I get it, there’s quite the list of talent in Marvel’s upcoming 2025 one-shot, A New Legacy, and we’ll talk about them in a moment, but for me the excitement for this news centers on the comic-created characters returning in it! Doctor Aphra, Sana Starros, Krrsantan, Triple-Zero, BT-1, Darth Momin, and more will star in three different stories from the all-star talent list as a way to celebrate 10 years of canon comics!! A New Legacy arrives January 29, 2025, but you can read all about its stories, the creatives, and see the covers below!
The creatives involved for A New Legacy are some of the biggest names in Star Wars comics, as not only does Charles Soule have a story, but two of the writers who kicked everything off in 2015 join him: Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen!! Joining them on art are: Ramon Rosanas, who will bring Soule’s Alderaan set tale to life; Leonard Kirk will show Aaron’s dark story about a familiar foe; and Salva Espín is behind Gillen’s return to the dark side with some characters he’s responsible for! As for the covers, the main one is by Steve McNiven, with variants by Leinil Francis Yu and Kyle Hotz!
As you may already know from visiting the Manor in the past, but I can’t let news like this go without pointing out the painfully obvious detriment to all this: not a single marginalized creative announced (not even on a variant cover!). That would be fitting when celebrating 10 years of canon comics on Marvel’s side, as my data shows, so while it’s still disappointing it’s not surprising…maybe at least Rachelle Rosenberg will be on colors for one story?
So anyways, what are these tales about? Marvel’s story about the announcement has the details:
- From Darth Vader to Grand Moff Tarkin, the Empire’s most powerful gather on Alderaan to honor Emperor Palpatine in a thrilling story from New York Times best-selling STAR WARS (2020) author Charles Soule and acclaimed STAR WARS (2020) artist Ramon Rosanas! During this lavish Imperial event, Doctor Aphra and Sana Starros stage a daring heist, not knowing that Valance is hot on the trail! And a Sith artifact threatens to spoil the party for everyone! It’s a collision course of comics-originating characters including Darth Momin, Chanath Cha, Rik Duel, Commander Zahra, the Tagges, and many more, from the fan-favorite to obscure!
- What ever happened to Scar Squadron? Also known as Task Force 99, this elite group of stormtroopers led by Sergeant Kreel answered directly to Darth Vader and were among the deadliest threats Luke, Leia, and the Rebellion faced throughout Jason Aaron’s pivotal run. Discover where their dark path led as Aaron revisits them alongside fellow Star Wars superstar Leonard Kirk.
- Kieron Gillen returns to the dark side with a story set during his acclaimed run of DARTH VADER (2015) where he introduced breakout star Doctor Aphra! Joined by Salva Espin (STAR WARS: DARK DROIDS – D-SQUAD), enjoy Vader and Aphra’s troubled dynamic once more and gasp at a perilous game between Aphra’s old crew: 0-0-0, BT-1 and Krrsantan!
For Soule’s Alderaan story, this sounds like such a blast! I love the idea of younger Aphra and Sana shenanigans, as we’ve only gotten so much and this sounds like quite the tale to tell. Given we see Aphra holding Darth Momin’s helmet, which we know loves to take over people’s minds when someone puts it on, timeline-wise I know she’ll be okay but oh I am so worried for our gal!! This story has quite the list of comic created characters beyond these three: Chanath Cha, who did her damn best to avenge her parents against Vader during the Hidden Empire crossover event, so more of her on the Empire’s good side should be interesting; Commander Zahra, a fitting villain for Soule’s Star Wars (Vol. 2); the Tagges, who originated back in the original Marvel years but became a big part of Alyssa Wong’s Doctor Aphra (Vol. 2) series; Beilert Valance, who got quite the fan ase thanks to the Bounty Hunters series which came to an end earlier this year; and Rik Duel, also a Legends Marvel character, who made the jump to canon in Revelations (2023) #1 alongside Dani Gammill and Chihdo Jo.
As for Jason Aaron’s story, he’s a great writer and his run on Star Wars (Vol. 1) really used the era wisely, but SCAR Squad was so ineffective, I was glad when we left them alone (and Gillen . Will this make me care about them or be interested? I’ll keep an open mind, but hopefully this will finally be the last of them.
Gillen back to write not only Aphra, alongside Vader, but also the murderbots Triple-Zero and BeeTee, plus Krrsantan?!? I am sat for this alone!! It sounds like a blast and I’ll be curious how easily Gillen will slip back into the tortured, demented, and intriguing minds of these characters.
Overall, this sounds like a fun way to celebrate 10 years, as focusing on the new (or old but new) characters created in the comics is a great way to showcase how far they’ve come bringing us stories in a galaxy far, far away. Hopefully the next bit of news is what Marvel plans to do next, to build on their new legacy, as you will…
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Bluesky, Twitter @MynockManor, and Instagram @mynockmanor.