Hey everyone, I'm back with the next part in my Star Wars Legends novels overview series. This time I'm going to be tackling the most important era in the history of Star Wars publishing, the Bantam era, which began in 1991 and ended in 1999 with the novels remaining in print in some form to this day. This is the era that occurred during my childhood and these are the books that turned me into a Star Wars fan, as I mentioned in the last segment of this series. I've also decided to break the Bantam era up into three parts just because there are so many books to cover and alot of background history to talk about as well. This will be part 1, which will cover the return of Star Wars in 1991 with the publication of Heir to the Empire, and the first eight novels that Bantam published between 1991 and 1994. And I'll be talking about the four Young Reader series that came out during this period, because two of them were published by Bantam, and the other two are important for the publication of novels that came out between 1999 and 2014. So let's dive in.
In 1987 Star Wars was dead. The movies had ended in 1983, the final book in the Lando Calrissian Adventures was published in 1983, the Marvel Comics comic book series ended with issue #107 in 1986 and the comics based on the Droids and Ewoks cartoons ended in 1987, with the cartoons themselves ending in 1986. Star Wars was done. But in October of 1987, West End Games published a tabletop roleplaying game, similar to Dungeons and Dragons, as well as supplementary material, The Star Wars Sourcebook, which provided additional details on characters, ships, places, and items, that just couldn't be in the movies themselves, and hadn't been published in any of the novels that Del Rey published between 1976 and 1983. Being that DnD was so popular in the '80s, Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game was massively popular and sold extremely well.
Two years later, in 1989, the Star Wars comic book license shifted from Marvel to Dark Horse Comics, a relatively new comic book publisher, still in the shadow of the big two, DC and Marvel, that was founded by Mike Richardson in 1986, and the company began to work on a six issue mini-series called Star Wars: Dark Empire. This was actually a project they'd inherited from Marvel, as creators Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy had been hired by Lucasfilm to work on it before Marvel lost the license. However, at the same time Lucasfilm hired Science Fiction author, Timothy Zahn to write a trilogy of novels set after Return of the Jedi.
The first book in that trilogy, Heir to the Empire, was published on May 1st, 1991 and it quickly became a bestseller, topping the New York Times Bestseller in Fiction list a month later. The book introduces us to many characters who would become instrumental in future installments in the franchise. The two big ones are Grand Admiral Thrawn, who was the main antagonist of the final two seasons of Star Wars Rebels and the main antagonist in Star Wars: Ahsoka, and Mara Jade, who quickly became one of the most popular characters in the franchise, becoming Luke's wife in the 1999 comic book miniseries, Star Wars: Union, and was the only Expanded Universe character to appear on the list of favourite characters published by Star Wars Insider in issue #38 (June/July 1998).
Other characters introduced here such as Captain Gilad Pellaeon and Talon Karrde would continue to appear in the novels and some of the comics throughout the '90s, but would get phased out by the time Legacy of the Force, with Karrde only showing up one more time before Disney took over the franchise from George Lucas, in the first book of the Fate of the Jedi series, Outcast. Of all of the Star Wars novels to come out during this era, Heir to the Empire feels the most like the books that Del Rey had published in the late '70s and early '80s, with alot of things being retconned by future novels. However, it is the first piece of Star Wars media to contain the name, Coruscant as the capitol world of the Old Republic, the Empire, and the New Republic. It also introduced us to a new race, the Noghri, whose race would appear in Rebels. AND, it was the first appearance of Rogue Squadron, commanded by Wedge Antilles, the only non-main character, who was also a pilot in Red Squadron/Rogue Group to survive all three movies.
The sequel novel, Dark Force Rising, was published on May 1st, 1992, a full year after the release of Heir to the Empire, which came out in paperback that same month. The sequel continued the story starting in the previous book and it gave slight glimpses into the history of the Star Wars Universe, with the character of Jorus C'baoth, the person whose DNA was used to create the clone, Joruus C'baoth, being a Jedi Knight during the time of the Clone Wars, and who was subsequently killed during the Outbound Flight project, which launched just prior to the start of the Clone Wars, as well as Thrawn's role in its destruction. Details which would be expanded, by Timothy Zahn himself in the 2006 novel, Outbound Flight.
The final book in what is now known as the Thrawn Trilogy, The Last Command, was published on April 1st, 1993. This book wrapped up the story that Zahn started in Heir to the Empire, but it also kicked off an entire publishing slate that spans decades and publishers and continues to this day. It also introduced us to Han and Leia's twins, Jacen and Jaina, who are born in this book. Jacen and Jaina would become the main characters of the Expanded Universe beginning with The New Jedi Order in 1999.
While I don't like the Thrawn Trilogy quite as much as other people do, I do recognize its importance in the continuation of the Star Wars franchise. It was this trilogy that convinced George Lucas that there were enough people interested in the franchise to make it worthwhile to make the Prequel Trilogy, which he would announce in 1994.
Of course, by 1993, Star Trek had had its own solid publishing program with novels since the show began in 1966, and had only been solidified by the addition of the movies and Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987, so it makes sense that Star Wars would have its own publishing program for fans who had no idea whether we'd get any more movies set in that universe.
A month after Dark Force Rising was published, a Young Reader novel by Paul and Hollace Davids, called The Glove of Darth Vader, was published by Bantam's younger readers publishing arm, Bantam Skylark, began a six book series, set a year after the events of Return of the Jedi. This series, known as the Jedi Prince is notoriously bad and was not received well by fans. The books were basically retconned out of continuity, because, despite it showing Luke searching for information concerning the Jedi Knights, the events have no bearing on the rest of the Expanded Universe, and the one major event in the book, the wedding of Han and Leia, was overshadowed by the same event shown at the end of the 1994 novel, The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton, which I'll be talking about shortly.
On November 1st, 1993, the first standalone Star Wars novel to be published since Splinter of the Mind's Eye came out in 1978, came out. It was The Truce at Bakura by Kathy Tyers and begins the day after the end of Return of the Jedi. This was the first book to be set before Heir to the Empire. The book deals with Leia coming to terms that her biological father, Darth Vader, was responsible for the destruction of Alderaan and the deaths of Bail Organa and his wife, who Leia had known as her parents her whole life. She also deals with Luke being her twin brother. At the same time the beleaguered Rebel Alliance have to save the distant Imperial world of Bakura from the Ssi-ruuk, an alien race from the Unknown Regions, beyond the Outer Rim Territories, as the Imperial fleet had been smashed at Endor, with both Palpatine and Vader being killed.
On March 1st, 1994, Jedi Search by Kevin J. Anderson was published. This was the first book in the Jedi Academy Trilogy, which chronicled Luke's efforts to restore the Jedi Order by establishing a training center in the former Rebel base on Yavin IV. We meet more characters who would be part of the story in the 2000s and early 2010s, including Kyp Durron and the Jedi Bard, Tionne. This is also the first book to tie directly into Dark Empire, which had just wrapped up two years earlier, as the New Republic is recovering from Palpatine's clones's reign of terror, including rebuilding Coruscant, which had been badly damaged during the brief battle against the resurgent Empire. Han and Leia's third child, Anakin Solo, who wouldn't be born until Dark Empire II (1994-1995), was first mentioned by name in this book (Leia had been pregnant with him in Dark Empire). We are also introduced to Kessel and the Maw Installation where the Death Stars and World Devastators were developed, as well as its military commander, Admiral Daala, who would continue to be a thorn in Han, Luke, and Leia's sides until the Fate of the Jedi series, which was published from 2009 to 2011.
The second book in Anderson's trilogy, Dark Apprentice, was published on July 1st, 1994, only a few months after Jedi Search. This was the first novel to be connected to a comic book series, as Kevin J. Anderson's Tales of the Jedi series was being published by Dark Horse around this time. Despite Lucasfilm's embargo on Star Wars stories taking place during the untapped era of the Prequel Trilogy and the Clone Wars, Tales of the Jedi takes place thousands of years before any of the movies that George had started planning though wouldn't begin writing for another four months at this point. It's also the first book where Wedge Antilles has a significant role to play beyond just being Luke's wingman and friend to the main trio of Leia, Han, and Luke.
The third novel in Anderson's trilogy, Champions of the Force, was published on September 1st, 1994, and the final book to be published before George Lucas announced that he was making the Prequel Trilogy, and before he began writing The Phantom Menace. The book sees Jacen and Jaina, as toddlers, using the Force to help Luke and his first class of Jedi Apprentices, defeat the spirit of the ancient Sith Lord, Exar Kun, which had been trapped in the temples of Yavin IV by the ancient Jedi Knights thousands of years earlier (as shown in the Tales of the Jedi comics). At the same time, the Imperial Ambassador, Furgan, attempted to kidnap baby Anakin from the fortress world, Anoth, where the Solo kids had been kept safe up to that point.
I have to admit that the Jedi Academy Trilogy is one of the Bantam Star Wars novel series that made me a Star Wars fan. There's so much lore introduced in these three books, especially for people who either don't read comics or just never got their hands on the Tales of the Jedi series, such as myself. It's because of the universe building in these three books that I realized just how big Star Wars was beyond just the movies and the two cartoons that we'd gotten in the mid-'80s. I haven't read it in a really long time, so once I'm done Lord of the Rings, I'm going to be reading the Jedi Academy Trilogy, even if I don't review them on the blog right away.
The second standalone hardcover novel was published on April 1st, 1994 and it was The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton. This book introduced the Dathomir Nightsisters, an evil sect of the Force wielding Witches of Dathomir, who, again, play a pretty major role in modern day Star Wars media. It featured Han and Leia's actual wedding at the ending, basically excising what the Davids's did in the Jedi Prince series from the continuity. It also introduces my favourite villain duo of all time: Warlord Zsinj and General Melvar. I've waxed poetic about these two characters so much in my reviews of the X-Wing series, particularly Aaron Allston's trilogy, Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, and Solo Command that I don't need to say anymore here, but this is the book that introduced these characters, and promptly killed them off. Luckily the X-Wing books they appear in take place before this book. Oh and it introduced two characters who become the parents of a character who plays a major role in the Del Rey era of publishing in the 2000s and early 2010s. We'll meet her next time.
The Crystal Star by Vonda N. MacIntyre, who I know as the best Star Trek novelization author of all time, is considered to be the worst Star Wars novel ever. At least of the Bantam era. I admit I haven't read it in years, but from what I remember of it, it's a bit silly, but it isn't bad. Yes, there's a weird religious cult that sacrifices people to Waru, and all three Solo children are kidnapped for the first time, but, at least it's not the Empire doing the same old stuff again, which is what the Bantam era became as time went on. This is the only novel that MacIntyre wrote for Star Wars, but it's the first novel that really began to develop Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin as characters. It's also the first novel to start developing a backstory for Han Solo as it introduces his ex-girlfriend, Xaverri, who would return in the Han Solo Trilogy.
After nearly a decade Star Wars returned with a bang with nine bestselling novels by notable Sci-Fi authors of the day, and one Young Reader series. But those nine novels were just the beginning. 1995 would bring new stories, new characters, and start two Young Readers series that would further shape the future of the Star Wars Expanded Universe beyond Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin, though all three Solo children would help shape that future.
Alright my friends, that's it for me for this week, but I'll be back next week with more reviews and other blog posts. So until then have a great weekend and I will talk to you all later. Take care.
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