After the past five years of heavily connected comics, with a bunch of big crossovers about Qi’ra’s return as the head of Crimson Dawn and even a spooky droid virus, Marvel has already shown their 10th Anniversary year would be a little more diversified, timeline-wise. There’s the Sequel Trilogy era Legacy of Vader or the pre-Prequel Era Jedi Knights, but this latest announcement shows they will continue their tradition of having a Star Wars series set in the successive era from the last: Alex Segura and Phil Noto will bring Marvel into the post-Return of the Jedi era with their Star Wars (2025 aka Vol. 3) in May! Head below for the full covers and some scant details from the first solicit.
Last week, I mused we might be getting a new comic announcement given The Battle of Jakku maxiseries would be ending on January 22 and the next comic solicitations (for April) would arrive the same week and…well, I guess I was right for once! Marvel having another Star Wars series and setting it after Return of the Jedi is no real surprise at this moment, but what exactly they’ll get to cover with these characters would be of great interest. There’s still so much of this era that’s unknown, especially since the Mando-verse, all the shows set in the 5 years after RotJ like The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, seems to have had a lock on this timeframe, so if the gloves are finally able to come off, the potential for this series could be quite grand. The solicit at least reveals a few threads:
AN EPIC NEW ADVENTURE BEGINS FOR LUKE, LEIA AND HAN IN THE WAKE OF RETURN OF THE JEDI!
- New York Times best-selling author ALEX SEGURA launches the bold next era of STAR WARS.
- LUKE SKYWALKER must defend the NEW REPUBLIC from a bloodthirsty gang of mercenaries!
- HAN SOLO investigates a deadly underworld mystery — and saves a surprising ally!
- LEIA ORGANA must grapple with a new alliance opposed to the goals of the New Republic!
While all intriguing, all the above leaves me wonder what else it could contain. Could we see Luke Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano meeting for the first time? See lots of little Ben Solo? Chewie with his newly liberated family? Learn how the New Republic’s efforts going after pirates and the de-militarizing situation? Get a glimpse at the beginnings of the NR’s Amnesty Program? See Leia’s work in the NR Senate alongside Chancellor Mon Mothma? The solicit does seem to point to her having to stay in the political lane, leaving one to wonder who or what this group is that’s aligned against the NR: could it be some time of Separatist thing, Hutts maybe, or just pirates?
I think the most important part of this, as I’ve said elsewhere, is to see the New Republic in a ‘heroic’ light, as while we know their choices lead to a place where something like the First Order could spring forth into the galaxy (which feels way too prescient now), it would be good to see our heroes’ hard work pay off, the NR doing good in the galaxy and helping it pick up after the Empire’s tyranny, before we get into the more dubious portrayal we’ve seen in the aforementioned TV shows. I’m a little surprised Luke also isn’t getting his own series, out adventuring for information about the Jedi and getting the Order started, so we’ll see how this series handles focusing on him and defending against mercenaries, I guess. And bringing Valance into the story, even after the Bounty Hunters series proved to be a highlight, I’m still apathetic to more of the cyborg, but hey, maybe we’ll finally get him to do something like what happened in Legends, a sacrifice to save our main heroes?
I’ve overall enjoyed previous works by Alex Segura, but I’ve certainly said my piece about the dysfunctional Battle of Jakku maxiseries so I have some concerns. I’m hoping having him writing an on-going can negate some of the problems with pacing and overstuffing of the story and characters, while my biggest reason for wanting Luke in his own series is how he’s been portrayed so far in Battle of Jakku, as he certainly hasn’t seem like himself time and time again. As for art, Phil Noto is such a great choice and hopefully he can stay on for quite some time, if even for a single arc, as he’s impressed in Poe Dameron, Chewbacca, and even the final arc for Star Wars (Vol. 1).
As I stated in my 2024 comics year-in-review, I’m stepping back in 2025 from reviewing every issue of every comic series, and while I’m still deciding which ones, I think this might be one of them, though 5-6 years ago I’d never imagine saying such a thing. I’ll review the opening issue when it hits shelves on May 7 but probably will only do arc reviews (so the length of a storyline or trade paperback collection) afterwards, unless of course there’s some readers out there who’d like to cover the series by joining the Manor!
Either way, still waiting to learn what Doctor Aphra is up to next…
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.