The Best Star Wars Comics Every Fan Should Read - Ripene Skip to content The Best Star Wars Comics Every Fan Should Read September 13, 2022 by Ripene Over the decades, Star Wars has grown far beyond the big screen, with seemingly endless numbers of books, comics, and TV shows springing up around George Lucas’ brainchild. Perhaps no medium explores the galaxy far, far away better than comic books. RELATED: Exploring Anti-Science Tropes In Science Fiction Star Wars has seen its fair share of comics and graphic novels ever since Luke Skywalker left his homeworld of Tatooine way back in 1977. Almost immediately, Star Wars comics took off, and they’ve only expanded since. Following Disney’s purchase of the Star Wars IP, many of the once canonized stories found in the Expanded Universe comics were relegated to the past. But there are loads of creative and engaging tales to be told, buried in the pages of years gone by. Dig a little deeper, and fans might discover that the Star Wars galaxy is much larger than they could have imagined. Updated September 13, 2022, by Patrick Armstrong: Few media franchises can hope to match the size, depth, and complexity of Star Wars. Whether one grew up with the original trilogy or fell in love with the franchise after laying eyes on Kylo Ren, Star Wars is hard to beat. The space opera that dominated the cinema made short work of moving into other media, including video games, novels, and comics. With its cinematic style, unforgettable characters, and action-packed stories, Star Wars made the transition to comics look easy. Years later, comic book fans have an easy time packing their shelves with tales set a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. GAMERANT VIDEO OF THE DAY 12 Princess Leia Many fans of the original trilogy had decidedly mixed feelings with Princess Leia’s character arc in the sequel trilogy. However one feels about the culmination of Leia’s story though, there’s no denying the importance, longevity, or general cool factor of the Princess. Leia is far from a minor character in the Star Wars universe, but that doesn’t mean she’s always gotten the stage time she deserved. Princess Leia got a chance to shine in 2015’s “Star Wars: Princess Leia” mini-series by Mark Waid. Picking up after the destruction of her home planet Alderaan, the comic follows Leia, Queen Breha, and Bail Organa as they struggle to cope with the Empire’s actions. Star Wars is a space opera and moves with all the speed that the genre demands. One predictable consequence is that the original trilogy never gives Leia the time or space to confront the destruction of Alderaan, a gap that “Star Wars: Princess Leia” happily fills. 11 Crimson Empire Stormtroopers are the very definition of faceless evil, yet they are a far deeper and more varied group than the franchise often reveals. They may have started as a clone army, but the stormtroopers soon needed other recruits to sustain their massive war effort to crush the last remnants of rebellion throughout the galaxy. Nor are the stormtroopers the extent of the Empire’s military might. “Star Wars: Crimson Empire” is the story of Kir Kanos, who was once one of the Emperor’s red-robed bodyguards. Only the most talented stormtroopers rose to the ranks of Palpatine’s personal guard, and learning about the life of one of these guards – both before and after the collapse of the Empire – is a unique experience in Star Wars fiction. Kir is an excellent protagonist in his own right, but the story is also great simply for the way it deepens the universe’s lore. 10 Purge One of the most significant and terrible events in the entire Star Wars canon is the execution of Order 66, the Emperor’s command to hunt down and eliminate the Jedi Order to complete his political coup and launch the Empire in all its awful glory. Though the sequence is depicted only briefly in Episode III, it left a lasting impression on viewers, particularly with its depiction of Darth Vader’s slaughter of the Jedi younglings. “Star Wars: Purge” continues the tale of Vader’s part in Order 66. In it, Darth Vader’s ongoing descent into the Dark Side takes center stage as he hunts down his former Jedi comrades and murders them. It is, fittingly, a grim story, well-told and complimented by beautiful art. Seeing Darth Vader grow in his darkness as well as his force powers is an unnerving but wonderful journey. 9 Infinities What is and isn’t canon in Star Wars has always been a complicated issue. As the franchise expanded, the original trilogy and the words of its creator were joined by other movies, games, novels, and comics. As the wealth of fan fiction demonstrates, however, a story doesn’t have to be canonically true for it to be enjoyable. RELATED: When Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Takes Place On The Timeline Even at the time of their publication, the stories in “Star Wars Infinities” weren’t canon. Instead, they present hypothetical “what if” situations about the way that things could have gone in the Star Wars universe had a few small things been different. Many of these alternate universes are unsurprisingly dark, such as the one in which Luke fails to blow up the first Death Star. 8 Bounty Hunters Boba Fett is a fan-favorite character, even getting his own show on Disney+. With not much said about Boba during the original trilogy, Bounty Hunters expands upon the story of the mysterious character. Set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Bounty Hunters also features lesser-known characters like Bossk and Beilert Valance, as well as Dengar, who later saves Boba from being digested over a thousand years in Jabba’s Sarlacc Pit. For Star Wars fans who enjoy scum and villainy, Bounty Hunters is the perfect comic. 7 Knights of the Old Republic KOTOR Fans of the KOTOR video games may already know a bit about the world behind this legendary Star Wars comic series. Set nearly 4,000 years before the Battle of Yavin, KOTOR follows the exploits of Zayne Carrick, a Jedi Padawan who is betrayed by his own masters. After sensing a disturbance in the Force, the Jedi Masters believe Zayne and his fellow Padawans may succumb to the Dark Side. Rather than take any chances, they decide to kill them all, but Zayne manages to escape. With the help of a former enemy, a smuggler called Marn Hierogryph, Zayne travels the galaxy as a Jedi in exile. The young Jedi eventually builds up his own crew on a starship of their own, which whisks him across a galaxy fans of the movies alone may not be fully aware of. With 50 issues released over 6 years, KOTOR contains tons of great story arcs for Star Wars fans to enjoy. With a KOTOR video game remake coming soon, now is a great time to brush up on Old Republic lore. 6 Dark Times Set just after Emperor Palpatine triggers Order 66, Dark Times sees former Jedi Dass Jennir escape the Jedi Purge and hole up with a ragtag group of outlaws and refugees. Dark Times is actually a spiritual successor to the long-running Star Wars: Republic comic series, with some of its characters having been introduced in the previous series. RELATED: Darth Maul Was Originally Going To Be In Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi As the name might suggest, Dark Times contains some mature themes, with some grim things happening to its main characters. For fans who are looking for a grittier Star Wars experience, Dark Times offers exactly that. 5 Doctor Aphra When seeing this one for the first time, people might ask “Who’s Doctor Aphra?” First introduced as a side character in Marvel’s 2015 Darth Vader comic series, Aphra is a space archaeologist with a penchant for mayhem. More diabolical than such scum and villainy as Han Solo or Lando Calrissian, Aphra quickly became popular enough to warrant her own comic series. Launched in 2016 and relaunched in 2020, Doctor Aphra has so far run for 50 issues and is still going strong. Those looking to explore a different viewpoint of the Star Wars galaxy should pick up a copy today, as the story is still unfolding. 4 Republic Following no specific cast of characters for too long, Republic is set during the days of Lucas’ prequel trilogy. Republic features familiar characters like Mace Windu, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Obi-Wan, Anakin, General Grievous, and Asajj Ventress, in addition to new faces like Jedi Master Quinlan Vos. In a time before the now-popular Clone Wars TV show, Republic offered fans a glimpse into an expanded Clone Wars, revealing never before seen planets, species, and battles. First released in 1998 and only concluding after 83 issues in 2006, Republic was one of Dark Horse’s longest-running Star Wars series, adding countless amounts of lore to an already lively galaxy. 3 Classic Star Wars As early as 1979, Star Wars got its own comic strips, appearing in daily newspapers like the Los Angeles Times. In the mid-90s, Star Wars publisher Dark Horse released an anthology collection of those original comic strips, collected together into multiple lengthy volumes under the name Classic Star Wars. RELATED: Star Wars: Terrifying Things Palpatine Did In The Legends Universe Classic Star Wars is a fascinating look back at the comic industry’s most early adaptations of the now-legendary film. Because Empire Strikes Back had just come out in 1980, there was very little established lore for writers and artists to work off of, resulting in some fantastic (albeit non-canonical) imaginings of the Star Wars universe. 2 Vader Dark Visions A limited series of 5 issues, Vader: Dark Visions is an anthology series published by Marvel in 2019. While there are many Darth Vader comic series out there, this one tells separate stories of the notorious Sith Lord from different perspectives: this is Vader like fans have never seen him before. Whether the narrator is a local caught up in a battle between the Empire and the Rebels or Vader’s own nurse who’s fallen head over heels in love with the fallen Jedi, Dark Visions is bound to show readers a side of this Sith Lord that has until now gone unseen. 1 Legacy It’s no secret that Disney’s Star Wars sequel trilogy caught a lot of flak from fans of the Lucas-era films. For those fans who were disappointed in the direction Star Wars went in, there is a new (or actually, old) hope… Star Wars: Legacy. This comic series follows the story of Luke’s grandson Cade Skywalker after he is left for dead following the re-emergence of the Sith under Dark Krayt and their sacking of the new Jedi Temple. Following the events of the Yuuzhan Vong War, a new, slightly more benevolent emperor named Roan Fel sits on the galactic throne. With his own Knights of the Empire (Force-wielders loyal to the Emperor), Fel was once powerful but is taken by surprise following a lightning-fast coup by Darth Krayt. Krayt, who has broken the Rule of Two, maintains his own cohort of Sith-trained underlings who help him conquer a war-weary galaxy. Legacy has it all: space pirates, renegade Jedi, feuding political dynasties, and of course epic fleet battles. Fans of the films in search of faithful Star Wars adaptations are in for a treat. 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