The Adventures of Luke Skywalker's Great Grandson

Since 1989 Dark Horse Comics has been creatively portraying stories from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away with their license for the Star Wars universe.  They've expanded the dimensions of popular movie characters with tales about Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and even Biggs Darklighter who only had a few moments of screen time in Episode IV before his starfighter was blown up; and Dark Horse added new layers to Star Wars lore with brand new creations such as its Dawn of the Jedi, Knights of the Old Republic, Dark Times, and Legacy titles.  They have done a great job serving as  artistic and imaginative stewards of the Star Wars franchise for 25 years.

This is the last year Dark Horse will be publishing Star Wars comic books though.  With the sale of Star Wars to Disney many third-party vendors to Lucas' company are being replaced by others who are under the Mickey Mouse umbrella.  The Clone Wars television show for example was cancelled from Cartoon Network and is being replaced with a newly created animated series titled Star Wars: Rebels that will air on Disney XD.  Past and unreleased episodes of The Clone Wars also were pulled from Cartoon Network which is a competitive channel with Disney XD and placed on Netflix which has an expanding licensing partnership with Disney.  So it wasn't too surprising that Disney would pull the Dark Horse license as well since Marvel Comics is now a part of Mickey's family.  Marvel will take over the publishing rights for all Star Wars comic books starting in 2015.  That means that Dark Horse can no longer publish new works and also can't sell its pre-existing library either (if you buy digital comics though Dark Horse has informed consumers that you can continue to access in the future any digital editions purchased before the transition).

If you enjoy reading paper versions of comic books, you should look to purchase the Dark Horse Star Wars titles missing from your collection library before the end of the year.  To help fans with that purpose, Dark Horse recently published STAR WARS: LEGACY BOOK 3 which reprints the final issues from the Cade Skywalker series printed back in 2009 & 2010.  BOOK 3 contains issues #37 - #50 and the six issue WAR mini-series in it.

The Legacy comic books are set 130 years after Luke Skywalker destroyed the Death Star at the Battle of Yavin.  Now his great grandson, Cade, is living in a time where the Empire is back in power and the Sith once again are trying to rule the galaxy.  Cade though is a different Skywalker than Luke.  Cade Skywalker has given up on his Jedi heritage and turned to the life of a bounty hunter.  Yet in the end, like his great grandfather, a Skywalker becomes the last hope for a galaxy in turmoil.

I was impressed by the artwork in these comics, it doesn't try to be artsy but rather enhances the written text helping readers become absorbed into the story.  The creative team does a nice job of taking elements from the movies and other Dark Horse titles like Knights of the Old Republic and putting a new spin on them while maintaining a connection to the elements that make Star Wars what it is.  For the most part, I really enjoyed this story except for a few things that just nagged at me.  After all the struggles that Luke, Han, Leia and the Rebellion went though it was sad to see that was pretty much all for naught and there never really was a peaceful transition after the civil war...plus the Empire eventually comes back to power.  Adding Imperial Knights to the mix just never clicked for me, they are like Jedi but not because they serve the Empire.  Those weren't that big of a deal though, but the change where people who succumb to the dark side have their skin turn red to distinguish them as Sith just seemed silly and distracting to me. 

If you enjoy a good Star Wars story and haven't read the Legacy comic books, I encourage you to check them out.  You can pick up STAR WARS: LEGACY BOOK 3 online at Amazon for $25.81 or on store shelves at local comic book retailers.

On a side note, there is also a new monthly serial being published by Dark Horse that is set in the Legacy timeframe but instead of following Cade's adventures it is telling the story of Han Solo & Princess Leia's great-great grand daughter Ania Solo.

 

 

DISCLAIMER:  I was provided free access to a digital PDF review copy of  STAR WARS: LEGACY BOOK 3 for this post from the publisher.  A positive review was not required for me to access this time-limited PDF.  The opinions and thoughts in this post are my own.