The Comics of Star Wars

I love a good list. In the tradition of The Novels of Star Wars, here is a somewhat complete list of Star Wars Comic TPBs. This will be updated for new releases and corrections, so check on back here from time to time.

I'm just starting out with the Star Wars comics, or rather revisiting them... I havent followed them since the Star Wars Marvel Comic series from the 70s and 80s. Good old Dark Horse has gone and put much of the old, as well as keeping the new in circulation, and compiling almost all of the series to TPB.

In an effort to simplify, I am only listing the TPBs (and some GNs) here, and no Infinities either (even though some of the multi-era TPBs may contain Infinities within them. I did list those here). I wont bother listing era titles here either, as I've exhausted that in the Novels list. Feel free to refer to that if its of interest. Scroll to the end here for further ramblings.

__________________________________________

Star Wars Comic TPB Timeline

5,000 BBY
Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith
Tales of the Jedi: The Fall of the Sith Empire
3,998 BBY
Tales of the Jedi: Knights of the Old Republic
Tales of the Jedi: The Freedom Nadd Uprising
3,997 BBY
Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith
3,996 BBY
Tales of the Jedi: Sith War
3,986 BBY
Tales of the Jedi: Redemption
1,000 BBY
Jedi vs. Sith
44 BBY
The Stark Hyperspace War
33 BBY
Jedi Council: Acts of War
Prelude to Rebellion
Darth Maul

32 BBY
Episode I: The Phantom Mencace

31 BBY
Jango Fett - Open Seasons
Outlander
Emissaries to Malastare
30 BBY
Twilight
Darkness
28 BBY
Rite of Passage
27 BBY
Jango Fett GN (Graphic Novel)
Zam Wesell GN
23 BBY
Honor and Duty (up to 19 BBY) (@ May 10, 2006)

22 BBY
Episode II: Attack of the Clones

22-20 BBY
Clone Wars:
- Vol. 1: The Defense of Kamino
- Vol. 2: Victories and Sacrifices
- Vol. 3: Last Stand on Jablim
- Vol. 4: Light and Dark
- Vol. 5: The Best Blades
- Vol. 6: On the Fields of Battle
- Vol. 7: When They Were Brothers
- Vol. 8 The Last Siege, The Final Truth
- Vol. 9: Endgame (@ Jul 26, 2006)
Clone Wars Adventures: (comic digest from cartoon)
- Volumes 1-4
- Vol. 5 (@ April 19, 2006)
- Vol. 6 (@ August 9, 2006)
20 BBY
General Grevious

19 BBY
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

10-5 BBY
Droids: Rebellion
Droids: The Kalarba Adventures
Droids: The Protocol Offensive (not a TPB, but co-written by Anthony Daniels)
5 BBY
Jabba the Hutt: Art of the Deal
2 BBY
Classic Star Wars: Han Solo at Stars' End
1 BBY
Boba Fett: Enemy of the Empire
Underworld: The Yavin Vassilika
Empire Vol. 1: Betrayal
Empire Vol. 2: Darklighter

0 BY - Battle of Yavin
Episode IV: A New Hope

Empire Vol. 3: The Imperial Perspective
Empire Vol. 4: Heart of the Rebellion
Empire Vol. 5: Allies and Adversaries (? date)
Classic Star Wars: The Early Adventures
A Long Time Ago Vol 1: Doomworld
1 ABY
A Long Time Ago Vol. 2: Dark Encounters
Vader's Quest
Classic Star Wars Vol. 1: In Deadly Pursuit
Classic Star Wars Vol. 2: The Rebel Storm
2 ABY
Classic Star Wars Vol. 3: Escape to Hoth
Splinter of the Mind's Eye

3 ABY
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

A Long Time Ago Vol. 3: Resurrection of Evil
A Long Time Ago Vol. 4: Screams in the Void
A Long Time Ago Vol. 5: Fool's Bounty
Shadows of the Empire

4 ABY
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand
Shadows of the Empire - Evolution
A Long Time Ago Vol. 6: Wookie World
A Long Time Ago Vol. 7: Far, Far Away
X-Wing: Rogue Squadron Vol.1 Omnibus (@ June 7, 2006)
9 ABY
Heir to the Empire
Dark Force Rising
The Last Command
10 ABY
Dark Empire (aka Dark Empire I)
Dark Empire II
Boba Fett - Death, Lies & Treachery
11 ABY
Empire's End
Crimson Empire
Crimson Empire - Council of Blood
12 ABY
Jedi Academy: Leviathan
19 ABY
Union
25 ABY
Chewbacca

Spans multiple eras:

A Long Time Ago (first Star Wars comics - originally by Marvel):
- Vol. 1: Doomworld - 0 BY
- Vol. 2: Dark Encounters - 1 ABY
- Vol. 3: Resurrection of Evil - 3 ABY
- Vol. 4: Screams in the Void - 3 ABY
- Vol. 5: Fool's Bounty - 3 ABY
- Vol. 6: Wookie World - 4 ABY
- Vol. 7: Far, Far Away - 4 ABY
Visionaries
The Bounty Hunters
Dark Forces: (This is the story of Kyle Katarn)
- I Soldier for the Empire
- II Rebel Agent
- III Jedi Knight



__________________________________________



In my Novels list, I referred to the Star Wars New Essential Chronology as the ultimate resource chronology, as well as Star Wars Timeline Gold. For the comics, we now have The Star Wars Comic Companion, of which I have yet to lay my grubby little paws on, but hopefully it will be on its way to my mailbox in the coming weeks.

I think many of you know what the BBY and ABY stand for. If not:

BY = Battle of Yavin, which takes place in Episode IV: A New Hope
BBY = (years) Before the Battle of Yavin
ABY = (years) After the Battle of Yavin

I use the @ symbol to connote the date for upcoming releases.

A few of these are actually graphic novels (GN), which as opposed to the TPBs (trade paperbacks), are not collections of a comic series run. They are stand alone novels.

About the Star Wars films listed above: There are many different comic adaptations of the films, including manga (another subject I didnt include in this list, which goes into Star Wars beyond the films too.. maybe someday I'll get it in here). Suffice it to say that I merely listed the individual episodes here as a reference point to the timeline.

Alrighty! Just like my SW Novel list, I put this together so I could get the story straight for myself, and also to have a priority "shopping list" (so to speak) for myself. Its also handy to have these lists stored on a server, so there are a few more ways to access this if need be.

Q: "So then why dont you just use Dark Horse's online timeline?"

A: "That would be too easy"

Actually and frankly, they way they have the timeline laid out is a little confusing for the stuff I want to see. And by making a list here myself, I actually learn it.

This is by no means a big time collector's reference list of Star Wars obscura. I've seen some of those lists, and they only frusterate me with the knowledge that these things are practically impossible to find. This is the stuff thats out there, for everyone to access, and also the items that are generally withing the main continuity of the EU timeline. Again, as I said above - no infinities or other rare and obscure stuff for the most part.

There are several series that arent put to TPB, though highly worthy (like the new KOTOR series, of which we're waiting on issue #4), I havent figured out how or if they should be incorporated to this list yet. Surely when they do arrive as TPBs, they will be added. For now however, they remain absent - so technically this isn't a complete list, even though Dark Horse has done a n impressive job at compiling most of it.

This is mostly from the timeline provided on the Dark Horse website. There's another great little community over there. I highly recommend surfing around that site for more info on the comics, since they are now the main Star Wars comic publisher. Of course, keep checking in at our very own starwars.com EU comics pages for updates on new releases etc.

Also like my Novel list (and any blog I write), I welcome input from everyone, especially to help keep the list as correct and updated as possible. Like I said above, this will be frequently updated, fixed up and spackled, added to and all that. Eventually, I hope to get a link (either sw.com or publisher) to each title. But I said that about the Novel list and look how far I got with that. A listaholic's work is never done.

I'm not sure of the timeline date for Empire Vol. 5: Allies and Adversaries. I just stuck it up there where I thought it fit. Another one I have yet to put in the list is The Hunt for Aurra Sing, which I know takes place sometime before Episode III, but I'm not sure exactly. The upcoming Honor and Duty is a guess too, since it is only said to have begun before the Clone Wars and runs to Vader's first assignment (you all know what that is!). Surely there will be many more changes and additions to this list.



More Links

EU Comics Archive at starwars.com

Dark Horse Star Wars site

Dark Horse Star Wars comic timeline



A reminder to fellow Hyperspace members: Dont forget to drop by your friendly neighborhood Daily Webstrip, for comics featuring art and writing from some of our very own and loveable greenie weenie admins Ghent and Pabawan.


Thanks - J


Originally posted on my starwars.com blog April 11, 2006.