If you look at the history of the current canon comics, the amount of non-human characters headlining anything longer than a one-shot comic, it’s been growing but hasn’t been a ton, as there’s been the Chewbacca miniseries, The High Republic: The Blade, two Darth Maul series, Yoda’s recent, or the Thrawn novel adaptations. And now helping the list grow…an Ewoks four-issue miniseries! As Marvel looks set to go into the post-Return of the Jedi timeline, something they teased before SDCC 2024, one of the first new announcements is a little series putting the furry, cuddly, murder bears from the forest moon of Endor front and center! Written by Steve Orlando, with art from Laura Braga and Álvaro López, Ewoks will begin this October, and so too will the new era of Marvel’s comics. For more details, and the tease of the new era, head below for more!
To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Return of the Jedi last year, Marvel had a series of one-shots as basically their take on the From a Certain Point of View novels, with one issue being Return of the Jedi – Ewoks #1. Written by Alyssa Wong (Doctor Aphra {Vol. 2}), with various artists, it was not only my favorite of the bunch, it was one of my top issues of the year, as it showed the uniqueness of the comics medium in every page. It certainly left me curious for more Ewok-centric stories, as even without a single line of dialogue, the imagery made it so one could follow along without much trouble. I imagine Steve Orlando (Life Day #1; Darth Vader: Black, White & Red) will be providing dialogue, as I’m not sure if a full four issue miniseries could overall make sense, even with art from Laura Braga (The High Republic – Phase III) and Álvaro López (Return of the Jedi – Lando #1), but I’m interested either way given the description, which sounds epically sized despite the four issues and the literal size of the protagonists:
The series will take place in the aftermath of Return of the Jedi as the Ewoks must once again stand against a caravan of carnage to save their home! Fans can expect new insights into Ewok culture, the return of friendly faces like Wicket, and the introduction of all-new Ewok heroes!
A team of Imperial-led bounty hunters and scavengers arrive on the Forest Moon of Endor searching for a secret cache of Imperial weaponry! Are they prepared to face off against the battle-ready Ewoks who took down so many of their ranks? Who is the mysterious new warrior Ewok returning to Bright Tree village, and what is their connection to Wicket W. Warrick?
I never watched the Ewoks cartoon, though I’ve seen a few now thanks to Disney+, while I did see the two Ewok movies growing up, so I can only assume we’ll get some deep pulls, as in the announcement they even do credit it being 40 years since Caravan of Courage (also on Disney+ now) released and that’s partly why we got this series! Expect reviews on the Manor starting October, with maybe some additional details, and maybe even a preview, at the upcoming SDCC ’24 panel.
Speaking of which, how about this wonderful little teaser image below for the next era of Marvel’s Star Wars comics, kicking off in October?! As someone who has been calling for the end of Darth Vader-centric comics, and while this is very main character energy of me, this felt catered to those of us who have been vocal about the need to move on from the Dark Lord, as his burnt out helmet seems to say, “Yes, Vader’s dead, we’re moving on.” As for exactly when they’re moving on, it looks like we’re all going back to Jakku given they’re talking about the final battle of the Galactic Civil War! The timeframe leading up to Jakku has had plenty of content in it, like the Aftermath Trilogy, Alphabet Squadron Trilogy, Battlefront II, and more, but for it’s felt like the era is off limits so The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, and the upcoming films, could figure out their story. I hope this means there’s more confidence about what happens in the years after Jakku so now the comics can start filling in some of the blanks those shows provided, all while giving us more details regarding the stuff we do know. Either way, this should mean the return of Doctor Aphra, so everything will be alright in my book!! As for anything else, Luke Skywalker exploring the galaxy? Imperial intrigue? Fighter pilot series? What’s next for Qi’ra?! New Republic politics? We’ll know a lot more by July 25 at 6:15pm CST thanks to the publishing panel at SDCC!!! It’ll be hosted by Patton Oswalt this year (WHAT?!), feature The High Republic authors, and…the cast of Star Wars Outlaws?! Tie-ins incoming, too?! Going to be a big panel!!! UPDATE: Maybe even bigger than we realized, as they announced one of the big upcoming comic reveals on Monday ahead of the panel, a series which this image was teasing: The Battle of Jakku maxiseries!
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.