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By Ryder Windham & Daniel Wallace (Dark Horse Books)
ISBN 1-84576-108-1
Now here is a smart idea. The Star Wars franchise has spawned an awful lot of comic books and this lavish coffee table volume lists them all, both as comic series and in their graphic novel compilation form. Stuffed with illustrations and usefully categorised by the continuity’s main narrative eras (from 25,000 years prior to 25 years after the first film – now irrevocably designated Episode IV: A New Hope). There’s also a section for anthologies and Manga editions, lists of all the pertinent information a new reader or Trivial Pursuit nut might ever need from plot summations to creator credits, and even spoiler warnings so you can quench your thirst for information without spoiling the thrill of the eventual read.
Obviously there’s no real attention to the individual quality of the stories, so there’s always the risk that you might not like what you eventually do read, but that’s a risk you take every time you buy a book or comic. At least you’ll have some idea of what to look for in the first place and as the illustrations are taken from the comics themselves you can also get a feel for what the things will look like.
Hopefully this will lead to a plethora of such editions, not just for such media-based Dark Horse managed properties as Aliens, Predator or Robocop, but for the unbelievably convoluted major comics players from other companies. Wouldn’t you like to see an overview of Batman, Spider-Man, Superman or X-Men at a glance?
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