Star Wars: The Comics Companion

by Ryder Windham, Daniel Wallace

Dark Horse presents the definitive guide to Star Wars comics, complete with in-depth coverage all the way through Episode III! Written by Ryder Windham, Star Wars expert, and densely illustrated with both brand-new art and classic images from the comics, this chronological compendium contains everything you need to be the ultimate Star Wars reader in-the-know. Follow Anakin Skywalker's descent into darkness, from his early days as a padawan, to his harrowing Clone Wars battles, up through his transformation and eventual death as Darth Vader. Get complete details on the exploits of Luke and Leia, Han and Chewie, and all the rest of the gang, with thorough rundowns of classic Star Wars history, from the very beginnings of the Jedi Order, no character goes unmentioned and no quadrant goes unmapped.

Genres: Star Wars, Comics

200 pages, Paperback

First published February 15, 2006

About the author

Ryder Windham is an American sci-fi author who has written over sixty Star Wars books, including novels, comics, reference books, and so on. He has also written junior novelizations for Indiana Jones movies. Since 1993, he has been working on Star Wars projects either by himself or with other authors. His reference book Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide had been on the New York Times Best Seller list for three weeks in 2005. Although he has written lots of books, accepted interviews, and appeared at several fan-conventions, little is known about his personal life.

Reviews

[CountZeroOr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, basically, covers all of the Star Wars comics up to those published shortly after the release of Episode 3 (thus comics directly relating to the results of Order 66, and comics in the early portions of the Dark Times era are omitted) - not due to deliberate omission, but because of the publication date.

This book is, basically, the most complete collection of all the Star Wars graphic novels published up until Episode 3's release, covering everything up to (in the Star Wars timeline) the Legacy era, and the expanded KotOR era. Basically, if you want to get into the older Star Wars comics, this is really where you want to go - it's the best place to start you collection, or your readings in general. It's not entirely comprehensive, and as in the case with many of these collections, the addition of recently published comics makes it obsolete, but it's still an excellent book to have in your collection.

[Warren Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice refresher to the comics that I used to own, but it felt rushed. I enjoyed reliving the stories that I’ve read many years ago, and appreciated the cross-references. The descriptions are dry; for a companion guide, I would expect - and desperately want – some background information. The small capsules that we are given insufficient, except in a few cases. Add in plenty of spelling mistakes, forgotten references, and some outright omissions (such as the Dark Forces trilogy, which admittedly is more text than artwork, but still published by Dark Horse), and I think the book could have used more time with the editors.