A bizarre Chinese comic adaption of Star Wars, as discovered by history professor Maggie Greene. (via)
Will Marvel announce their first new Star Wars comics in July?
Will Marvel announce their first new Star Wars comics in July? The (rather brief) word on the street (per Bleeding Cool) is that they’ll announce two ongoings the week before San Diego Comic Con.
Out this week: Rebel Heist
On the comic shipping lists for Wednesday is the first of a new limited series, Rebel Heist #1. The Han-centric story is penned by Matt Kindt. Also out is the seventh Dark Times trade collection, A Spark Remains.
Our next book, out in two weeks on May 13, is Star Wars Storyboards: The Original Trilogy edited by J.W. Rinzler.
Out this week: The Star Wars #7, Darth Vader and the Cry of Shadows #5
Head to the comic shop this week to pick up The Star Wars #7, Darth Vader and the Cry of Shadows #5 and the second Brian Wood Star Wars trade collection, From the Ruins of Alderaan.
In stores now, because I am a ding-a-ling and haven’t done a releases post in a couple weeks, is Star Wars #16 and the paperback of Tim Lebbon’s Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void, a novel based on the Dawn of the Jedi comics. I liked it, even going in with no background on the era, and gave it a B+ when it came out in hardcover last year.
We still don’t have too much in the way of upcoming releases, but there is J.W. Rinzler’s Star Wars Storyboards: The Original Trilogy (May 13) and William Shakespeare’s The Jedi Doth Return by Ian Doescher, plus the paperback of Troy Denning’s Crucible (both July 1.)
Out this week: Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back
Out this week is the sequel to one of the few Star Wars books your non-Star Wars obsessive friends (assuming they’re drama/English geeks or drama/English geek-adjacent) have read. Yes, William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back will be in stores today.
For those who like their Star Wars a little less literary, or their Shakespeare a little less Star Wars, there are comics. Dawn of the Jedi: Force War #5 and Darth Vader and the Cry of Shadows #4
Our next novel is the paperback release of Tim Lebbon’s Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void on April 1, with J.W. Rinzler’s Star Wars Storyboards: The Original Trilogy on May 13. And the drama/English geeks will get William Shakespeare’s The Jedi Doth Return on July 1. The cover was recently revealed on Cnet.
Out this week: Star Wars #15
Since we just had a novel released, this week brings only a pair of comics: Star Wars #15 and The Star Wars #6 on Wednesday.
(I’m not sure if I want to make a joke about Courtship of Princess Leia or, as the cover text urges, a reference to The Princess Bride. How about we all just go watch The Princess Bride instead?)
In any case, our next book will be William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back on March 18.
It’s concept art week on the Club Jade Tumblr
I’ve been trying something new on our Tumblr lately: Themes! This week it’s Star Wars concept art. Above is an image from the official account: A concept of the Ghost from Rebels by Kilian Plunkett.
Last week we featured art from (and occasionally inspired by) the comics and comic artists. (Plunkett is also responsible for the covers from the Mara Jade: By the Emperor’s Hand mini-series back in the day.) In addition to reblogs we had a series on comic book characters and it’s where you’ll find my Dark Horse recs.)
Peter David’s Star Wars Infinities sounds way more interesting than any of the actual Infinities comics
Although I do love alternate universe stories, I was pretty disappointed in the three actual Infinities stories that Dark Horse put out back in the early ’00s: None of them really pinged me as being particularly interesting takes on the concept. Peter David’s, on the other hand…
Comic Book Resources has the skinny on the never-produced mini-series, which would have divulged from the movie timeline with the droids at Tatooine and ended with Leia ruling the galaxy – with Luke as her consort.
I gotta say, I was furious when Lucasfilm kicked it back. The whole reason I’d taken on the assignment was because I’d been told that Lucasfilm had effectively given us carte blanche. But then, after I drafted the outline, they turned around and said that the story had to end with Luke, Leia and Han triumphing over evil. In other words, it had to have the same exact ending as Star Wars. It’s a crying shame. The cover image to issue #2, with a close shot of Princess Leia in the Darth Maul face make-up glaring out at the reader, would’ve been killer.
CBR even got artist Nick Perks to mock up that cover, at right.
Explains a lot about why the resulting series’ ended up being so dull. What’s the point of an AU if you don’t go in the really weird directions? (As opposed to the downright laughable ones.) Fanfic, how you’ve spoiled us. (via)
Sorting out Marvel, Dark Horse and Star Wars
It’s been a week since the news went out that the Star Wars comics license will go to Marvel Comics for 2015, leaving Dark Horse Comics after a twenty-two year run. With the news on Tuesday that Dark Horse will be releasing a new series, adapting the unproduced The Clone Wars scripts for the finale of the Darth Maul storyline, we know that 2014 will still be a big Star Wars year for Dark Horse. Over the course of the past week, questions about the switch have started to get some answers, at least from Dark Horse:
Continue reading “Sorting out Marvel, Dark Horse and Star Wars”
It’s official: Star Wars comics will return to Marvel in 2015
Marvel will take over the Star Wars comics license in 2015, StarWars.com announced this afternoon.
Marvel was the original comics home of the franchise, publishing Star Wars #1 in March 1977. There was plenty of speculation dating from almost the moment the Disney sale was announced that the license would return to Marvel. Dark Horse is the third-largest comics publisher, but Marvel is one of the big 2 – and perhaps more importantly, Disney also owns them.
Despite their history with Marvel, when Star Wars was beginning a renaissance in the early 90’s, Dark Horse was awarded the license. They’ve published a great many influential series over the years, from Dark Empire and Tales of the Jedi early on to fan-favorites like Legacy, Knights of the Old Republic and the new Star Wars series. Of the current ongoing series, Brian Wood’s Star Wars will end at #20, while Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko’s Legacy will end with #18.
I don’t know enough about Marvel to speculate on what they may do with the franchise, but it’s safe to say that Dark Horse was one of the more beloved licensees in fandom. They’ve always been willing to innovate and look outside the box, and there’s no doubt a lot of fear out there in fandom, no matter how expected this may have been. We’ve become very attached to the folks over there, from editor Randy Stradley on down, and it’s sad to see the end coming on that partnership.
“Dark Horse revolutionized the treatment of comics based on films,” company founder Mike Richardson said in a statement. “After a history of movie properties being poorly handled with little regard for execution and continuity, Dark Horse took a new approach, carefully choosing licenses and approaching them with excitement and creative energy. Our goal was to create sequels and prequels to the films we loved, paying careful attention to quality and detail, essentially treating those films as though they were our own.”
There’s no doubt that Dark Horse has changed the game and set a pretty high standard for a fandom that doesn’t take things lying down. Will Marvel manage to build on that success? Here’s hoping.