Comics News from Star Wars Celebration Anaheim | Incoming

The Force was strong with Star Wars: The High Republic comic book fans this weekend at the Star Wars Celebration Anaheim convention. Along with big news from Lucasfilm regarding upcoming Disney+ series, video games, action figures, LEGOs, books, and so much more, there were some big reveals for various Star Wars: The High Republic comic books published by Marvel Comics and Dark Horse Comics.

At the Lucasfilm Publishing Panel this weekend it was revealed that there are big plans in store for the ongoing The High Republic comic book titles. The High Republic is an ambitious new Star Wars initiative launched in 2020 which tells the tales of the Jedi Knights approximately 200 years before the events of the movie The Phantom Menace. The stories span both comics and novels and are for younger readers as well as adults.

The High Republic’s Phase I series of comic books and novels are ending soon, and Phase II (dubbed The Quest of the Jedi) details were revealed by Marvel Comics. A relaunch of The High Republic will be released starting in October. The Phase II series will actually be set 150 years prior to the events of Phase I. As the publisher describes the upcoming sequel series:

Set 150 years before Phase 1, Phase II of Star Wars: The High Republic will center around Jedha, a planet rich in its connection to the Force and the focus of every major faith in the galaxy. The new flagship STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC comic series will introduce Jedi Vildar Mac, who arrives as Jedha’s fragile peace begins to crumble and a nameless terror arrives.

Also in November a 4-issue limited series Star Wars: The High Republic – The Blade will be released by writer Charles Soule and artist Marco Castiello. Soule is one of the leading creative forces behind The High Republic and has written many other fan-favorite Star Wars comic books over the last 7 years since Marvel Comics retook the Star Wars license. The limited series will “explore the mysterious backstory of Porter Engle, the Jedi-turned-cook also known as the Blade of Bardotta.”

Not to be outdone, at the publishing panel, Dark Horse Comics discussed their upcoming all-ages Star Wars comic books featuring classic heroes and villains as well as tales from The High Republic era.

The first new upcoming comic book published by Dark Horse Comics will be a 12-issue limited series called Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories. As noted on StarWars.com, the anthology collection will span the entire Skywalker saga of timelines from the prequels to the sequels and will include a wide range of writers including Cecil Castelluci, Michael Moreci, and Amanda Deibert. The series will feature fan-favorite heroes and villains. The first issue will be released on August 10^th and will feature a story by Amanda Deibert with art by Lucas Marangon and is set during the events of the Clone Wars. In the first issue General Grievous captures a delegation of Republic senators including Padme Amidala and Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker must find a way to rescue them even though the odds are stacked against them.

Following in the footsteps of IDW Publishing’s spooky Star Wars-themed Tales from Vader’s Castle series of comics comes a new collection of scary stories in time for Halloween called Star Wars: Tales from the Rancor Pit. From StarWars.com:

Star Wars: Tales from the Rancor Pit continues the tradition of frighteningly fun stories for Halloween. Cavan Scott, the New York Times bestselling author and writer behind Marvel’s Star Wars: The High Republic and IDW’s Tales from Vader’s Castle series, teams up with Star Wars Adventures artist Nick Brokenshire, and other fan-favorite artists Juan Samu, Rafael Pérez, and Andy Duggan for a trio of terrifying tales. Set amid a backdrop of a dark and stormy night on Tatooine in the dungeon of Jabba the Hutt, the creepy offering includes clanking droid ghosts, the chilling wampa caves of Hoth, and a monster hunt with Saber-For-Hire Ty Yorrick.

The graphic novel anthology will be released on October 19, 2022.

Lastly, Dark Horse Comics is also publishing a The High Republic story for all ages called Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – The Nameless Terror. The series will be written by George Mann with art by Eduardo Mello and Ornella Savarese. Not much is known about the series, but the “Nameless” are creatures who prey on Force-sensitive individuals and have appeared in other High Republic tie-in books and comics. Considering they have killed many Jedi in the High Republic novels and comics, this battle will not be easy for the Jedi heroes.

It’s a welcome sight to see Dark Horse once again publishing Star Wars comics once again. Dark Horse Comics held the Star Wars license since 1991’s publication of the landmark Dark Empire mini-series and held the license through 2014 when Marvel Comics retook the license. IDW published all-ages Star Wars comics from 2017 till the end of 2021, when Dark Horse got the all-ages license back.

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