The Star Wars prequel trilogy is often viewed in a lesser light than the original trilogy and for some the recently concluded sequel trilogy. Certainly, there are some things the prequels do better than the sequels and vice-versa. In many cases, the prequels were often improved on by other media like the Clone Wars animated series, or comic books.
In fact, there are many older Star Wars comics from both Marvel Comics and Dark Horse that offer fans what they were looking for in the prequels. In fact, some great Legends graphic novels rank among the best Star Wars stories ever told.
10 Tales Of The Jedi: Dark Lords Of The Sith
Dark Horse Comics held the license for Star Wars for decades and distinguished itself by telling many original stories beyond the era of the movies. Some of the best involved the Tales Of The Jedi series. This series went all the way back to the beginning of a galaxy far, far away. One sequence in the story tells the origin of the Sith. Though since made apocryphal by the prequel films, there are many Sith Lords who could be added back into canon. Armies of Sith Lords was something fans might have preferred to just the Rule of Two.
9 Tales Of The Jedi: Knights Of The Old Republic
The Tales of the Jedi series led into what would be known as the Old Republic. This is the earliest iteration of the galaxy-spanning government and its Jedi protectors. This era holds endless fascination for fans and introduced important characters like Ulic Quel-Droma and Nomi Sunrider, along with other forgotten Jedi from Legends. The story followed their adventures as they fought against the Sith Lords for control of the young Republic and became legends figuratively and later literally.
8 Purge
The Purge story from Dark Horse follows from the prequel films, but in some ways shows some fans what they expected to see. In this story, Darth Vader hunts down surviving Jedi in the immediate aftermath of Order 66. The cruel and merciless Vader delivers some of his most terrifying acts as he stalks down a band of Jedi. This Vader - unforgiving, indulgent in his power - is what many fans thought they would see. He showed up for a brief, terrifying sequence in Rogue One.
7 Star Wars: Republic
Star Wars: Republic was a companion title that ran during the entire run of the prequel trilogy. The series provided lots of stories that dug deeper into the era and characters, giving fans a greater sense of the story and stakes. Some of the best Dark Horse stories occur during this run, including "The Defense of Kamino."
This story saw Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi hold back Separatist forces on the planet of Kamino, alongside some of the most skilled clone and ARC Troopers in an early version of what the Clone Wars animated series would ultimately become so good at in its best story arcs.
6 Crimson Empire
Crimson Empire made a lasting impression on comics readers in the late 90s. This mini-series and its later sequels delved into the ranks of the Imperial Royal Guard, the elite soldiers that protected the Emperor and himself. Among them were Kir Kanos and Carnor Jax, who betrays the Emperor and tries to kill the entire guard. Kanos survives and claws his way back to a showdown with Jax that recalls Game of Thrones more than Star Wars or its eventual prequels.
5 Jawas Of Doom
"Jawas Of Doom" was a major story in post-Return of the Jedi Marvel Comics, and it's arguably an even bigger one now. This story revealed that Jawas had discovered Boba Fett on Tatooine, after surviving the Sarlaac monster. The Jawas brought him aboard their Sandcrawler and this issue of the comic book had a clear influence on The Mandalorian. In Chapter 9, fans discovered that Jawas had recovered the armor of Boba Fett, which was then adopted by Cobb Vanth, a local marshal.
4 Revenge Of The Sith
One of the best prequel movies, Revenge of the Sith, provided one of the best comic books. The Dark Horse adaptation of the final prequel movie provided a deeper and more complete story than the final film. Scenes cut out of the movie were included in the comic, which provided fans a stronger sense of how the Republic fell, the Rebellion is born, and Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader. This period of Star Wars has become the focus of many recent comics, with many of its details about Darth Vader becoming canon.
3 Shadows Of The Empire
Shadows of the Empire was a mid-90s experiment in multi-media. The storyline involved everything a movie would - comics, books, toys - except for the movie. The story took place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and arguably tells a better story than the prequels.
The story explores the underworld of the galaxy in the form of Prince Xizor, a rival to Vader. The power play between Vader and Xizor and the exploration of the seedy side of the galaxy were very compelling for fans and later played a role in some of the Clone Wars best story arcs.
2 First Strike
The original Marvel Comics introduced a lot of crazy characters - Jaxxon the space rabbit is just one - but it also introduced one of the most interesting figures in the lore. Lumiya is a former Rebel pilot, Shira Brie, who falls to the Dark Side. Injured and angry, she becomes Lumiya. In "First Strike," she faces off against Luke Skywalker in what feels like it could have been an interesting prequel story. The light-whip wielding cyborg likely became the template for Asajj Ventress and other villains.
1 Dark Empire
One of the best stories of Dark Horse Comics run is Dark Empire. This mini-series likely inspired some elements of The Rise Of Skywalker and perhaps even the prequels. In this story, Emperor Palpatine returns as a clone. Luke Skywalker descends into the Dark Side to confront him, with his sister Leia joining the battle. Many aspects of the story feel like they could have been components of the prequel trilogy if Anakin had fallen in the effort to topple Palpatine instead of saving him from Mace Windu.