Star Wars Spotlight: 4 Legends-era experiments from the deep shelf

Four pre-Disney side roads that pushed Star Wars comics away from the movie-lane comfort zone: clone-Palpatine pulp, Old Republic fugitive energy, a far-future Skywalker, and a one-off anthology made by Episode III concept artists.

Canon status: Legends / non-canon.

Dark Empire began as a 1991 six-issue Dark Horse limited series written by Tom Veitch and drawn by Cam Kennedy, later followed by Dark Empire II and Empire's End. The story is famous, and divisive, for bringing Palpatine back through clone bodies years after Return of the Jedi. 12

Why pull it: it feels like the EU discovering how big and strange post-Jedi Star Wars could get before anyone had a sequel trilogy to answer to.

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Canon status: Legends / non-canon.

The Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic comic series launched from Dark Horse in 2006, written by John Jackson Miller and connected to the Old Republic era of the games. Wookieepedia classifies the series as Legends media and a Dark Horse ongoing series. 34

Why pull it: the hook is smaller than the era sounds, which is the charm: Zayne Carrick is not the chosen one, he is a scared Padawan trying to survive a murder frame-up.

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Canon status: Legends / non-canon.

Star Wars: Legacy was a 2006 Dark Horse ongoing series written by John Ostrander, primarily drawn and co-plotted by Jan Duursema, and set deep in the Legacy era with Cade Skywalker as its central figure. Wookieepedia records the first run as 50 issues, plus the follow-up Legacy - War. 56

Why pull it: it takes a risk most Star Wars continuations avoid, jumping far enough forward that the galaxy feels familiar but no longer safely arranged around the film cast.

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Canon status: Legends / non-canon.

Star Wars: Visionaries is a 2005 Dark Horse anthology collecting 11 stories by concept artists who worked on Revenge of the Sith. Wikipedia identifies it as non-canon, and Wookieepedia classifies it as Legends media and a Dark Horse graphic novel. 78

Why pull it: it is the rare Star Wars comic where the appeal is partly the sketchbook energy, with artists treating the universe like a weird concept-art playground.

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