EU fans are rightfully still bitter about what happened all those years ago in 2014. But, as we've seen this week with the announcement of a new one-shot EU comic, we're slowly getting what we've been asking for. But are EU fans able to recognize progress when it's achieved? If some of the reactions online this week are any indication, they answer is sadly no.
Ok, so, some background.
Lucasfilm rebranded the EU as Legends and discontinued it in 2014, with the minor exception of some continued Old Republic expansions. So for nearly 5 years, the EU fandom has been pleading with Lucasfilm to continue the EU/Legends storyline along a parallel path to the new Disney canon stories. That way, fans of the new stuff keep their stories and fans of the old stories get news ones. More Star Wars for everyone.
Then, out of the blue, it was announced that Lucasfilm was doing something we'd actually been asking for! They revealed this week that Marvel will be publishing a one-shot comic set in the Legends era that helps wrap up an existing storyline from the very early days of the EU, even continuing the issue numbering from where it left off in 1986!
What a time to be alive! More EU after all these years! Finally!
At least, that's what most of us felt.
Here's a list of the stupid things some EU fans said to dampen the mood:
"The classic Marvel Star Wars comics weren't part of the EU because they we're s-canon" (wrong)
"The classic Marvel Star Wars stories weren't as good as Dark Horse's run" (so what)
"Disney will probably just ruin the story" (Disney isn't writing the story, and why not actually wait till it comes out to judge it)
"Marvel is dumb; why is it called issue 108 if the story isn't continuing from events of issue 107?" (apparently you've never read fiction before where events are allowed to be non-linear)
"I'm not reading more EU until it's declared the only canon again" (Hi, welcome to Earth)
Grumpy EU fan in the wild
Our hope is that this comic sells out at every comic store in the world. This is the chance for EU fans to put their money where their mouths are. Buy the thing. If you want Lucasfilm to know there's still demand for EU products, then vote with your wallet.
And for goodness sake, let's just hope no one in a decision making capacity at Lucasfilm saw what whiny babble flooded the EU community over what could end up being a turning point for our cause.