How did the Star Wars Expanded Universe end?

[CyberCubed]

Since Disney bought Star Wars and deemed the Expanded Universe non-canon or an "alternate universe" all the comics, novels, videogames, etc. are all no longer part of the main continuity.

I'm curious how did Dark Horse Star Wars comics end? Since they knew they were losing the license, did they write an "ending" for the expanded universe? Where were Luke, Han and Leia by the end of the series? What happened to them and their children? Who was the final main villain? Is there finally peace in the galaxy?

Can anyone provide the cliffnotes?

[snake]

Nah. No ending. The EU expanded on all periods of the universe, so a solid ending can't really be written. It wasn't just focused on one era.


The last stuff was just regular comics I believe.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by snake

Nah. No ending. The EU expanded on all periods of the universe, so a solid ending can't really be written. It wasn't just focused on one era.
.

Well I'm mainly talking about the Luke, Han and Leia timeline. I want to know where they ended up and their children by the end of the series.

[snake]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Well I'm mainly talking about the Luke, Han and Leia timeline. I want to know where they ended up and their children by the end of the series.

No deaths were written, but the legacy time period took places many years down the line. The sith came back and wrecked sh*t up again and Luke had a great great great grandson Caden Skywalker. No end of that either.

[sdp]

I was wondering about this as well, I think Del Rey who publishes the books didn't really get any warning and they even had to cancel two books that were already planned. Dark Horse did know about a year in advanced. It would've been nice to have that universe get some kind of ending, even with so many timelines explored the "main" timeline with Luke could've gotten some type of closure.

Counting they're re-printing books and comics under the "legends" banner I guess the possibility of more comics/books in the "legends" era is open. Right now they said there's no plans at all for any new stories in the old EU/Legends era but it's possible. Since it's now officially "Legends' they could go all crazy with characters and things in there since they wouldn't have to be restricted on what they could or could not do since Lucasfilm already has a "protected" main timeline, the possibilities are endless and the old EU/Legends has a ton of fans.

[blindturtle02]

There was a novel written by Troy Denning released in 2013. It was called Crucible. The villains were very odd. I believe they were minors who were competing with one of Lando's operations. They reminded me of South Park characters from Denning's description. Big heads on tiny bodies. They'd found some sort of nether gate which transported folks to what I gathered was a realm in which people who didn't have the force could somehow acquire it. But it caused madness, if I remember correctly. Remember the Mortis trilogy from Clone Wars, Cubed? I think Denning was implying that this place was basically a piece of the Mortis monolith that shattered after Anakin Obi Wan and Ahsoka had left. Man, that scene in the book was oh so trippie. So Luke, Han, and Leia head in there, kill the bigheads and then meet with Jaina Solo and Ben Skywalker in the Mos Eisley cantina. Luke, Han, and Leia basically say that that was their last hurrah and decide to retire. They say it's time for the new generation to step up. I don't know what I was expecting in terms of a send off novel, but yeah, that wasn't it. I don't think Denning was to blame because I'm thinking he had to rush to complete this one. I liked the New Jedi Order and Legacy of The Force books though. Quite a lot of epic space battles and lightsaber duels in those two series. The X-Wing series was awesome. Tim Zahn also wrote some fantastic novels, but everybody already knew that. I'm very interested to see where they're going with the canonical stuff. It just better not have villains akin to South Park characters.

[CyberCubed]

Can someone recommend me some of the highlights of the expanded universe? I know the Thrawn trilogy is considered the best and some of the Rogue Squardron and KOTOR stuff. What about Shadows of the Empire?

I don't care about the stuff that happens years after Luke is dead or whatever.

[ZariusTwo]

I remember Shadows of the Empire was treated as a massive deal when it came out. Comics, video games etc, there was a big campaign to get that noticed. Like having a new movie without neccersarily having a new movie.

It's a good story, even if looking back one of it's original characters felt like a Gary Stu. I wish the current trilogy would make use of that Prince they had as Vader's rival.

[CyberCubed]

Anyone reading the new Star Wars series? I've read all 6 issues so far and the Darth Vader 6-issues and its pretty good. Luke fighting Boba Fett, some insight on Vader's backstory.

Oh and Han Solo apparently has a black wife now. Yeah. He has a wife we never knew about between episodes IV and V.

[sdp]

Yeah I saw the whole thing about the wife and it bothers me a lot. I mean it's not all that out there for Han to have a wife, I'm sure it'll have a very similar explanation to the Firefly episode where Mal (character based on Han Solo) also "got" a wife in one episode. But while acceptable it's still a bit on the silly side and if we're getting these types of stories in the beginning of the new EU, just imagine how it's going to be 10 years from now. The whole reason to reboot the EU was to have something a little less out there and confusing I thought but now we have this type of story in "official" EU.

For me I will take the new EU on the same level of canonicity as the old EU. I'll only take into account the TV shows/movies and when I want to read about certain characters or story arcs I'll read those novels/comics etc. I'm sure most stuff from the old EU won't be contradicted THAT much and I'll be able to enjoy great EU stories old and new in the SW universe.

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Can someone recommend me some of the highlights of the expanded universe? I know the Thrawn trilogy is considered the best and some of the Rogue Squardron and KOTOR stuff. What about Shadows of the Empire?

I love Shadows of the Empire, but I'm not sure it's the best stand alone story to read. Part of what made SotE so great was being there in the moment. You saw SW as an awesome old franchise that was done and over with and to get a new story set between both movies it was just awesome. This was before any idea of Episode I would exist. The whole "this story is too big for ___" so it needs to be told through comic book/video game/novel only added to its appeal. They tried to re-create that with The Force Unleashed on it being a multi-media event but it really wasn't since the novel and comic were just adaptations of the videogame, so it was only a videogame while SOTE really told different parts of the story in each media. But how does SOTE hold up today? Well I haven't read them in a long while, need to do that again, maybe this fall..but the whole main SOTE story is told through the book. Pretty decent read and I recommend it but it's nothing ground breaking anymore sadly. At the time it was like reading a "lost" story which in my book made it stand out more than it probably does now so just take that into account. The video game is a something similar, the story is pretty barebones, but it was fun to play as that "mysterious mercenary" from the book, it was also the first 3D SWs game most people played so it was awesome. At least it helps explain a little bit the ending of the novel and gives the character a happier ending than the book if you beat it in hard mode. The comic book was only a story of the things Boba Fett had to deal with to get Han Solo to Jabba. I was a big Fett fan and still felt this comic was a little weak, only action scenes and no interesting stories. A sequel to the comic book was released years later as a mini-series but it was only a comic but I never read it.


As for other books that I like/recommend include the "Dark Lord trilogy", this includes a prequel story to Episode III, the Episode III adaptation and a story set after Episode III which originally weren't a trilogy of books but they flowed so well together that's how they're thought of now. These books are pretty good and help correct the problems of Ep.III, heck even the adaptation by itself is better than the movie. Heck I also recommend the adaptations for Ep.IV,V and VI. They really add more to the movies, especially Ep.IV since it describes the first Obi Wan/Darth Vader fight in the volcano decades before we ever saw it, and they're quick reads.

Other random books I remember liking were "The Truce at Bakura(?)" It's a novel that takes place directly after Return of the Jedi, so that was interesting. Splinter of the mind's Eye is another cool book. This was written before The Empire Strikes back based on Lucas' idea on how to make a low budget sequel to Star Wars if the first movie is not successful. For that alone it's very interesting and it remained canon in the old EU the only problem is the awkward passionate kisses Luke/Leia have in the novel knowing they're siblings but yeah it's cool to see another take of Luke's first light saber fight with Darth Vader. I also liked a lot the Han Solo trilogy, there's actually two Han Solo trilogies, a "modern" one written in the late 90s and an old one written after the first Star Wars movie, and it's that one "The Adventures of Han Solo" are pretty cool space cow boy adventures. Some of the Young Adult books weren't bad either, I really liked one "journal" type novelette that was written from Luke's point of view, those might be harder to find but they were interesting and could be read super quickly.

The "Clone Wars initiative" was also a multi media event that started after Episode II and concluded before Ep.III that would deal with all the battles of the clone wars. I only kept up with the first year of it and they were hit or miss but some of them were pretty good, better than both cartoons from what I've seen of them. Another reason why the new EU rubs me the wrong way is I doubt the new Clone Wars show was able to match some of those CW books/comics. That's why I'll just continue to look out for recommended/good stories to read doesn't matter if it's old EU or new since they'll both have crap and great stuff.

So yeah there's some recommendations outside the normal "Thrawn Trilogy", "Tales of...." series and "Rogue Squadron" that everyone always suggests.