The Star Wars expanded universe was what the comics, books, and video games were called before Disney bought Lucasfilm. All of these products are now considered to be out of canon and called Legends.
However, there's some fantastic comic book runs from within that expanded universe. The comics, especially, we used to flesh out pre-existing characters as well as to reveal more about this franchise. Here's 10 of the best that you need to read!
10 MARVEL'S STAR WARS
For some time before the Disney buyout, Marvel was still running Star Wars comics. We know that there is currently a big Star Wars title that's slowly heading towards it's conclusion, but back in the day, Marvel had an equally big run with the brand.
Marvel's Star Wars comic was a main title that others could be launched from. It served as a testing ground for many different concepts and allowed fans of the films to follow this general world and the main characters that populate it, on various intergalactic adventures.
9 TALES OF THE JEDI
Many fans were enchanted by the Jedi and Sith, after watching the original trilogy. It seemed logical that Dark Horse comics were to investigate their origins further. Therefore, Tales of the Jedi was created to shed some light on the ancient orders.
The book actually took place even before the era of the Old Republic that has been so well documented since. It looks at the Sith War as well as the starting point of the Jedi and their early days as an organization. It's a great read for any fan of the force wielding warriors.
8 SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE
The Shadows of the Empire was not just a stand-alone comic and indeed shouldn't just be read by itself. This was a cross-promotional scheme that was to follow up on the main Star Wars trilogy and shed some new light on the events of the films.
With a video game and some books all part of this series, the story was essentially around one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy and how he tried to get revenge on Darth Vader. It's a successful run and an important part of the history of the franchise.
7 DARK EMPIRE
The Dark Empire run is the sort of series that you need to go and buy as a graphic novel and truly digest. It asked a number of questions that we'd never considered before, but allowed the galaxy to move forward in an unexpected way.
The series looked at what would happen if Luke Skywalker actually turned to the dark side. The Empire is long since destroyed, but there is now a new Emperor emerging that is perhaps more mysterious than the previous one. This features all the main trilogy characters.
6 LEGACY
The expanded universe was allowed to do anything they wanted with the Star Wars timeline. Whereas in the Disney world everything is tightly controlled, the Dark Horse comic run actually took Star Wars fans into the far future.
The series was an attempt to look at what the Galaxy had actually become. It followed the descendants of the main characters in the series, including Cade Skywalker, and still dealt with many of the same light and dark side problems that their family once did.
5 KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC
The Old Republic has been explored in great detail in video games and there are also a few books on the topic. The era is a fan favorite amongst the Star Wars community, and it feels like there's so much more to explore during this time period.
This comic series did a great job of continuing to explore the original Republic on Coruscant and the surrounding conflict. There were three main runs within this, Threat of Peace, Blood of the Empire, and The Lost Suns. These were to tie into the video games. Before this Dark Horse also ran a series, following a young Jedi Padawan.
4 BOBA FETT
The Mandalorian armor-wearing bounty hunter was one of the most popular characters across the Star Wars universe. It made sense that Dark Horse would capitalize on the popularity with a run of comics based on the character.
His series reached highs and lows through a long time running a set of one-shots and smaller stories. However, the character was significantly developed, and the series certainly adds a lot to the original canon of the series about the bounty hunter and the allies he worked alongside.
3 THRAWN
The Thrawn trilogy of books are said to be masterpieces within the Star Wars expanded universe. Of course, the character himself has been so beloved that Timothy Zahn has penned three new books for the latest Star Wars canon, run by Disney.
The comic series sought to develop those stories further and put the Thrawn story to a new audience of the readers, in a completely different format. Of course, the series was widely successful due to the complexities of this character from the Empire.
2 CRIMSON EMPIRE
The Red Guards to the Emperor have a really amazing design, but not much was known about these soldiers. They were seen throughout the original trilogy and indeed a little in the prequels. We never had any information on them really, until this series.
The Crimson Empire follows two of the Red Guards before and after the fall of the Empire. It briefly details their life afterward but also shows the brutal training they must go through in order to get one of the most important jobs in the galaxy.
1 DARK HORSE'S STAR WARS
Much like Marvel, Dark Horse had their own run of Star Wars comics, just simply under the Star Wars title. Once again, this was an opportunity to test new concepts and see if characters could actually work in this format.
It also allowed a variety of writers to contribute to the project and help to tell some vital stories about the pivotal characters of the franchise. It's another line of comics worth picking up and reading to get a really general sense of what the extended universe had become.