgia speaking, because I only read a handful of them and even the ones I never read are great. If you like Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan and that era of SW before the Clone Wars started, I highly recommend checking them out. It's my favorite era of Star Wars because of those books. The sequel series Jedi Quest is great as well, from what I remember. I plan to read all of those after.

I like YA books in general, even if they are written for a young audience it doesn't mean that an adult can't enjoy them. But I am a bit burned out on the Jedi to be honest.
I do know that they have a bit more of the adventure element which I described before which I find appealing.

My favorite era has always been the Galactic Civil War/New Republic era and I have been sort of trying to ignore everything that came before it to preserve the "mystery" of that period, and because there is some stuff in it I just don't like.

Exception is the KOTOR games, and perhaps the Dawn of the Jedi era and the New Sith Wars/Knight Errant era. I would like to have seen some more stories taking place during the New Sith Wars and a couple of games.

[TDG]

Out of curiosity, has anyone here read the Dark Forces book adaptations?
What do people who have read them think of them?
Should there also have been a book adaptation of Mysteries of the Sith? I know it is kind of difficult as the campaign was rather disjointed.

For that matter, should there have been book adaptations of Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy (the game, not the existing trilogy)

[darthpepo1]

On 10/5/2020 at 5:08 PM, Circa said:

Short answer, yes. I still have a shelf full of old EU books that I hold dear. Just because they aren't canon doesn't mean they don't exist anymore. They never were technically canon anyway, no books really were outside of the novelizations and films/shows. Nothing changed other than an official statement when Disney took over. But I digress. Not a fan of getting into that topic.

Your list looks interesting. I, Jedi is one of my favorite Star Wars books, especially because it's connected to Jedi Outcast and Academy (you even here Corran Horn mentioned by Luke in JKA). I highly recommend picking that one up. I think it has mixed reviews because it's in first person which is pretty rare in the fiction fantasy genre, especially in Star Wars books. It's really good though.

I'm currently reading through the old Jedi Apprentice YA novels that I read as a kid. They are actually really incredible for YA books. That's not just nostalgia speaking, because I only read a handful of them and even the ones I never read are great. If you like Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan and that era of SW before the Clone Wars started, I highly recommend checking them out. It's my favorite era of Star Wars because of those books. The sequel series Jedi Quest is great as well, from what I remember. I plan to read all of those after.

Speaking of that era, the new books coming out about the new High Republic era look very intriguing, and I am definitely looking forward to reading those. The Jedi are the best part of SW to me, and having an era where they are the amazing heroes and are a thriving group of knights that we see in the prequels and what we see Luke strive to be by himself is what gets me excited.

oh really? when does luke mention corran in JKA? i've played the campaing countless times, but i've missed that detail 

[Ramikad]

6 hours ago, darthpepo1 said:

oh really? when does luke mention corran in JKA? i've played the campaing countless times, but i've missed that detail 

I believe it's when Luke sends out his Jedi to check out various places, either before Hoth or Vjun. He sends him to Wayland.

[Circa]

Yep, sends him to Wayland, but also at the very beginning when Luke is assigning each student to a master, he assigns someone named "Raltharan" to a "Master Horn".

I remember someone made a really good Corran Horn skin and made a mod to replace the Jedi Master NPC in the game to be him, so you actually see him in the room when Luke mentions him. It ends up looking goofy later on when you get to Korriban and see multiple of him spawned to help fight the cultists.

[TDG]

On 10/26/2020 at 3:55 PM, Circa said:

Yep, sends him to Wayland, but also at the very beginning when Luke is assigning each student to a master, he assigns someone named "Raltharan" to a "Master Horn".

I remember someone made a really good Corran Horn skin and made a mod to replace the Jedi Master NPC in the game to be him, so you actually see him in the room when Luke mentions him. It ends up looking goofy later on when you get to Korriban and see multiple of him spawned to help fight the cultists.

Guess Thrawn's scientists must have been cloning him.

BTW wasn't there some plot in the books that included Jaden Korr that he was a clone? I know there was a clone of him made by the Empire but I could not understand why the Empire would clone Korr when Thrawn's campaign took place when Korr was just a nobody.