Cease me for those who’ve heard this one earlier than: Star Wars? It’s fairly cool. That’s true for lots of people, as a result of whether or not or not you’re into the franchise’s present course, it’s been round for therefore goddamn lengthy that there’s virtually actually an period, a comic book, and/or a sequence of books or video video games that speaks to your particular person style in style fiction. It’s merely onerous to object to laser swords, area wizards, and starfighters on precept. It’s once you get particular that arguments can occur. At present, my particular argument (and I reserve the correct to have a distinct one tomorrow) is that Star Wars’ Previous Republic period kicks ass, and I’m a bit bummed it’s principally been deserted.
Spurred by Ahsoka’s revisitation of outdated Star Wars Legends-timeline tales I’m keen on, I’ve been tooling round with a bunch of tales set within the Previous Republic, a no-longer-canon Star Wars period ranging anyplace in the course of the roughly 30,000 years previous to The Phantom Menace. What’s fascinating about this Star Wars setting isn’t simply the completely large span of time — which naturally permits for tales wildly totally different from the movies — however that concepts on what an Previous Republic story might be diversified rather a lot earlier than an aesthetic turned codified in BioWare’s basic RPG Knights of the Previous Republic.
Previous to KOTOR, comics like Jedi vs. Sith depicted a model of Star Wars that was full-on fantasy, the place Jedi Knights had been actually knights in elaborate armor, solely with lightsabers, and ships seemed like large galleons that might fly. Evaluate that to the present Star Wars story, with its strict model tips, and I really feel like I’m speaking a few legendary metropolis like El Dorado, a spot the place kooky writers and artists may simply consider something and name it Star Wars.
Frankly, there aren’t a number of Star Wars tales like this — Tales of the Jedi is essentially the most outstanding sequence of books and comics to discover this period on this method — however even with its extra on-brand aesthetic, the enchantment of the Previous Republic post-KOTOR is identical. It’s a Star Wars setting that the group at BioWare got the liberty to make their very own, a setting that different creators noticed potential in — from Obsidian Leisure, who made Knights of the Previous Republic 2: The Sith Lords, to writers like John Jackson Miller and the various artists who advised parallel tales in Darkish Horse’s Knights of the Previous Republic comics. (Which Marvel has republished as The Old Republic Vols. 1-3.)
At its finest, the Previous Republic felt like a setting that emerged from tales about individuals. KOTOR is remembered for spinning a brand new legend in regards to the mysterious Darth Revan. The Knights of the Previous Republic comics kicked off with an incredible hook about Zayne Carrick, a padawan on the run from the Jedi Masters he believes dedicated homicide. And several other books and comics explored what made a man named Darth Bane tick, and the way his story modified the villainous Sith for millennia.
This stands in distinction to a number of Disney-era efforts to broaden the canon — particularly The Excessive Republic period, which feels extra like a setting that was devised first, with tales and characters retrofitted into it. That doesn’t imply they’re dangerous per se, it simply implies that they require a bit extra buy-in at first, as Excessive Republic tales spend a number of time exploring the state of the galaxy and the way it differs from extra acquainted Star Wars fare. They’re works of structure, Star Wars for the MCU period.
As somebody who likes a number of Star Wars however has at all times stopped shy of being a Star Wars obsessive, I’ve at all times appreciated the breadth of what’s on the market, and the way enjoyable it may be once you turn into canon-agnostic and cease worrying about whether or not one thing suits into Disney’s Star Wars grasp plan. Frankly, Star Wars is a giant enterprise — staggeringly large, virtually too large to really feel private in any sort of method. However for some time, some of us pulled it off. Perhaps, with luck, they’ll do it once more.