Star Wars Legends Fan Group discussion

May 2025 Legends Group Read

Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy by Mike Baron, Olivier Vatine (Illustrator), adapted from Timothy Zahn's novels



The Group read starts on May 1st.

- First published from 1996 to 1999.
- Timeline: 9 ABY.

Star Wars Legends: The Thrawn Trilogy is a collection of the Thrawn Trilogy comic adaptation.

One of the most popular STAR WARS stories of all time!

Five years after the glorious rebel victory against the second Death Star, Luke Skywalker remains the last of the Jedi! Han Solo and Princess Leia are married and have taken on many of the burdens of stabilizing the fledgling New Republic. But the galaxy is not yet safe. Far, far away, something festers. One lingering faction of the Empire – near death, but all the more dangerous for it. And the discovery of a long-lost force could spark it back into life! The last of the Emperor’s military masterminds, Grand Admiral Thrawn, is ready to seize his chance to control the remaining Empire – and the galaxy!

COLLECTING: STAR WARS: HEIR TO THE EMPIRE 1-6, STAR WARS: DARK FORCE RISING 1-6, STAR WARS: THE LAST COMMAND 1-6

For those preferring single issues to omnibuses.

Heir To The Empire
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Dark Force Rising
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The Last Command
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I own this one and am on a few weeks break. I can actually participate!

Rebecca wrote: "I own this one and am on a few weeks break. I can actually participate!"

Nice, Rebecca. You know Zahn's trilogy so well. I'm looking forward to your remarks on the comic books.

Just finished Star Wars: Heir to the Empire.


A few quick thoughts:

- I had a hunch the illustrators were European. Turns out they’re French. The art style gave it away. I actually like it, but it definitely has a different feel compared to the usual Star Wars comics I’ve read.

- I’m really curious what people who haven’t read Zahn’s original novel think of this adaptation. Is the story engaging and clear to newcomers? Personally, I miss the depth of character motivation and world-building that the novel fleshes out, which inevitably gets trimmed down in a comic format.

- Why is Luke’s lightsaber blue? Did I miss an explanation, or is this an oversight?

- Did the illustrators forget that Leia is supposed to be pregnant with twins? She doesn’t show at all. In one scene, she’s running around with her midriff exposed and looks super slim, like runway-model skinny. What’s going on there?!

- Also, the Noghri seem way too tall in this version. Weren’t they supposed to be closer to Jawa height?

BTW You can get Canon Comic Books on sale today (May the 4th deal) on Amazon. The prices are really good, you get about 80% off the original price. I bought the rest of the High Republic comics, and Charles Soule's run of the Darth Vader comic books that I loved (when I first read them 4 years ago).

oh, I remember reading this one now. I hate the art. Thrawn and Rhuk look so weird, and so much of the humor is gone. In the book, during the opening scene, Thrawn is in his tactical cave calmly drinking an ale and discusses strategy, tactics, and the brewing process/ hops used in the ale with Captain Pellaeon. They cut so much, and for Zahn, it's like in Jane Austen. It's in the small seemingly insignificant things that a lot of characterization happens.

This might be hard for me to finish. I hate the art. It looks ugly to me.

wow, they drew everyone so horribly that the attempts at objectifying Leia and Mara Jade are laughable. Everyone basically has the same face and no nose.

It's an oversight in the same way that Leia isn't pregnant, and Thrawn doesn't drink ale.

Interesting, Heir to the Empire, the ships look great, and the people are ugly. Dark Force Rising, the ships have very little detail, but the characters look much better.

They also suddenly remember that she's very pregnant.

Did they base their version of Mara Jade's measurements and hair style off of Jessica Rabbit? The downside to the art improvement is that the male gaze/ fan service improved, too.

Hey, Luke's lightsaber is green now!

It gets one star from me. I can't stand how they drew Mara Jade.

Or Princess Leia, but she wasn't treated with a bit more dignity than Mara was. also why was Leia weaponless on Kayshyk? (spelling?)

The babies are terrifying

At least artist one improved slightly by the time he drew Last Command. The art felt really disjointed overall. Time to reread some Zahn books and short stories to delete this mess from my memory.

Rebecca wrote: "It's an oversight in the same way that Leia isn't pregnant, and Thrawn doesn't drink ale."

I’m curious what kind of instructions the illustrators were actually given and how detailed they were. I imagine Mike Baron adapted the novel into a script, and once the illustrators did their part, he likely had to approve the final version… or at least I assume that’s how it went.

Rebecca wrote: "Interesting, Heir to the Empire, the ships look great, and the people are ugly. Dark Force Rising, the ships have very little detail, but the characters look much better."

Rebecca wrote: "Did they base their version of Mara Jade's measurements and hair style off of Jessica Rabbit? The downside to the art improvement is that the male gaze/ fan service improved, too."

Different set of illustrators for each book. The second one is more of an American style, not surprisingly pencilled by an American Terry Dodson.

Sorry the adaptation didn’t land for you, Rebecca. At least there are still the original books to return to.

Yep. If I had liked the art, and if it hadn't added in elements to the women that treated them with disrespect that weren't there in the original, I might have thought it passable. It really does cut a lot out, though.

Finished .

A few thoughts:

- some visual errors were corrected: Luke’s lightsaber is finally shown as green, the Noghri are appropriately scaled as shorter than humans, and Leia’s visibly pregnant.

- the characters also bear a closer resemblance to their film counterparts

- I have to agree with Rebecca that Mara Jade is needlessly shown in sexually provocative poses. Also her proportions are ridiculous - huge bust, miniscule waist, accented butt. Why? I never got a sense from Zahn's book of Mara looking like a porn star. And don't get me started on her black catsuit. LOL!

- space battles seemed more muddled and Thrawn didn't translate to me as the charismatic ingenuous leader shown in the books.