With "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" still fresh on everyone's minds, I wanted to take the opportunity to cash in on the same subject as every other online personality and tap on the greatest film franchise in the history. Specifically, it's many incarnations!
I'll admit I'm not the biggest fan of the series. I've seen the original trilogy and half of Episode 3, I watched "Star Wars: The Clone Wars", have read some of Marvel's recent comics, and I've seen plenty of parody of the franchise, but one of the factors of Star Wars I've always admired was how everything about the franchise counts. Often with something like movies or television, you get comics and novels and video games that have the same characters, but have no bearing on the overall story. When "Man of Steal My Ten Dollars" was coming out, DC Comics released a one-issue tie in comic to precede the film. Which it didn't. Often tie-in comics for stuff like "Netflix's Daredevil" or "Marvel's The Avengers" have no place in their respective properties, but that is where Star Wars was different.
The novel "Shadows of The Empire" was released in 1996, fifteen years after "Return of The Jedi" and told readers the events that occurred between "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of The Jedi", acting as an Episode 2.5 for the series and providing actual canon like how Luke got a new lightsaber and how Han Solo-after being frozen in carbonite-was transported from Cloud City to Tatooine by Boba Fett. This story was so well-recieved it got a comic book and video game adaptation, and an official soundtrack of original music.
Video games like "Knight of The Old Republic", "The Force Unleashed", and "The Old Republic" expanded on past events and unnoticed events in the Star Wars universe while allowing fans to feel as if they were part of the lore. The Star Wars comics had entire eras of Star Wars lore, while the television show "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" took place between the prequel films "Attack of The Clones" and "Revenge of The Sith" and the newest television show "Star Wars Rebels" is set between "Revenge of The Sith" and "A New Hope". To anyone else, all of that sounds like nothing, but for Star Wars fans it was part of the legend. Every character, every battle, it all factored into what fans had been waiting for.
After Lucasfilms was bought by Disney, it came as no surprise that the House of Mouse started working on a new trilogy, spin-off films, TV shows, video games and toys, oh the toys! Remembering our place in the topic, it was a no-brainer that when Disney wanted to produce new Star Wars books to reassemble the Star Wars canon, they went over to the other company they own, Marvel Comics. Marvel had made Star Wars comics from in 1977-1987, and Dark Horse Comics picked up the series from 1991-2014. Rather than expecting fans to memorize the decades of novels, games, cartoons and comic books, Disney had Marvel Comics and their top-shelf writers and artists work on Star Wars comics yet again to establish an easier canon. As of now, it's not fully agreed on what is canon or not from either the old spin-offs or the new comics.
Like I said, even as a lukewarm fan (HAHAHA) I've always admired the series' commitment to its merchandise. Sure, stuff like "The Star Wars Christmas Special" and "Stars Wars: Kinect" leave a bad taste on the series' record, but you still have to appreciate that from 1977 to 2015 Disney or Lucas or whoever still believes in the brand and all it's incarnations. As they should, because Star Wars is a legendary film series, an important fixture in American fiction, and a quintessential piece of history.
Thank you for reading, and may The Force be with you.
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