‘Star Wars: Dark Droids’ kicks off in August

The crossover event introduces a droid virus that corrupts their programming and spreads like wildfire across the galaxy.

Both the Empire and the Rebel Alliance will face dire consequences when their droids break bad during an event that will run through Marvel’s Star Wars titles starting in August.

Announced during the Star Wars Celebration event earlier this month, Star Wars: Dark Droids will introduce something called the Scourge that will spread through the galaxy. It’ll infect everything from Lobot to a squad of Clone War-Era Prototype Battle Droids, bringing a sense of dread and horror to the Star Wars line.

The event kicks off in Star Wars: Dark Droids #1, which comes out Aug. 3 from writer Charles Soule and artist Luke Ross, before spreading through the other Star Wars titles. Here’s the rundown …

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Marvel, Lucasfilm announce two new ‘Star Wars: The High Republic’ titles

The new titles were announced during this weekend’s Star Wars Celebration.

Marvel and Lucasfilm have announced two new comics set during the Star Wars: The High Republic timeline that was first announced back in 2020.

The High Republic has, so far anyway, been a publishing initiative for Lucasfilm, spanning novels and comics, and telling the story of the Jedi Knights many decades before the Skywalker saga. It’s introduced several new characters, in addition to using a younger Yoda in the stories.

A second volume of the ongoing series Star Wars: The High Republic will be written by Cavan Scott and drawn by Ario Anindito, who worked on the first volume. In addition, Marvel will publish Star Wars: The High Republic – The Blade, a four issue miniseries by Charles Soule and Marco Castiello.

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Soule + Browne will launch ‘Eight Billion Genies’ next year

The eight-issue miniseries will begin in May.

Ryan Browne has announced his next collaboration with writer Charles Soule: Eight Billion Genies, a story about everyone Earth getting a genie — and a wish.

“At exactly the same moment, everyone on Earth gets a genie, and one wish. What happens next? How would that be anything other than total chaos? Why would Ryan and Charles write a story about something so audacious and boundary-breaking?” Browne posted on Instagram. “Because we can, friends. Because we can. COMICS, BABY!”

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Learn what happened when Boba Fett lost a frozen Han Solo in ‘War of the Bounty Hunters’

The crossover event starts with an “alpha” issue by Charles Soule and Steve McNiven.

Star Wars’ most notorious bounty hunter, Boba Fett, will take the spotlight in a new crossover event launching in May called War of the Bounty Hunters. The story will kick off with an “alpha” issue by Charles Soule and Steve McNiven, as we learn what Boba Fett was up to between the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi films.

It sounds like that infamous cargo he was carrying may have gotten lost somewhere between the two films.

“Boba Fett is in possession of Han Solo at the end of Empire Strikes Back, and at the beginning of War of the Bounty Hunters, he is not,” Soule told StarWars.com. “And he is going to do everything he can to get him back, no matter what. No matter who is standing in his way.”

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Soule + Sliney + Rosenberg will create ‘Hell to Pay’ in real time on Twitch

The new Image Comics series will launch next year — and will be created live on Twitch.

Charles Soule, Will Sliney and Rachelle Rosenberg have a new comic coming out from Image Comics called Hell to Pay, but it’s not quite done — and that’s where the fun begins. The creative team will give fans a direct view into their process by live-creating the comic on Twitch.

Both Sliney and Rosenberg plan to livestream their work on the platform. Soule plans to join them “to workshop design and story elements” in real time.

Hell to Pay is a combination of a lot of things I love and one thing I don’t: supernatural adventure, treasure hunt stories, and the harsh consequences of late-stage capitalism! I think there’s a lot to say about money—everyone on earth is affected by cash in one way or another. Looking at it through a demonic lens is a fun way to play with the concept,” said Soule. “I’m also so excited to try something new by creating the book live on Twitch. Will and Rachelle are fantastic—this will be like being in a band, performing live every night as we come up with new ideas and implement them right then and there. I can’t wait—especially to do it in front of an audience. Scary? Maybe a little—but I do love a challenge.”

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What Are You Reading? | ‘Pulp,’ ‘Amazing Spider-Man,’ ‘Hedra’ and more

See what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately.

Welcome to What Are You Reading?, our weekly look at what the Smash Pages crew has been reading lately — including comics from the past, present and future.

Let us know what you read this week in the comments or on social media.

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Soule + Browne kickstart ‘Curse Words: The Hole Damned Thing’

The entire Image Comics series is collected and crowdfunded, along with a brand new story.

Charles Soule and Ryan Browne‘s Curse Words ran for 28 issues from Image Comics between 2017 and 2019, and now the creators are planning to collect the entire series — plus some new material — in Curse Words: The Hole Damned Thing omnibus.

The project went up on Kickstarter yesterday and has already raised more than twice their intended goal.

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Marvel plans to reboot ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Darth Vader’

New first issues will deliver the force in 2020.

Marvel plans to reboot Star Wars and Darth Vader in 2020, as the comics move into the post-Empire Strikes Back era.

Charles Soule and Jesus Saiz will chronicle this “dark time” for the Rebels, as they plot their course in a Han Solo-less world.

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Snyder + Soule + Camuncoli reveal ‘Undiscovered Country’ in November

The ‘big, wild, world-building story’ will explore a United States that’s been walled off from the rest of the world for decades.

Following a teaser image that was released in early July, Image Comics revealed the new title coming from the team of Scott Snyder, Charles Soule, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Matt Wilson, Daniele Orlandini, Crank! and editor Will Dennis — Undiscovered Country.

“As soon as Charles and I came up with this idea I knew it was special—one of those ideas that turns into big, wild, world-building story. And this series is just that: a twist-filled trek across a landscape that’s alien, mysterious, and full of adventure,” said Snyder. “It’s like Land of the Lost meets Lewis and Clark, with a team of characters we’ve already come to love as family.”

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Snyder + Soule + Camuncoli tease something for San Diego

New adventure comic by the team coming from Image Comics.

Scott Snyder and Charles Soule are both powerhouse comic writers in their own right, but together they form a Voltron-like super writer. The duo will team up on a new Image Comics series, which they began teasing yesterday on social media.

They’ll be joined by the art team of Giuseppe Camuncoli, along with Matt Wilson, Daniele Orlandini, Crank! and editor Will Dennis. The actual announcement will take place at Comic-Con International later this month.

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Zdarsky, Checchetto head to Hell’s Kitchen as the new ‘Daredevil’ creative team

New team takes over in February.

Writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Marco Checchetto will chronicle the adventures of Daredevil starting February, Marvel.com revealed this week.

The new team follows Charles Soule and Phil Noto’s run on Matt Murdock’s alter-ego — a run that ends with a storyline called “The Death of Daredevil.”

“A lot of writers in the past have left Daredevil in terrible situations at the end of their runs,” Soule said in a promotional video released by Marvel in September. “Brian Michael Bendis put him in prison for Ed Brubaker to handle; Mark Waid, who preceded me, had Daredevil in San Francisco, his secret identity was blown, he wasn’t a lawyer anymore. I had to handle all of that. So, I wanted to carry on in the tradition of leaving Daredevil in the worst spot imaginable, and letting the next writer somehow deal with this impossible problem that Matt would never get out of. And I wanted to make mine the biggest one that has ever been done.”

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Marvel revives ‘Invaders,’ ‘Marvel Comics Presents’ as part of their 80th anniversary

Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno, Butch Guice and more dip into Marvel’s past to help celebrate the future.

With their 80th anniversary coming up next year, Marvel is reviving two titles in January — the anthology Marvel Comics Presents, and Invaders by Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno and Butch Guice.

Marvel Comics Presents ran as a bi-weekly anthology series from 1988 until 1995. Some of the highlights of the original run included the first published work of Scott Lobdell (including a clever story about Reed and Sue Richards living in the suburbs); Barry Windsor Smith’s “Weapon X” serial, one of the first stories to detail Wolverine’s origins; and the first appearances of characters like Cyber, Damage Control and Nth Man. There was also a very wonderful Colossus story, Colossus: God’s Country, written by Ann Nocenti. The series returned in 2007 for a 12-issue run.

The new volume will feature the works of Charles Soule, Greg Pak, Ann Nocenti, Tomm Coker and Paulo Siqueira, telling stories about Namor, Captain America and of course Wolverine, who appeared in many issues of the first volume.

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