So what comics or books should I be reading to bridge the gap between Return of the Jedi and the new flick? I cannot seem to find a straight easy answer anywhere so I come to my Nole brothers and sisters
All of the old books were tossed and are no longer canon. There's only one canon book in between the two series as of now called Star Wars Aftermath but they're planning 19 more.
At this point, no one really knows what the gap looks like now. There used to be a large number of books and comics, they're still good in their own right, but Disney has stated they no longer are canon and exist in another universe, so we'll have to simply wait and see what they give us.
saw SW as a kid. I really enjoyed it, as well as ESB and ROTJ, but i've only seen them 2-3 times.
recently saw the first 3. While there were aspects to the stories that were interesting, I wouldn't consider these on teh same level. I hope the new trilogy is better.