After the stunning work for the Black History Month and Women’s History Month variant covers, there’s been increased anticipation for 2023’s Pride Month variants and after today’s reveal of the first handful (I’ll update this article as the rest roll in), they might just be the best batch of Pride Month variants yet! Featuring work done by LGBTQIA+ artists, characters like Sana Starros, Domina Tagge, Kantam Sy, and even Cinta and Vel from Andor will grace the covers, among others. Elsewhere in comics news, a civil war is brewing on Endor and the only person who can stop it is…Jaxxon?! Dark Horse’s Hyperspace Stories Annual – Jaxxon 2023 has been announced, written by Cavan Scott, carrying on a grand tradition from IDW! Head below to check out the Pride covers and more details on Jaxxon’s next appearance!
At three years of Pride Month variant covers, this cast of wonderful characters gracing the designs is fitting across the board (unlike some issues with year one), and features some of the most stunning work yet from LGBTQIA+ artists like Betsy Cola, Lucas Werneck, Paulina Ganucheau, Luciano Vecchio, and Phil Jimenez. I hope one day they can also contribute interior art for any of the Star Wars comic series in the future as such representation is lacking, though at least the characters who are LGBTQIA+ is expanding, with a majority of the thanks going to Alyssa Wong’s work on the Doctor Aphra series (in fact, all 5 covers featured today contain characters from their series, though only Just Lucky is their own creation). Out of the first 5 my favorite is Domina Tagge’s,as she just looks stunningly regal and yet deadly, but they have all been great so far. Really make sure to check out the official site’s reveal of the covers, as they have some excited words from each of the artists about their work or what it means to them to be a queer Star Wars fan and bring these characters to life for a series of variants like this. Now let’s just hope, beyond them getting to draw interiors, there’s a similar thing to Marvel’s Voices: Pride one of these years for Star Wars comics.
So without further ado, check out the excellent 2023 Pride Month Covers, which we now have all of them as of 5/7!! {which we have the first 5 as of 3/16. Waiting on Star Wars #35 (Vol. 2) with Cinta Kaz & Vel Sartha and Yoda #8 featuring Kantam Sy}:
Domina Tagge on Bounty Hunters #35
Magna Tolvan on Darth Vader #35 (Vol. 3)
Sana Starros on Sana Starros #5
Doctor Aphra on Doctor Aphra #33 (Vol. 2)
Just Lucky on The Mandalorian Season 2 #1
Star Wars #35 (Vol. 2) with Cinta Kaz & Vel Sartha
Yoda #8 featuring Kantam Sy
While IDW had their all-ages Star Wars Adventures series, the Annuals featuring Jaxxon were a repeated highlight, so I was curious when or even if we’d see Jaxxon again once Dark Horse took over. Thankfully they decided to get in on the fun as well, with writer and Jaxxon-extraordinaire Cavan Scott, artist Nick Brokenshire, colorist David Kennedy, and lettering by Comicraft to bring the wild new tail (can never help myself) to life! Hyperspace Stories Annual – Jaxxon 2023 will featured a story called “War of the Ewoks,” which sees Jaxxon ferrying Threepio the Sanctuary Moon to resolve a brewing Ewok civil war. Here’s the official description:
Holy Hutch! Jaxxon’s back!
Taking a break from his stellar career as a New Republic fighter ace, the galaxy’s greatest green rabbit is sent on a top-secret diplomatic mission to Endor, only to end up in the middle of a full-blown Ewok Civil War! Things get dicey, and our long eared Lepi might have to choose between saving the day, and saving his own skin!
I love this is set post-Return of the Jedi, as it’s such a open and fertile playground at the moment, while seeing Threepio be a god again, alongside Jaxxon trying to be heroic, with murder bears fighting one another should all be a damn delight, especially thanks to Brokenshire’s art! As for when and where you can get this special new issue, at the very least the cover you see by Mike Mignola (Hellboy) is a Celebration Europe 2023 exclusive, though a limited supply will be available on Dark Horse Direct (it’s $25 with, at least for me, $14 shipping). The official site’s announcement also mentions the issue will be at “select events,” though thankfully it also says it’ll, “…arrive later this year with three other variant covers by various artists.” When? Well, with the way things have been delayed, it’ll be interesting to see but hopefully not months after everyone at Celebration gets their paws on it.