Best Entry Point into the Star Wars EU

Assume I have no familiarity with Star Wars beyond the six films.

What would you say is the best material to get into based on general quality, how up-to-date it is with today's canon, and how accessible it is as a starting point into the EU?

The order in which they were released. So start with Zahn's Thrawn trilogy and go from there.

Is some of the older stuff not a little out-of-date now though? As an example, Splinter of the Mind's Eye.

That's why I said start with Thrawn. It's one of the better and more popular entries, and its events and characters have a large presence throughout the mythos. It's where Coruscant got its name, so even Lucas didn't ignore it.

I second the Thrawn Trilogy. They are also amazing books, imo.

I'd say don't worry of release, worry about quality. There's only a few novels that came out in the wake of the Thrawn trilogy all that worth reading (Courtship of Princess Leia being another), a lot of them are skip worthy. Jedi Academy trilogy? Crystal Star? A book about what every last character is doing at Jabba's palace or the Mos Eisly Cantina? Skip 'em!

Originally posted by Ben "cA" Risa
Is some of the older stuff not a little out-of-date now though? As an example, Splinter of the Mind's Eye.

Some stuff is, like a fair number of early-ish EU books and comics liked to have the force be about big over-the-top stuff and you kinda had 'new force power of the week' at times.

Things improved with the release of the Prequel Trilogy (even ones unrelated to the PT- it just emphasized what Jedi are like).

Anyway, good novels include the Thrawn trilogy, and the X-wing Rogue Squadron, and then X-wing Wraith Squadron series, which are very excellent, and I personally enjoy even more than the Thrawn novels. Another surprisingly fun one is the Young Jedi Knights books, which are about Luke's next-generation Jedi students.

Good comic series include Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars Legacy (though the main character's a jerk ^^), and several more. Dark Horse has been doing a very good job with comics for quite awhile now (but avoid early releases like Dark Empire, which suffered from both Force Power of the week and Superweapon of the week, and Tales of the Jedi, which had it's good bits but was also the most force power of the week series ever).

What ones you start with should really depend on what era you're most interested in. Rebellion era? Thrawn and X-wing. Clone Wars? Shatterpoint (novel). Earlier stuff? KotoR or Knight Errant or Dawn of the Jedi. Later stuff? Legacy comic.

Truce at Bakura was great. Skip the snoozefest about that lost Jedi ship. BEEE-oring.

In general- Comics are better than novels. If there's a comic and people don't say avoid it, it's probably not a bad place to start. If there's a novel and no-one says to get it, avoid it, stick to the ones specifically noted as good.

I've read a few Star Wars comics that sucked. Completely forgettable and boring. Ugly artwork too. I don't even remember their titles. I remember Dark Empire only for how much we've used it here over the years, but it's not good. It's really ugly.

Originally posted by Lord Lucien
I've read a few Star Wars comics that sucked. Completely forgettable and boring. Ugly artwork too. I don't even remember their titles. I remember Dark Empire only for how much we've used it here over the years, but it's not good. It's really ugly.

Some of the old ones sucked, but the more recent ones tend to be good.

If it has pretty art, then it's probably on the good side.

Things pick up in quality around Star Wars: Republic/Clone Wars (which actually introduced characters like Aayla Secura, who made it into the movies).

Good ones include but aren't limited to, Knights of the Old Republic, Dawn of the Jedi, Legacy, Rebellion, Empire, Dark Times, The Old Republic, Knight Errant, Invasion, Agent of the Empire.

Dark Horse comics are a good way to go.