
New Yoda limited Series and More Revealed at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim | Incoming

At last weekend’s Star Wars Celebration Anaheim convention, Marvel Comics held a panel on their upcoming Star Wars comics. As a follow-up to their plans for The High Republic, Marvel editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski, was joined by Star Wars Marvel comic book writers Rodney Barnes, Chris Cantwell, Jody Houser, Ethan Sacks, Cavan Scott, Charles Soule, and Alyssa Wong. Marvel Comics has been publishing Star Wars comics once again since they retook the license from Dark Horse Comics in 2014. As highlighted on StarWars.com the creative teams discussed their current projects they’re working on as well as sneak peeks for the upcoming year. Star Wars has quite a few titles currently being published including Darth Vader, Doctor Aphra, Bounty Hunters, Han Solo & Chewbacca, but revealed more news of their upcoming new books at the panel.

The biggest reveal from Marvel Comics is that everyone’s favorite little green Jedi Master, Yoda, will be getting his own limited series for the first time. Star Wars: Yoda will debut in October and will be set between Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. The limited series will be written and illustrated by a team of creators with Cavan Scott and Nico Leon tackling issues #1-3 and #10, Jody Houser and Luke Ross on #4-6, and Marc Guggenehim and Alessandro Miracolo on issues #7-9. The series will feature Yoda reflecting on his past, with appearances of familiar characters including the height of the High Republic series of books and comics, as well as Yoda and his relationship with his former Padawan Count Dooku.
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Charles Soule is the lead writer on the flagship Star Wars title and is celebrating his 100th Star Wars comic book this year. Soule has also written for other Marvel Star Wars series including Darth Vader, Poe Dameron, Obi-Wan & Anakin, and The Rise of Kylo Ren. To celebrate his 100th comic book, Star Wars #25 will be a tribute to his long career writing for Marvel’s Star Wars comics and will feature an anthology of team-ups with artists who worked with Soule on past Star Wars comics. Issue #26 is also a Phase II turning point of the series set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and we can expect to see Luke Skywalker starting to transition to the Jedi Knight we know from Return of the Jedi.

With the huge success of the Disney+ Obi-Wan Kenobi series starring Ewan McGregor, Marvel Comics is also working that synergy and telling their own tale of the Jedi Master. The first issue of Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi debuted in May by writer Chris Cantwell, and the five-issue anthology series features Obi-Wan reminiscing about key points throughout his life. Issue #1 is a story from when Obi-Wan was a youngling in the Jedi Temple, issue #2 features him as a Padawan, issue #3 is a Clone Wars-era story, issue #4 is set before the film Revenge of the Sith, and issue #5 is set closer to the film A New Hope. The series features artwork by Ario Anindito, Luke Ross, Alessandro Miracolo, and more. Covers for the series will be handled by Phil Noto.

Speaking of Disney+, Marvel is releasing on July 6th the first issue of Star Wars: The Mandalorian. The first eight issues of this series will adapt the first season of the popular Disney+ series. It will be the very first time the bounty hunter Din Djarin and his tiny companion, the Force-enabled Grogu (AKA “Baby Yoda”) will be making their way to comic books. The adaptation of the series is by writer Rodney Barnes and artist Georges Jeanty.
One of the most interesting breaking news from the panel was that Marvel announced a comic book series based on the Disney+ series Star Wars: Visions. The original 2021 anthology animated series features nine short animated movies all created by a diverse group of anime companies with their own interpretations of Star Wars. The Marvel Comics series will be a brand new story and not connected to any of the short films. A second season of Star Wars: Visions was also announced at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim and will debut in Spring 2023; this time it will also feature animation from across the world along with Japan. Studios from Chile, the United Kingdom, France, South Africa, South Korea, India, Ireland, and Spain are all contributing to the project. It’s anticipated that the Marvel comic book will debut close to the release date of the second season on Disney+ next year.
With a full slate of Star Wars comics coming out from Marvel, there’s plenty for fans of the Force to find in their local comic book stores in the coming year.
Filed under: News

About Mike Pawuk
Mike Pawuk has been a teen services public librarian for the Cuyahoga County Public Library for over 15 years. A lifelong fan of comic books and graphic novels, he was chair for the 2002 YALSA all-day preconference on graphic novels, served as a judge for the Will Eisner Awards in 2009, as well as helped to create the Great Graphic Novels for Teens selection committee for YALSA. He is the author of Graphic Novels: A Genre Guide to Comic Books, Manga, and More, and co-author of the follow-up book Graphic Book II both published by Libraries Unlimited/ABC-CLIO Publishing.
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