Dark Horse basically sustained themselves for the better part of a decade on the back of their Star Wars license and, to be fair, they earned it: they consistently put out some interesting, novel and brave takes on the Expanded Universe, with both all-star creators and new talents getting a chance to tell new stories in a galaxy far, far away. But now things are different. The Expanded Universe is gone. Disney own it all now. And, thus, the rights to make Star Wars comics have reverted back to Marvel, what with their parent company owning them and all. Marvel were the first to publish Star Wars titles back in the day, with a slew of omnibus reprints due to tie in with the release of The Force Awakens later this year. Not one to miss a chance to cash in, theyre also launching not one but three ongoing Star Wars related titles: Darth Vader, Princess Leia, and a main book that will apparently tell stories around the original trilogy of films. Each book has a particularly blockbuster creative team, with the main Star Wars series written by Jason Aaron and drawn by fan favourite John Cassaday. That and the overall hype for a return to a long time ago (not to mention a buttload of variant cover) has got pre-orders for that first issue at over a million, making it one of the best-selling comics in decades. And thatll probably be kept up across the line.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
