Toys 'Я' Us is closing and its obviously the end of an era, not just for Star Wars toys collectors but for followers of EU lore.
In 2002, in collaboration with Hasbro, the store produced the following 4 mini-comics:
Full of Surprises
Most Precious Weapon
Practice Makes Perfect
Machines of War
They were all eventually collected in the Dark Horse omnibus Menace Revealed. But the individual issues are still available - though not cheap! - on the used market.
All the issues take place around the Attack of the Clones era, though some are of ambiguous canonicity with the Legends continuity. Some timelines place parts of these stories outside the mainline continuity. Other stories are less ambiguously part of the EU continuity because similar elements were incorporated in other parts of the EU.
Full of Surprises is a short tale of Obi Wan being ambushed by Jango Fett. Most Precious Weapon features Count Dooku reflecting on his training under Yoda. Practice Makes Perfect features Plo Koo without a mask for the first time. The final comic, Machines of War, jumps into the action of the first Battle of Geonosis.
The age old question is: do you NEED to read these to better understand the events related to Attack of the Clones and the surrounding era? Not really.
But if you're a completist like me, you not only need to read these, but you need to track down the original comics for your collection! I always say, one of the best things about the EU is that just when you think you've seen it all, you find something like these comics to add to your shelf.
Below is my collection - one of my favorite pieces of forgotten EU stories.
