: I loved a lot of of the Star Wars EU as a kid growing up in the 90's. Shadows
: of the Empire and the X-Wing series were my first "big boy
: books" when I was in third grade. The comics, too, were a lot of fun,
: and some of the old cover artists are still an inspiration to me today.

: But I'm really surprised at some of the reactions I've heard from Disney's
: announcement...

Well, admittedly, they should keep Shadows of the Empire fully canon, and completely and entirely throw out the Star Wars prequels and just act like they don't exist and were never made.

But alas.

: -Not to mention the Special Editions of the trilogy altered the old movies in
: parts, showing that even the flagship entries in the franchise aren't safe
: from canon revisions (and continual tampering in the DVDs later on)!

Some additions were actually sensical and more than just random filler designed to clutter up the screen. Most need to go. Even if a lot of them can never be undone, at least Lucas has been undone from the future of Star Wars (and I pray anything else Indiana Jones related).

: -And then the Prequels overwrote plenty of back history that the EU had
: hinted at or spelled out.

Well, again, throw out the prequels entirely and/or act like they don't exist. The world is much better off that way. But what can ya do, you know? lol

: -Furthermore the recent Clone Wars cartoon overwrote huge swaths of the Clone
: Wars comics that Dark Horse had been publishing for years.

This is true, and a lot harder of a topic. It's a really, really good cartoon. Tougher to reconcile, though with the new "rules" of canon based on the recent announcement, I suppose it just got reconciled. :P

: So really, Star Wars has been consistently rewriting and revising itself. And
: someday some other company may own Star Wars and declare Disney's EU not
: canon. Hell, Marvel, now owned by Disney, will be making new
: "canon" Star Wars comics, when they themselves had made a whole
: host of mostly-cheesy SW comics in the 80's that were ignored for the most
: part in the last EU incarnation. Kind of ironic!

: As well, Disney said that creators will be encouraged to use characters and
: threads from past EUs in the new EU. Which is basically what has been
: happening all along!

: In a multi-creator franchise, the only canon that matters is the canon that
: rings true to the reader, whether it's old or new, official or fan-made.
: Companies will trade IPs, original authors will come ago. The nature of
: franchises, and possibly stories as a whole, is always in flux, sometimes
: transforming from something you love to something you don't really
: recognize anymore, sadly.

: You just have to remember the stories that resonated with you.

Fully agree, though it's still highly unfortunate that they would wipe out, well, basically everything from what's considered canon. It's not like we're looking at re-tellings, or different interpretations. It's just an outright sweeping under the rug of all the things ever so that Disney can do whatever it wants whenever it wants. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I feel it's the wrong approach. But oh well I guess. I'm just hoping the new movies rock and don't need to be removed from existence like the prequels.