When Disney first acquired Star Wars and announced the production of new content, one of the settings they would explore first is those first few weeks, months, and years after Episode IV: A New Hope. There would be novels for adults, teens, and children released that would cover that period, but one of the most comprehensive stories was that told by Marvel Comics.
In January 2015, two new comic series would begin, Star Wars and Darth Vader. The former would run for 75 issues and lead directly into a prologue to Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. The latter would run for 25 issues and tell the tale of Darth Vader as he establishes his own power base with the help of new character Dr. Chelli Lona Aphra (who would get her own ongoing series after Darth Vader ended). Marvel would also launch multiple five-issue miniseries focussing on individual characters, beginning with Princess Leia but then also having stories for Chewbacca, Han Solo, and Lando Calrissian.
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For this article, I consumed the following content:
- Star Wars 1-75 + Annual 1-4 (comic series by Jason Aaron, Chris Eliopoulos, Kieron Gillen, Greg Pak, Kelly Thompson, Jason Latour, and Cullen Bunn, 2015-2019)
- Darth Vader 1-25 + Vader Down one-shot + Annual 1 (comic series by Kieron Gillen and Jason Aaron, 2015-2016)
- Doctor Aphra 1-40 + Screaming Citadel one-shot + Annual 1-3 (comic series by Kieron Gillen, Simon Spurrier, and Jason Aaron, 2016-2019)
- Empire Ascendant (comic one-shot by Charles Soule, Greg Pak, Ethan Sacks, and Simon Spurrier, 2019)
- Storms of Crait (comic one-shot by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, 2017)
- Princess Leia 1-5 (comic mini-series by Mark Waid, 2015)
- Chewbacca 1-5 (comic mini-series by Gerry Duggan, 2015)
- Lando 1-5 (comic mini-series by Charles Soule, 2015)
- Han Solo 1-5 (comic mini-series by Marjorie Liu, 2016)
- Target: Vader 1-6 (comic mini-series by Robbie Thompson, 2019)
- Age of Rebellion (nine one-shot comics by Greg Pak, John Adams, Marc Guggenheim, and Simon Spurrier, 2019)
I read digital versions of all of these comics. I also listened to a digital version of the audio drama "Star Wars: Doctor Aphra" which re-tells the story of the Darth Vader series plus the Vader Down crossover and the Star Wars arc "Rebel Jail" from the titular Dr. Aphra's point of view.
Note that some of the Age of Rebellion one-shots take place later in the story (between Episodes V and VI), and some take place slightly earlier, but I felt these comics were best enjoyed here.
Thoughts
These comic series intertwine nicely to tell a wonderful story of the adventures of our heroes, our villains, and various original creations during the three years between Episodes IV and V.
Dr. Chelli Lona Aphra stands out as an amazing original character made for these stories. Described by some of her creators as "What if Indiana Jones, but a woman, gay, and a hot mess", she is an adventuring archaeologist with a selfish streak. Her backstory connects with Sana Starros, a smuggler introduced early in Star Wars who once posed as Han Solo's wife for a major operation. Aphra is often accompanied by BT-1 and 000, an evil equivalent of R2-D2 and C-3PO, who are happy to murder their way through the stories.
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| Dr. Aphra activates Triple-Zero. |
The two crossover stories, Vader Down and The Screaming Citadel, united the otherwise separate arcs for our characters, bringing Vader, Aphra, and the murder droids in direct conflict with Luke, Han, and Leia. We also have less formal crossovers: the character of Queen Trios of Shu-Torun, introduced in Darth Vader, became a temporary ally of Princess Leia until she betrayed the Rebellion and allowed Vader to almost crush the new Rebel fleet.
We are also introduced to Scar Squadron, a group of unusual Stormtroopers led by one who wields a lightsaber, and Black Krrsantan, a Wookiee bounty hunter who would later appear in The Book of Boba Fett.
The various mini-series and one-shots helped to tell standalone stories featuring our main characters. Princess Leia was set right after Episode IV and establishes the identity of the other Rebel pilot who survived the Battle of Yavin (aside from Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles): the Alderaanian Evaan Verlaine, whom Leia encourages to be elected as the new Princess of Alderaan and lead the Alderaanian survivors while Leia continues to fight with the Rebellion. The Lando story is incredible and tells the story of him and Lobot raiding a yacht they later learn belongs to Emperor Palpatine. Storms of Crait was a tie-in to Episode VIII and featured a brief adventure on the salt-flat planet from the end of that movie.
In the old Legends continuity, the three years between Episodes IV and V (and in particular that first year) was an incredibly busy time. Seven novels, one short story, six middle-grade books, 203 comic issues of different sizes, three comic digests, one video game (plus three missions of another game and two campaigns of a third), and one television special all fit into this narrow time period. The New Canon streamlined this era significantly. Excluding the Age of Rebellion one-shots and a variety of one-shot stories told in the Star Wars Adventures comics by IDW, there are 178 comic issues set in this period, which is a shockingly close figure to the 203 from Legends, but these 178 tell one grand consistent story instead of a variety of shorter stories with minimal interconnectivity and zero planning. On top of this there were two novels (Heir to the Jedi and Battlefront II: Inferno Squad), two middle-grade books (Smuggler's Run and The Weapon of a Jedi), and portions of two other books (Lost Stars and Battlefront: Twilight Company). By and large, it seems like Disney is trying to be more internally consistent in this busy and important era. Overall it has not been 100% successful, but it has done better than pre-Disney ever did.
Next:
I want to start tackling The High Republic as my next exploration of New Canon, but I've also spent many years consuming tie-in material for Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. Either of those will be next.
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