Star Wars

Star Wars Episode III – Revenge of the Sith & Expanded Universe Stories (19 BBY – ~6 BBY)

The Crushing Comics Guide to Star Wars – your guide to watching, reading, and collecting Star Wars Expanded Universe canon films, TV shows, novels, and comic books. Last updated April 2017 with titles scheduled for release through December 2016.

The film Revenge of the Sith occurs in 19 BBY, starting with the rescue of Chancellor Palpatine from Count Dooku. This period of canon stories continues through the Empire’s rise and rule through ~6 BBY, when the Rebellion formalizes.

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and its adaptations

Blu-Ray: Steelbook, Star Wars Trilogy: Episodes I-III, Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI)

DVD: DVD, Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI)

Novel by Matthew Stover (hardcover / paperback / digital)
This adaption predates the New Expanded Universe, but as a film adaptation the material is still adjacent to canon if not official.

Comic: Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
Collects Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith #1-4. This adaption predates the New Expanded Universe, but as a film adaptation the material is still adjacent to canon if not official.

Photo Comic: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Photo Comic (2007)
A comic adaptation of the film using film stills rather than illustrations.

Graphic Novel: Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy – A Graphic Novel (2017)
A graphic novel adaptation of the canon story of all three of the prequel films in the style of Disney animation. [Read more…] about Star Wars Episode III – Revenge of the Sith & Expanded Universe Stories (19 BBY – ~6 BBY)

Star Wars Episode II – Attack of the Clones, The Clone Wars, & Expanded Universe Stories (22BBY – 19 BBY)

The film Attack of the Clones (2002) occurs in 22 BBY, starting with the assassination attempt on Senator Amidala and ending with her secret wedding to Anakin Skywalker. This period of canon stories continues through The Clone Wars television show and films through 19 BBY, when Revenge of the Sith begins with the rescue of Chancellor Palpatine from Count Dooku.

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and its adaptations

Blu-Ray: Steelbook, Star Wars Trilogy: Episodes I-III, Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI)

DVD: DVD, Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI)

Novel by R. A. Salvatore (hardcover / paperback / digital)
This adaption predates the New Expanded Universe, but as a film adaptation the material is still adjacent to canon if not official.

Comic: Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
Collects Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones #1-4. This adaption predates the New Expanded Universe, but as a film adaptation the material is still adjacent to canon if not official.

Photo Comic: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Photo Comic (2007)
A comic adaptation of the film using film stills rather than illustrations.

Graphic Novel: Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy – A Graphic Novel (2017)
A graphic novel adaptation of the canon story of all three of the prequel films in the style of Disney animation. [Read more…] about Star Wars Episode II – Attack of the Clones, The Clone Wars, & Expanded Universe Stories (22BBY – 19 BBY)

Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace & Expanded Universe Stories (32 BBY – 22 BBY)

The film The Phantom Menace (1999) begins in 32 BBY with the blockade of Naboo. Though the film occurs in a matter of days, this page covers all canon media that occurs prior to the film and which continues through 22 BBY – just prior to the assassination attempt on Senator Amidala that begins Attack of the Clones.

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and its adaptations

Blu-Ray: Steelbook, Star Wars Trilogy: Episodes I-III, Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI)

DVD: DVD, Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI)

Novel by Terry Brooks (hardcover / paperback / digital)
This adaption predates the New Expanded Universe, but as a film adaptation the material is still adjacent to canon if not official.

Comic: Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
Collects Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) #1-4. This adaption predates the New Expanded Universe, but as a film adaptation the material is still adjacent to canon if not official.

Photo Comic: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Photo Comic (2007)
A comic adaptation of the film using film stills rather than illustrations.

Graphic Novel: Star Wars: The Prequel Trilogy – A Graphic Novel (2017)
A graphic novel adaptation of the canon story of all three of the prequel films in the style of Disney animation. [Read more…] about Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace & Expanded Universe Stories (32 BBY – 22 BBY)

Star Wars Expanded Universe Comics (2015 – present) – Collecting Guide & Reading Order

Updated June 11, 2025! The guide to collecting Star Wars Expanded Universe comic books, the current in-canon comic books released by Marvel. Find omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback in reading order. Part of Crushing Krisis’s Guide to Collecting Star Wars Comics. Last updated April 2025 with titles scheduled for release through December 2025.

Marvel regained the license to print Star Wars comics in 2015 and launched the new Extended Universe with a big bang in the first weeks of 2015 – twin Star Wars and Darth Vader series set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Both series were critical and commercial hits.

Marvel’s focus remained mostly on comics set just before and after A New Hope expanding on the adventures of the familiar cast of the original trilogies, to which they added Kanan – The Last Padawan, a prequels-era series that stretched in The Clone Wars. Then, in the weeks leading up to The Force Awakens, Marvel breached a new period of continuity with Shattered Empire – the first comic in the new canon set after the original trilogy!

After The Force Awakens, Marvel began to spread out into other periods, with Poe Dameron further extending the decades after Return of the Jedi and series set earlier in Darth Vader’s time as a Sith Lord – still, all set within the time bounds of the film series.
[Read more…] about Star Wars Expanded Universe Comics (2015 – present) – Collecting Guide & Reading Order

Star Wars Legends Comics – The Old Expanded Universe by Marvel Comics and Dark Horse Comics

Updated Mar 22, 2025! The guide to collecting Star Wars Legends – the old Expanded Universe – comic books by Marvel and Dark Horse. Find every omnibus, Epic collection, hardcover, and trade paperback in reading order. Part of Crushing Comic’s Guide to Star Wars. Last updated March 2025 with titles scheduled for release through October 2025.

These 30 years of comics were removed from canon (along with nearly everything else that wasn’t a film or TV show) in 2014 when LucasFilms announced the impending Episode VII and the move of their comics license to Disney sibling Marvel Comics.

That means these stories have all been rendered out-of-continuity to the current Star Wars universe. Compared to current canon, these stories range from alternate retellings to complete fiction, much as we regard children’s stories and fairy tales.

However, just because these Star Wars Legends stories are no longer in continuity it doesn’t mean they are not worth reading. They include a massive 25-year effort to maintain an interconnect, cross-media canon that began nearly a decade before The Phantom Menance and stretched all the way through the announcement of the sequel trilogy!

Along the way, these comics – combined with other Expanded Universe works like novels, video games, and magazines – defined centuries of Star Wars canon (including the original Old Republic!), introduced memorable characters (like Thrawn and Mara Jade), and filled in deeper layers of tragedy and drama of the rise and fall of the Empire that the films alone could not construct.

These stories were once collected comprehensively and in impressively-detailed reading order by Dark Horse Comics in a set of paperback Omnibuses. When Disney moved the Star Wars license back to Marvel Comics in 2015, Marvel began to repeat that methodology (with some tweaks) into their own Epic Collection format.

Marvel’s Epic Collections are broken across the broad, identifiable eras of Expanded Universe continuity. While they largely maintain the Dark Horse Omnibus reading orders, they have made some tweaks to placement both for continuity and to maintain the relative parity in the length of their books.

With a dwindling amount of Epic Collections left to release, in 2022 Marvel pivoted into recollecting the Expanded Universe a second time – now into hefty oversize hardcover omnibus editions.

Many thanks to Kurtis from The Epic Marvel Podcast for his aid in some of the continuity and contents of books covered by this page!