Marvel is finally publishing their ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ adaptation

Delayed since the early days of the COVID pandemic, the five-issue series by Jody Houser and Will Sliney will feature scenes that weren’t in the film.

Marvel’s long-delayed adaptation of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will finally see print almost five years after the film originally debuted.

The miniseries by Jody Houser and Will Sliney was originally intended for release in June of 2020, a year marked by the COVID pandemic and related shutdowns. It was a tragic and tumultuous year for everyone, and the comic industry was no exception. The Rise of Skywalker was one of several comics Marvel delayed or cancelled when Diamond went into shutdown mode as a result of COVID, and I never expected for it to see the light of day.

But now that Marvel is shifting their Star Wars timeline from the post-Empire Strikes Back period to a post Return of the Jedi period, set before the most recent trilogy, maybe it felt like a good time to dust this one off. It’ll also have scenes that weren’t in the film’s final release.

“There’s a resurgence of interest in these characters, especially Kylo Ren, Darth Vader’s blood heir,” Editor Mark Paniccia said. “Jody’s script captures the impact of these iconic moments between the film’s heroes and villains, while the art by Will Sliney and dazzling colors by Guru-eFX give a visually unique experience of this epic finale.”

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Jason Aaron, Kieron Gillen + more help celebrate 10 years of Star Wars comics at Marvel with ‘A New Legacy’

The one-shot will put a spotlight on the Star Wars characters who debuted in comic books.

Next year will mark 10 years since Marvel reclaimed the license to create Star Wars comics (and more than 12 years since Disney bought Lucasfilm, in case you were wondering) and to celebrate Marvel will release a one-shot that will spotlight many of the creators and characters who have been part of this new era.

January’s Star Wars: A New Legacy will include stories by Kieron Gillen, Jason Aaron and Charles Soule, three writers who have contributed to the line since its relaunch, along with recent Star Wars artists Ramon Rosanas, Leonard Kirk and Salva Espin. Their stories will feature characters who made their debut in the comics, including Doctor Aphra, Sana Starros, Scar Squadron, Krrsantan the Wookiee bounty hunter and more.

“This is the monumental moment we’ve been waiting for: celebrating a decade of the re-union of Marvel Comics and Star Wars!” editor Mark Paniccia said. “We’ve got a great package here with some of the most influential Star Wars comic writers in recent history along with amazing art. It is so cool to spotlight as many of the Marvel-created characters as we could. Longtime and new fans alike will get a kick in the thrusters with this!”

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Can’t Wait for Wednesday | As ‘Absolute Power’ ends, DC’s ‘All In’ era begins

Check out comics and graphic novels arriving this week by Scott Snyder, Joshua Williamson, Wes Craig, Daniel Sampere, Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Brian Azzarello, Vanesa Del Rey and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital.

This week is a big one for DC, as Absolute Power signals the end of one era and the All In special begins a new one. But that’s not all — there’s also a new Storm series, the debut of Hyde Street from Geoff Johns’ Ghost Machine, the return of Shadowman and much more.

I’ve pulled out some of the other highlights for this week below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.

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‘The Bad Batch’ headline their first comic in January

Clone Force 99 hunt a Separatist ghost agent in a new miniseries from Dark Horse Comics.

The Bad Batch show on Disney + may have ended, but that doesn’t mean the adventure is over for Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair and Tech. Dark Horse and Lucasfilm have announced Clone Force 99 will appear in their first comic miniseries next year.

Titled Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories: The Bad Batch: Ghost Agents — I’m sorry, that’s an ungodly amount of colons there — the miniseries is written by Michael Moreci and illustrated by Reese Hannigan, Elisabetta D’Amico and Michael Atiyeh, with lettering by Comicraft.

“I think everyone who knows my Star Wars work knows I love the Clone Wars,” Moreci said. “And the Bad Batch is probably my favorite part of that. They’re just so cool and unique; they’re like 1980s action heroes dropped into the Star Wars universe, and I love that. I’m after that look and feel–it’s going to be a lot of fun, and I’m just thrilled to bring more Bad Batch stories to life!”

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Can’t Wait for Wednesday | A double dose of Wolverine

Check out new comics and graphic novels arriving this week by Chip Zdarsky, David Brothers, Marcus To, Matt Wilson, Tony Fleecs, Tim Seeley, Kev Walker, Saladin Ahmed, Martin Coccolo, Stephanie Williams, Khary Randolph, Matt Bors, Ben Clarkson, Aaron Alexovich and more.

Welcome to Can’t Wait for Wednesday, your guide to what comics are arriving in comic book stores, bookstores and on digital.

This week brings two new first issues featuring Wolverine, as he returns in a new ongoing series as well as a Venom Wars tie-in. We’ve also got the final issue of Star Wars, a new Groo series and the return of Justice Warriors.

I’ve pulled out some of the other highlights for this week below, but for the complete list of everything you might find at your local comic shop and on digital this week, you’ll want to check out one or more of the following:

As a reminder, things can change and what you find on the above lists may differ from what’s actually arriving in your local shop. So always check with your comics retailer for the final word on availability.

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The Battle of Jakku continues in November with ‘Republic Under Siege’

Alex Segura, Stefano Raffaele and Jethro Morales continue their post-‘Return of the Jedi’ tale in Marvel’s Star Wars comics.

Marvel announced last month that after their current Star Wars titles end, they plan to fast-forward the timeline, jumping past the events of Return of the Jedi and picking up with the Battle of Jakku, the final confrontation between an Empire struggling on without its two leaders and the New Republic, a.k.a. the evolved Rebel Alliance.

While it was originally announced as 12 issues, Marvel has offered some clarity on their plans. They’re doing three four-issue miniseries, each with the title Star Wars: Battle of Jakku, and a different subtitle. Star Wars does enjoy a good trilogy, right?

Star Wars: Battle of Jakku — Insurgency Rising by writer Alex Segura and artists Leonard Kirk, Stefano Raffaele and Jethro Morales will run through October, followed by Star Wars: Battle of Jakku — Republic Under Siege by Segura, Raffaele and Morales, which kicks off Nov. 20. Here’s the cover by Taurin Clarke:

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SDCC Slugfest | Star Wars, DuckTales, Thundarr + more

Today’s round-up of SDCC and related news includes items on a Junkyard Joe action figure, new titles coming from Dynamite, a big sale by Fantagraphics and more.

Slugfest is a roundup of cool announcements about projects coming to a shelf near you. With the San Diego Comic Con in full force, this edition covers news from today I haven’t already covered, plus a few items from the lead-up to the show. Hit the links for more information.

The first full day of the San Diego Comic-Con brought plenty of news and tiodbits from comic publishers, following a very busy couple of weeks for comic news. It’s hard to believe a week has already passed since DC’s All In announcement. But here we are! So let’s jump in.

We ‘ll start with some Star Wars comic news, which these days spans multiple publishers. Lucasfilm hosted a publishing panel today that covered several upcoming releases, including the Battle of Jakku comic coming from Marvel this fall. Today’s panel also brought the news that phase 3 of the Star Wars: The High Republic will come to a close next year, and Cavan Scott and Marika Cresta will help wrap it up at Marvel with a comic titled Fear of the Jedi:

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SDCC | Marvel’s Star Wars comics pick up after ‘Return of the Jedi’ with ‘Battle of Jakku — Insurgency Rising’

Alex Segura, Leonard Kirk, Stefano Raffaele and Jethro Morales tell the story of the final battle between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire.

Marvel’s current Star Wars titles will end with the 50th issues of Star Wars and Darth Vader, and in the lead-up to the San Diego Comic Con, StarWars.com has revealed what will come next.

Just as the two previous eras of Star Wars comics were set after Star Wars: A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, this one will take us beyond Return of the Jedi into that fertile, uncharted space between that film and The Force Awakens. And they’ll start with the infamous Battle of Jakku, the final confrontation between an Empire struggling on without its two leaders and the New Republic, aka the evolved Rebel Alliance. It’s also the battle that left the planet covered in dead starships, as seen in The Force Awakens.

The maxi-series Star Wars: Battle of Jakku — Insurgency Rising is by writer Alex Segura and artists Leonard Kirk, Stefano Raffaele and Jethro Morales.

“I cannot say a lot about this yet, but it’s been an absolute thrill to explore this period of time in the Star Wars story and to elevate a fun new villain, especially when paired with such amazing artistic collaborators,” Segura said in his newsletter.

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Steve Orlando, Álvaro López + Laura Braga return to Endor for ‘Ewoks’

The four-issue miniseries featuring the cuddly ‘Star Wars’ warriors begins this fall.

The Ewoks will return to comics this fall in a new miniseries by Steve Orlando, Álvaro López and Laura Braga. To mark the 40th anniversary of the TV movie Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure, Marvel will reveal a crisis that occurred on the Endor moon following the events of Return of the Jedi.

“Forty years of Ewoks! Sometimes, a lot of the times, this job is just a dream—and for someone who grew up watching Return of the Jedi after every single Sunday Ski Trip, getting the chance to celebrate them and explore their world in the aftermath of the second Death Star’s fall is truly beyond belief,” Orlando said. “When I was young, the Ewoks got me in the door—Wicket was my hero, a young hero like me (like I was back then) going on adventures with Princess Leia herself!”

The Ewoks are a somewhat divisive subject for Star Wars fans, seen either as savage, noble warriors or a “bunch of muppets,” depending on who you ask. But their legacy stretched beyond Return of the Jedi, starring in two made-for-TV movies, an animated series and a comics series as part of Marvel’s Star line.

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Marvel’s ‘Star Wars’ titles draw to a close this September

The post-Empire Strikes Back era will end, preparing for something new later this year.

Marvel’s current Star Wars line will end in September to make way for “a different era of the galaxy, far, far away.”

Longtime readers of Marvel’s Star Wars comics will remember back to 2019, when Marvel’s post-Star Wars, pre-Empire Strikes Back comics came to an end, only to be rebooted a few months later in a post-Empire Strikes Back timeline. With the current storyline getting closer and closer to the Return of the Jedi, it makes sense that something new is coming up. Could it be something set post-Return of the Jedi? One can only hope, as that’s a pretty unexplored, fertile era for stories, at least when you’re talking about Luke, Leia and the gang. There are also plenty of other characters now for them to interact with, as we’ve seen in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, Ashoka and the like.

In any event, September brings two oversized, 50-page issues: Star Wars #50 and Star Wars: Darth Vader #50:

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Three Count | Rebel, Modern Carapace, Rob Guillory

Here are three things to download, to buy and to watch this week.

Three Count spotlights, as the title suggests, three things from comics today. It’ll be three things with links, no more, no less. Like a zombie it’ll dig itself back up again.

  1. To Download: Rebel by Ken Lowery and Gavin Guidry

I was today years old when I discovered that Ken Lowery and Gavin Guidry had done a 16-page Star Wars: Rogue One fan comic. It features Jyn Erso doing what Jyn does best — screwing up the plans of the Empire while saving orphans. It’s well done with some really great full page images that showcase Guidry’s ability to draw action shots:

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‘Star Wars: Inquisitors’ hunt the Jedi in July

The popular minions of Darth Vader serve the Dark Side this summer, courtesy of Rodney Barnes and Ramon Rosanas.

The Inquisitors — the force-wielding minions of the Empire who hunted the Jedi for Darth Vader — have appeared in comics, on TV and in video games, and are set to star in their own miniseries coming from Marvel this summer.

Writer Rodney Barnes and artist Ramon Rosanas will send the “Redblades” after Tensu Run, a Jedi who survived the purge caused by Order 66 and seeks to rebuild the Jedi Order in that harrowing time between Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: A New Hope.

“It’s such an honor to be writing the very first Inquisitors solo story,” Barnes told StarWars.com. “I love this time period of Star Wars lore because it’s the one I grew up on — when Darth Vader and the Empire were imposing their will on the entire galaxy. Plus, I got to create an all-new legendary Jedi with Tensu Run! Truly the best of times!”

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