Since 2015, the Star Wars comic series has been following the exploits of Leia, Luke, and Han between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, where we’ve gotten everything from the reveal of Han Solo’s ‘wife,’ Obi-Wan’s Journals, Han Solo shirtless, to Rogue Squadron forming and so much more, and in November 2019, 75 issues later, the current era of the series will come to an end. It will return in some capacity and sometime in October, probably NYCC, we’ll learn just what that means. Some thoughts on the series “ending,” where it could go/I hope it could go, and the Manor’s plans for reviewing the entire series.
Since Marvel is known for restarting a series at #1’s for the extra dollars they can bring in, it doesn’t surprise me they’d do this with the mainline series after 75 issues, especially since the sales, while steady, aren’t like what they were in the beginning (via Comichron). It makes even more sense because the storyline has finally run into The Empire Strikes Back, a natural ending point, as it already had begun feeling a little stale from time to time being stuck only telling tales during the IV and V timeline. And we’ve already seen this move with a second Darth Vader series from Charles Soule after Kieron Gillen’s Vader run, so it’s not too surprising they’d employ it here at some point. As for when we’ll see it return, with The Rise of Skywalker out in December, I imagine this will wait to return until after the hubbub from the film dies down, so early 2020, maybe even as early as January to honor the 5 year anniversary of first era of the comic.
Of course the real thing to ponder is where the series goes next. Will it fill in the year between ESB and Return of the Jedi? Dive into the post-RotJ era since the sequel trilogy ends in December, which means we’ll probably start seeing more content exploring the era? Explore whatever is on the other side of The Rise of Skywalker? Jump into the past and cover some part of the prequel eras? Or even take place primarily between The Last Jedi and TROS? My preference would be the post-RotJ era, my gut tells me it’ll likely be between ESB and ROTJ, while my wildest hope is post-TROS. But unfortunately, it’s all guesswork at this point. In fact, my bigger concern is who will take over for the series next. Will Jason Aaron return, as he hoped he could after his run was up? Back to Kieron Gillen again, though he sounded done with Star Wars comics in general for awhile? Or will Greg Pak and Phil Noto, currently providing some of the most fun with the series in a while in the series’ last arc, “Rebels and Rogues,” kicking off the new era? Or someone else, new or old to the comics, take over? The wait won’t be long for answers, as NYCC comes in October and we’re likely learn what’s next there.
At the Manor, I’ll continue reviewing each issue of the final arc as it arrives, though Chris and I might just have a Pak and Noto retrospective instead of an arc review, as it’ll largely be the same thing, and then there will be a full series review for Star Wars, looking back at all 75 issues and how the whole first era fared when viewed together. That’s going to be quite the article, so make sure to come back here and check it out!
In the meantime, do we think the next Star Wars #1 can sell a million copies again? And who would you most like to see take over the series? And where would you like it to take place?
UPDATE: And in December 2019, a one-shot epilogue to this series, Empire Ascendant #1, will also herald the end for the current Phase of Marvel’s comics!
Star Wars
Jason Aaron Retrospective (#1-37) | Kieron Gillen Retrospective (#38-67) | Greg Pak – Rebels and Rogues (#68-75)