10 Comic Book Tie-Ins That Made Great Movies Better

Star Wars was, and arguably still is, a cultural statement more than a film at this point in history.

A masterful work of fanboy nostalgia from George Lucas would shape all of science fiction upon its release. More than that, it shaped what blockbuster franchises would be with merchandising and an expanded universe growing from just the first film.

Many would repeat the process but Star Wars has to this day outlasted most of them. Then it was bought by Disney and nothing was ever the same again, erasing most of that goodwill built up over forty years. That doesn’t mean that it was handled poorly. Both the Dark Horse Comics and the Mausvel Comics (not to confuse them with the original Marvel Comics version), have peripheral materials that, as a whole, elevate the film plots to a ludicrously immense scale.

The best example of this came after the acquisition of Star Wars by Disney with the Star Wars: Darth Vader comics. Darth Vader is a hard character to flesh out, as the Prequels showed us, but this comic, set in the time between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, does just that.

Outside of creating a secret history for Vader during that gap - with the biggest point being his place as a Sith, as he's demoted for the destruction of the first Death Star and his attempts to raise an army in secret against the Emperor - issue 24 is one of the must read Star Wars comics by itself, bridging Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader far more than the prequels ever could.