Beginning in 2015, Marvel will become the publisher of Star Wars comics, taking over from Dark Horse.
We probably all expected this. From the moment Disney acquired the Star Wars license, it was only a matter of time before they brought Star Wars back into the fold of the comic book publisher they also own...in this case, none other than Marvel Comics. Dark Horse have been the faithful stewards of the Star Wars brand for over twenty years, producing an incredible amount of Star Wars related content spanning from the distant past to the far future of the Star Wars universe. That all comes to an end at the end of this year, as Marvel has now been granted exclusive rights to create and publish Star Wars comics and graphic novels beginning in 2015.
Marvel was the first home for Star Wars comics, beginning with their adaptation of the original film in 1977 (Star Wars #1 went on to sell over one million copies), their Star Wars ongoing series continued for nine years, and eventually expanded past Return of The Jedi, marking the first comic book adventures of Han, Luke, and Leia beyond the films. While Marvel's Star Wars comics were of varying quality, and the ones published in between film releases often found their continuity quickly invalidated, they're still fairly historic. However, it was Dark Horse's acquisition of the Star Wars license, which began with the memorable Dark Empire limited series (and its sequels) which many fans considered to be the first "official" expansion of the Star Wars mythology, which has now encompassed hundreds of other comics that have been embraced by fans for decades.
Marvel released several celebratory quotes:
“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 Warsinto galaxies far, far away.”
“We’re incredibly excited by this next chapter in the Star Wars saga,” said Andrew B. Sugerman, executive vice president of Disney Publishing Worldwide. “Bringing together the iconic Lucasfilm and Marvel brands to tell new stories will allow us to continue to thrill lovers of the original Star Wars comic books and entertain generations to come.”
Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson released a statement, as well:
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.
At this writing, it's unclear whether the work published by Dark Horse will be available for reprint by Marvel. Dark Horse has reprinted the Marvel line of Star Wars comics as part of their (really great) Omnibus line, which contained other rare Star Wars comics that Marvel published during their tenure. Hopefully, Marvel will treat the Dark Horse material with the same respect. Regardless, this marks the end of an era in comics history, and few comics companies in history have ever handled a popular license as well as Dark Horse did with Star Wars. Marvel has their work cut out for them.
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that's your thing!