By: Benjamin Hart
Well, it's official! After more than a year of speculation, Lucasfilm has announced that Marvel will begin producing Star Wars comics in 2015, taking over for Dark Horse, which has had the Star Wars license since 1991. This change was expected, considering both Lucasfilm and Marvel are now owned by Disney. StarWars.com had this to say:
"The agreement marks a homecoming for the Star Wars comic books. Marvel Comics published the first Star Wars comic book, Star Wars #1, in March 1977, which went on to sell more than 1 million copies. Marvel Comics published its Star Wars series for nine years. In 1991, Dark Horse Comics took over the license, publishing fan favorite titles like Dark Empire and Star Wars: Legacy. Last year, Dark Horse released The Star Wars #1, an adaptation of George Lucas' original rough-draft screenplay for the film, garnering rave reviews and national media attention and ranking among the top-selling Star Wars comics of all time.
"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.""
This change is bittersweet. While Star Wars comics are returning to their roots with Marvel, the loss of Dark Horse is unfortunate. Dark Horse comics founder Mike Richardson had this to say:
"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..."
We applaud Dark Horse for their outstanding contributions to the Saga over the past 20+ years! We also welcome back Marvel to franchise and we look forward a wealth of new Star Wars comics and graphic novels!
So, what was your favorite Dark Horse Star Wars comic? And what are you hoping to see Marvel do with the Star Wars brand? Let us know in the comments below, or on Facebook!
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