Star Warsis one of the biggest names in pop culture, which comes with its own set of problems. Generations have grown up with the franchise and it’s taken a special place in their hearts. Fans have a fervent love for it, especially the parts of it they grew up with, and this has led to some rather toxic places for the fandom. People complain about Star Wars all the time, but recently we got one of those moments that brought the fandom together with Andor. The two-season show showed everything that you could do with Star Wars and has gone down as one of the most beloved parts of the franchise. Fans are excited again, which makes it a perfect time for Disney to revisit a much requested era of Star Wars.
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Star Wars faded away after the movies ended in the early ’80s, with the faucet of Star Wars content slowly but surely shut off. It wouldn’t be until the early ’90s that we’d start to get more, with Star Wars books and comics like Heir to the Empire and Dark Empire reminding fans what they loved about it. The early ’90s were a renaissance for Star Wars, and eventually, Lucasfilms let Dark Horse Comics, West End Games, and Bantam Books start exploring the past of the galaxy far, far away. They weren’t allowed to go to much into the rise of the Empire era – Lucas was saving that for himself – instead going even further back into the history of galaxy to the Old Republic, with a series of comics that would define what a Jedi was years before the prequels: Tales of the Jedi.
Dark Horse Comics Took Fans To the Old Republic for the First Time
Everyone thinks of the movies first, but Star Wars has quite a comic history. Marvel Comics was able to get the license to adapt the movie and it was one of the bestselling comics of 1977, leading to it becoming an ongoing series that ran until the mid ’80s. Comics kept Star Wars alive after the movies ended, so it makes sense that Dark Empire would play a huge role in bringing the franchise back to prominence. Dark Horse Comics showed that fans could trust them right away and it paid off.
Nowadays, we get a lot of hate for Dark Empire. A lot of it is just sour grapes by sequel fans, mad that Star Wars fans didn’t rebel against it like they did Rise of Skywalker. Back then, we loved the book, if for no other reason than it was new Star Wars. We’d get a sequel in 1994, but in 1993, Dark Horse returned to the galaxy far, far away with Tales of the Jedi, a six-issue series that took readers four thousand years into the past. The series’ announcement lit the fandom on fire for a simple reason – at this point we knew nothing about the Jedi Order.
This was the early ’90s; the only Jedi we had seen were old men or an untrained kid. We never got to see the Jedi Order, so getting a story set back in the good old days of the Order was huge. The series, from Dark Empire writer Rick Veitch and artist Chris Gossett introduced us to Ulic Qel-Droma, Cay Qel-Droma, Nomi Sunrider, Master Arca Jeth, and Tott Doneeta, taking readers to Onderon, a world ruled by the Beast Riders. It was basically high fantasy mixed with Star Wars and the series would go on from there, as the group of Jedi traveled across the galaxy battling evil.
Artist Chris Gossett understood the assignment, creating an all-new visual aesthetic for the Star Wars Universe. Gone was the sleek ’70s sci-fi trappings of the Galactic Empire and in its place a noticeably older world, with the fancy technology we’re using to seeing having a Baroque charm. We’d get dark-siders to fight the Jedi, making readers’ wishes come true, as well as the origins of the war between the Sith and the Jedi. Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi – Dark Lords of the Sith and Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi – The Sith War, would continue the story, as the Jedi Exar Kun rediscovers the secrets of the Sith, leading to a Jedi Civil War.
I really can’t impress upon you how exciting all of this was to fans in the early ’90s. The Jedi and the Sith were two of the great mysteries of Star Wars; sure, we knew the names and the basics, but we knew nothing else about them. Tales of the Jedi helped to color in the past of the new Expanded Universe and it was fantastic. It got even better with Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi – The Great Hyperspace War, which took readers a thousands years further in the past, telling the story of the first war between the Sith and the Republic and were true origins of the dark siders.
Dark Horse would continue to put out stories in this era of Star Wars throughout the ’90s, but it would get its most attention when the Xbox game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic came out. The game took players to the days after Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi – The Sith War, further fleshing out the era. It was a smash hit and soon Dark Horse started putting out more comics set in the past, with a book coming out named after the game (although it starred its own characters). The Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO would also spin out of this era, and it’s still active to this day. Andor represents the dawning of a new era of quality, and it’s time to use that quality on Tales of the Jedi era.
The Tales of the Jedi Era Remains a Favorite of Fans
I was a massive Star Wars fans in the early ’90s, with the return of the franchise to prominence being a big moment in my pop cultural life. It’s hard to really explain just how exciting it was to get a series set in the days of the Old Republic and the old Jedi Order. It was everything we could have wanted, getting to discover a whole new era of the galaxy of characters we loved so much. Tales of the Jedi opened the door for readers and creators to find new corners of the Star Wars Universe, leading to some of the greatest moments in the franchise’s history.
Fans have been begging Disney to return to this era. It’s undoubtedly popular; Star Wars: The Old Republic is still getting updates and fans are always talking about Knights of the Old Republic. Star Wars fans want more from this era, whether it be adaptations of the old stuff or whole new stories set there, and with Andor showing that Disney can pull off quality Star Wars, it’s time to finally return to the past.
What do you think about the old Tales of the Jedi comics? Do you think Disney should leave them alone or bring them into the present? Sound off in the comment section below.
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