20 funny comics to lighten your mood and make you laugh

14. Tag & Bink

Yes, there are Star Wars comics. No, they aren’t all about the Skywalkers or Solos or whatever cosmic space family is ruining the galaxy this week. Neither are they all boring retellings or riffs on the space saga we’ve come to know and love. Some, in fact, are pretty good and thoroughly irreverent takes on the core stories of the Star Wars canon.

Take Tag and Bink. Published by Dark Horse Comics, this series follows two characters of the same name who, through their own bumbling, manage to cause most of the main events of Star Wars. It’s a bit like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in space, and with a lot more Wookiees.

That influence is pretty obvious in the first issue, Tag and Bink Are Dead. Tag, who is from the planet Corellia, meets up with Bink, from Alderaan, while the two are serving as Rebellion soldiers. After their ship is captured, the pair steals some stormtrooper armor and make their way onto the Death Star. Through an odd series of events, they nearly kill Darth Vader, unsuccessfully steal some TIE fighters, and just barely make it off the Death Star before it explodes.

Thankfully, that means our incompetent main characters have plenty of time to interfere with other Star Wars plots. They cross paths with Lando Calrissian, Boba Fett and even Emperor Palpatine. A later prequel follows the young pair as they fail their way through the Jedi Academy. They eventually find Anakin and Padmé and give the young Anakin tips on how to romance his love interest. That either explains a lot or makes it all the more confusing — you’ll have to decide for yourself.