10 Insane Star Wars Comics That Changed Everything
3. The 'Age Of' Anthology - Jody Houser Et Al.
Marvel Comics
For those less accustomed to big, sprawling arcs that can go on forever, Marvel's 'Age of' comics are just the trick. The anthology series focused on the then three eras of the franchise and spotlighted a specific character in each issue, whether they served the light side, or the dark.
Due to the self-contained nature of these stories, only a select few really manage to influence the canon to a sizeable degree. One such story is the Qui-Gon Jinn one-shot, which focuses on the character prior to the events of The Phantom Menace and touches upon his long documented rebellious streak. Yes, this was apparent in Episode I, but it's really fallen upon the novels and comics of the new Star Wars era to flesh out one of the more intriguing Jedi's seemingly engrossing history.
Conversely, on the Dark Side of things, writer Jody Houser turns in another really compelling look at General Grievous, which takes inspiration from the frankly terrifying depiction seen in Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars series. These two comics in particular go some way in reiterating that some of Star Wars most neglected characters can sometimes be the franchise's most fascinating, and are must-reads for fans of the Prequel era.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
