In case you’ve been hiding in a fallout shelter for the past year, you probably know that Marvel Comics now has the license to publish Star Wars comics. Next week marks the release of their first title, simply ‘Star Wars’, with issue #1 coming out on January 14, written by Jason Aaron and art by John Cassaday with colors by Laura Martin.
Here’s the official blurb:
“Beginning where Episode IV left off, Luke Skywalker and the ragtag band of rebels fighting against the Galactic Empire are fresh off their biggest victory yet-the destruction of the massive battle station known as the Death Star. But the Empire’s not toppled yet! Join Luke along with Princess Leia, smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca, droids C-3PO and R2-D2, and the rest of the Rebel Alliance as they strike out for freedom against the evil forces of Darth Vader and his master, the Emperor. This is the Star Wars saga as only Marvel Comics could make it! “
With over a million copies of issue #1 ordered by comic book stores, this launch will be the largest comic event of the past 20 years, says CBR. Bleeding Cool states that there’s over 100 variant covers of this comic, making it a dream (or nightmare) for collectors. Rebelscum has a list of known variant covers so far.
To celebrate the launch, Midtown Comics in New York City will have writer Jason Aaron and artist John Cassaday on hand for signings at their downtown NYC location on Friday, January 16th in the evening. More details available here, and of course Midtown Comics has their own variant cover by Mark Brooks, which will vertically connect with their variant covers for ‘Darth Vader’ #1 and ‘Princess Leia’ #1. Are there comic launch parties going on at stores near you? Post them in the comments!
And in other big news, Marvel has put the a vast amount of the Dark Horse run of Star Wars comics up on comiXology but Club Jade calls it a bit skeevy.