Category Archives: Comics

Six Thoughts: Marvel gets Star Wars

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You wanted news? Well there you go. And now for a jumbled mess of assorted thoughts about said news…

  1. It is a bummer that Star Wars is leaving Dark Horse. As with any comic shop, there are high points and low points. Of late the Brian Wood comic was a definite miss for us, but the new Legacy series was a big favorite. Dark Horse has done a lot of good stuff with the license over the years and that shouldn’t be forgotten.
  2. It’s going to be a really big bummer if the latest Legacy series isn’t allowed to continue, but sadly I’m not holding my breath on that. (Edit: Big bummer confirmed, series to end at issue #18)
  3. I wrote a piece about Star Wars and following Marvel’s multiverse approach. Here’s the heavy-handed and very shameless plug to said piece.
  4. It should be pointed out that Marvel, from a creative standpoint, is absolutely flying high. It’s clear they understand their audience well and are keen to deliver both grand adventures and more character focused pieces (such as blog favorites Hawkeye and Captain Marvel).
  5. While writers like Kelly Sue DeConnick and Matt Fraction may be too busy with other projects to work on Star Wars, Marvel has shown the ability to attract great creative talent to work for them. If they can do this with Star Wars, we’ll all be better off.
  6. Marvel has done a solid job with LGBTQ and minority representation in their works. It might be a lot to ask them to do that with Star Wars, but here’s hoping.

In all, this is definitely a mixed bag of feelings. I completely get the disappointment and sadness that Star Wars is moving away from Dark Horse, who generally has treated the franchise very well. On the other hand, I’m very optimistic about Marvel taking over. In the last few years, Marvel has proven themselves to be a very capable and, sometimes, progressive shop that’s capable of attracting top-flight talent and putting out a wide variety of stories. I’d say I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ll do with the license.

Excelsior, I suppose.

Marvel Officially Taking Over Star Wars Comics In 2015

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Screen Shot 2014-01-03 at 1.09.21 PMIt was just a matter of when rather than if but today, Disney announced that Marvel Comics will take over the publication of Star Wars comics and graphic novels in 2015.  Marvel takes back the license from Dark Horse Comics which has held it and consistently published Star Wars stories since 1991.

“Dark Horse Comics published exceptional Star Wars comics for over 20 years, and we will always be grateful for their enormous contributions to the mythos, and the terrific partnership that we had,” said Carol Roeder, director of Lucasfilm franchise publishing, Disney Publishing Worldwide. “In 2015, the cosmic adventures of Luke, Han, Leia and Chewbacca will make the lightspeed jump back to Marvel, to begin a new age of adventures within the Star Wars universe.

“We here at Marvel could not be more excited to continue the publication of Star Wars comic books and graphic novels,” said Marvel Worldwide Publisher and President, Dan Buckley. “The perennial brand of Star Wars is one of the most iconic in entertainment history and we are honored to have the opportunity to bring our creative talent pool to continue, and expand Star Wars into galaxies far, far away.”

You can read the full press release over at Marvel.com.

UPDATE: We just received this press release from Mike Richardson, the founder of Dark Horse.

The End of an Era

All things come to pass. So too, do all licensed deals. I am sad to report that Disney, the new owner of Lucasfilm, has notified us here at Dark Horse of their intention to move the Star Wars publishing license to another of their recent acquisitions, Marvel Comics, beginning in 2015. This will end a partnership that has lasted more than two decades.

For those who are new to the industry, Dark Horse revolutionized the treatment of comics based on films. 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. Star Wars has been the crown jewel of this approach. We began chasing the title as far back as 1989, and with the launch of Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy’s Dark Empire, a new era in comics was born. I’m not ashamed to admit that we were Star Wars geeks, and we have been determined to spare neither effort nor expense in the pursuit of excellence.

It is ironic that this announcement comes at a time when Dark Horse is experiencing its most successful year ever. For obvious reasons, we have prepared for this eventuality by finding new and exciting projects to place on our schedule for 2015 and beyond. Will they take the place of Star Wars? That’s a tall order, but we will do our best to make that happen. In the meantime, 2014 may be our last year at the helm of the Star Wars comics franchise, but we plan to make it a memorable one. We know that fans of the franchise will expect no less. The Force is with us still.

Review: Star Wars: Legacy #10

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Another month, another brand new issue of Star Wars: Legacy!  Issue #10 by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman hits comic store shelves today, drawing the second arc of the series to a close.

When last we left our heroes, the cavalry, led by Admiral Stalzi and Knight Val, had just arrived to at Dac to answer Jao’s distress call.  Even with Admiral Stalzi’s excellent plan to take advantage of the Mon Cal’s and the Quarren’s ability to breath underwater by flooding parts of the station, it’s hardly an easy battle.  The pirates aren’t about to go down without a fight and Jao is locked in a duel with Darth Luft.  Reinforcements are hardly going to make the fight to retake the station an easy one though.

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Review: Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin

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If you’re looking for a Vader story that doesn’t go too deep and has a high body count, then this week’s Star Wars hardcover release will be right up your alley.  Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin, written by Tim Siedell with art by Stephen Thompson and Ivan Fernandez, is an enjoyable enough tale even if it’s not precisely groundbreaking.

A father is heartbroken over his son’s death at the hands of Darth Vader so he hires eight assassins to try and enact revenge for him.  All of them fail.  He pays a high price to hire the titular ninth assassin who follows Vader to a more distant planet to track a dark and powerful force that seems to be blocking their senses.  Darth Vader will have far more to deal with than he anticipated.

It’s a decent enough read if you’re looking for a Vader centric book.  That’s actually the strength of the book or at least one of them.  (The other strength would be the Emperor but that’s diving into spoiler territory.)  It’s absolutely a Vader story.  It only briefly dives deeper into his psyche with a handful of pages where he’s hallucinating but they’re very well done.  While the overall story isn’t terribly involved, it’s a neat look at the idea of choice.  Plus, of course, we get to see Vader kill people.  A lot of people.  It’s not rocks fall and everyone dies; it’s Vader happens and everyone dies.

The Ninth Assassin never really does anything beside stalk Vader.  Slightly off panel, we see him kill a heck of a lot of people but other than that, he’s just a masked character who ultimately fails at his task.  Other than that, readers get to learn nothing about him.

The artwork is serviceable and decent enough although not remarkable.  The best page is the one where they come out of hyperspace mostly for how the glow of hyperspace was drawn and colored.  The Ninth Assassin also has a neat looking character design.  My one main critique is that occasionally Vader’s proportions look a little bit off.

Overall, it’s a decent enough book but it’s not new or exciting.  The plotline where Vader tracks down the potential traitors is intriguing enough to catch your interest and keep you engage with the story.  If you want more Vader then pick up the book.  If you’re interested in seeing Vader as he’s still in the first few years of transitioning from being Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader than this is probably a book you should pick up.  However, if you’re looking for a book with tons of layers and lots of fully developed characters than this is probably one you should skip.  Again, I’m not saying that this is a poorly done book as it’s certainly enjoyable enough.  It’s just likely not everyone’s cup of tea.

I give Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin a 3/5 and only casually recommend it.

Four Live-Action Marvel Shows Coming to Netflix!

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In news guaranteed to fill certain Tosche Station staff members with glee, Marvel  has announced that Netflix will air four–that’s right, four–new live-action television shows based on Marvel superheroes Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, and Daredevil. Not only that, there will be a miniseries event based on the Defenders. These shows will be set in the Marvel cinematic universe, which also includes the ABC show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Each series will contain 13 episodes and will begin airing in 2015.

Even a comic illiterate person like myself can understand that this is a huge deal. And, as a person hugely invested in Star Wars (which is owned by the same parent company as Marvel), it makes me wonder what is planned for future projects set in the GFFA.

(via Deadline)

Review: The Star Wars #3

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It’s a Desert Ambush as the cover proclaims in Issue #3 of The Star Wars, out in comic book stores today.  Jonathan Rinzler and Mike Mayhew continue to adapt the original draft of A New Hope in an action packed issue with more sass than you could possibly imagine.  (And hey, I can imagine quite a lot.)

Darth Vader searches for the royal family of Aquilae, hoping to complete the Empire’s victory and a new player joins the search: Prince Valorum; a Knight of the Sith.  Meanwhile, See Threepio and Artwo Detwo disagree about how to handle being stranded in the Dune Sea only to both end up being found by Annikan and Leia as they hurry back to the hidden fortress to the Palace of Lite.  With the King dead, Leia is now the true Queen of Aquilae but for her safety, Queen Breha orders General Skywalker to take Leia and her younger brothers to the Ophuchi system.  But first, they must get safely past the Empire’s army on planet.

For an issue that starts with the droids being stranded in the desert, this issue certainly isn’t lacking for action and goes by so quickly that readers will likely find themselves surprised when they reach the last page so soon.  Rinzler definitely knows how to keep readers coming back for more.  The weirdness of how some of the names are spelled has yet to wear off and I suspect I’ll never be able to type Artwo correctly on the first try but the weirdness is honestly a part of the book’s charm.  It’s difficult to find a reason to complain about Rinzler’s grasp of dialogue and pacing.  Again, his use of lines from the film invokes smiles instead of eye rolls and that is absolutely a good thing.

One of the best things about this particular issue was the banter between different pairs of characters.  To put it simply: the sass levels were off the charts.  I frequently found myself chuckling at Artwo’s lines and downright laughing when Threepio puts an end to the argument.  This version of Princess Leia continues to take none of anyone’s crap.  Some things stay true no matter what alternate universe they are in.  She also has quite the mind for retaliation tactics.

I’m also still not over Mike Mayhew’s artwork.  It’s absolutely gorgeous.  Mayhew also continues to excel at costume design.  The official royal regalia that Princess Leia and Queen Breha wear in the throne room are truly magnificent.  I haven’t the faintest idea how Leia can sit with that headdress much less stand but wow does it have a visual impact.  Another strength of Mayhew’s artwork is the facial expressions of the characters.  At times, it feels like some of the panels don’t even need the dialogue bubbles for the words to get across.

The Star Wars #3 has elevated this book from a ‘pick this book up if you’re intrigued by the concept’ to ‘you should definitely give this book a try’ so run out and go find the first three issues!

Review: Star Wars: Legacy #8

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Star Wars: Legacy is back again this month as issue #8 by Corinna Beckho and Gabriel Hardman hits stores today.  We’d consider attaching the label of ‘trouble magnet’ to Ania Solo from here on out but honestly, now she’s just diving head first into it.

This review contains mild spoilers for the issue.

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Review: Star Wars: Ewoks- Shadows of Endor

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Sometimes, a comic book is exactly what it reads on the label and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Out today is Ewoks- Shadows of Endor; a new Star Wars graphic novel for the younglings about everyone’s favorite fluffy little terrors.  Penned and drawn by Zack Giallongo with colors by Braden Lamb, it’s an enjoyable little tale about how Endor is turned on its head when the Empire arrives to build the shield generator for the new Death Star.

This review contains mild spoilers.

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