StarWars.com has announced Marvel’s first repackaging of Dark Horse’s Star Wars comics. Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Empire Vol. 1 will contain Republic 78-80, all three Purge minis, Darth Vader and The Lost Command and Dark Times #1-5.
There’s no date yet (I’m hearing April, but it’s not in the official item,) but Marvel’s first reprint, of their own classic content, begins in January. (Which was itself previously reprinted by Dark Horse.) The same month, their own brand new canon comics will launch.
This is what is don’t like about some Marvel and even DC trades – putting together a bunch of comics from different series, as opposed to Dark Horse’s methods of making an omnibus out of one specific comic. Why not just put together all of the solo Vader mini series we’ve been getting these past few years?
Dark Horse mixed up titles in their own omnibus program, though.
Personally, I kind of hope this means we will FINALLY get an all-humor omnibus. It boggles my mind that DH never did one. Of course, I also think Tales was the best thing they ever did with the license, so.
To be honest, given that this volume will in an OVER-SIZED (and possibly) hardbacked format and is themed (immediately post RotS) and will feature DV heavily in most of the stories, I believe that this should have been the way DH sold many of their Omnibus editions. In many ways it reminds me of “The Ultimate Star Wars Graphic Novel Library” (http://www.swbooks.co.uk/arcana/ultimate-graphic-novel-library.htm#pics) from 2008, which sadly never got released.
I believe the story on SW.com states that Marvel’s Epic Collection will be selective in the comic stories that they include: “all the greatest Star Wars comics from the past 35 years” – not necessarily ALL comics from past 35 years.
It probably won’t be hardback. The announcement listed it as TPB, and the Marvel Epic Collections for their own series that are out already are paperback as well.
Oops, missed the “TPB” mention.