Star Wars comics have been produced by various comic book publishers since the debut of the 1977 film Star Wars. Marvel Comics launched its original series in 1977, beginning with a six-issue comic adaptation of the film and running for 107 issues, including an adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back. Marvel also released an adaptation of Return of the Jedi and spin-offs based on Droids and Ewoks. A self-titled comic strip ran in American newspapers between 1979 and 1984. Blackthorne Publishing released a three-issue run of 3-D comics from 1987 to 1988.
Dark Horse Comics published the limited series Dark Empire in 1991, and ultimately produced over 100 Star Wars titles, including Tales of the Jedi (1993–1998), X-wing: Rogue Squadron (1995–1998), Republic (1998–2006), Tales (1999–2005), Empire (2002–2006), Knights of the Old Republic (2006–2010), and Legacy (2006–2010), as well as manga adaptations of the original film trilogy and the 1999 prequel The Phantom Menace.
The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel in 2009 and Lucasfilm in 2012, and the Star Wars comics license returned to Marvel in 2015. Several new series were launched, including Star Wars, Star Wars: Darth Vader, and Doctor Aphra. In 2017, IDW Publishing launched the anthology series Star Wars Adventures. In 2022, Dark Horse resumed publishing new Star Wars comics and graphic novels.
Overview The original series by Marvel Comics began in 1977 with a six-issue comic adaptation of the original film and ran for 107 issues and three Annuals until 1986, featuring stories set between the original trilogy films, as well as adaptations of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. From 1985 to 1987, Marvel published two short-lived series based on the Star Wars animated series Droids and Ewoks. Briefly, the publishing rights went to Blackthorne Publishing, which released a three-issue run of 3-D comics from 1987 to 1988. Then, three years later, the rights to publish Star Wars comics were acquired by Dark Horse Comics, who published the limited series Dark Empire in 1991 and ultimately produced over 100 Star Wars titles until 2014.
Following the October 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney Company, in January 2014, it was announced that the Star Wars comics license would return to Marvel Comics in 2015 (Disney having previously purchased Marvel Entertainment and the Marvel Comics brand and publishing in 2009). In April 2014, Lucasfilm rebranded the majority of the Star Wars Expanded Universe as Legends, only keeping the theatrical Skywalker saga and the 2008 Clone Wars theatrical film and television series as canon. Most media released since then is considered part of the same canon, including comics.
Timeline
Marvel (1977–1987) Marvel (1977–1987)Star Wars #1–107April 1977 – May 1986Star Wars Annual #1–3December 1979 – December 1983Marvel Illustrated Books Star Wars #1–2November 1981 – October 1982Star Wars: Return of the Jedi #1–4October 1983 – January 1984Star Wars: Ewoks #1–14May 1985 – July 1987Star Wars: Droids #1–8April 1986 – June 1987
Lucasfilm publicity supervisor Charles Lippincott approached Marvel Comics in 1975 about publishing a Star Wars comic book prior to the film's release. Lippincott initially had trouble getting a meeting with Stan Lee until joined by Roy Thomas, who wanted to edit the series. Since movie tie-in comics rarely sold well at that time, Lee negotiated a publishing arrangement which gave no royalties to Lucasfilm until sales exceeded 100,000. Thomas and artist Howard Chaykin adapted the events of the original film in issues #1–6 of Star Wars, with the first issue released for sale on April 12, 1977. According to former Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, the strong sales of Star Wars comics saved Marvel financially in 1977 and 1978. The series began featuring original stories with issue #7 (January 1978). Writer Archie Goodwin and artist Carmine Infantino took over the series as of #11 (May 1978). The series was one of the industry's top selling titles in 1979 and 1980. The 100,000 copy sales quota was surpassed quickly, allowing Lippincott to renegotiate the royalty arrangements. A six-issue adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back by Goodwin and artists Al Williamson and Carlos Garzon appeared in issues #39–44 (September 1980 – February 1981). Writer David Michelinie and artist Walt Simonson became the new creative team with issue #51 (September 1981). Ron Frenz became the regular artist of the title starting with issue #71 (May 1983). As of 1984, the Star Wars series was primarily written by Jo Duffy, and art for the final year and a half of the series was by Cynthia Martin. Marvel published the series until 1986, lasting 107 issues and three Annuals.
The first original Star Wars stories not directly adapted from the films to appear in print form were Star Wars comics serialized in the Marvel magazine Pizzazz (1977–1979). The first story arc, titled "The Keeper's World", was by Thomas, Chaykin, and Tony DeZuniga. The second story arc, entitled "The Kingdom of Ice", was by Goodwin, Simonson, Klaus Janson, Dave Cockrum, and John Tartaglione. The final two chapters were scheduled to be printed in issues #17 and 18, but the magazine was cancelled after issue #16. Marvel UK reprinted "The Keeper's World" in its Star Wars Weekly #47–50, and "The Kingdom of Ice" (including the previously unreleased chapters) in its Star Wars Weekly #57–60 between 1978 and 1979.
Marvel's Star Wars comics were reprinted in the U.K. as a weekly black-and-white comics anthology. The weekly U.K. issues split the stories from the U.S. monthly issues into smaller installments, and it usually took two to three weekly issues to complete a U.S. monthly issue. The U.K. comic also published original Star Wars stories by British creators, including Alan Moore. Star Wars Weekly #1 was published with a free cut-out X-wing fighter on February 8, 1978. It became The Empire Strikes Back Weekly from issue #118 in May 1980, and then became a monthly title from issue #140 in November 1980, reverting to the title Star Wars with issue #159 in July 1982. The monthly comic ran until issue #171 in July 1983, when the numbering was reset at #1 for Return of the Jedi Weekly, which was the first time the U.K. comic had been printed in color. This is the title and format that remained until the last issue (#155) was published in June 1986. Further original content was published in issues #94–99, 104–115, 149 and 153–157. Throughout this eight-year period, Marvel UK also published several Star Wars Annuals and Specials.
Marvel's adaptation of Return of the Jedi (October 1983 – January 1984) appeared in a separate four-issue limited series as well as in Marvel Super Special #27 and in a mass market paperback. From 1985 to 1987, the animated children's series Ewoks and Droids inspired comic series from Marvel's Star Comics line.
Pendulum Press (1978) In 1978, Pendulum Press, under their educational series Contemporary Motivators, also published a 31-page loose adaptation of Star Wars by Linda A. Cadrain and Charles Nicholas. Produced as part of a package which included an audio tape and a film strip, the comic was specifically designed for classroom use, with typeset instead of hand lettering, and vocabulary appropriate for children.
Newspaper strip (1979–1984)
A newspaper strip was published between 1979 and 1984, distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate and the Watertown Daily Times. The creative teams were revolving, but included Archie Goodwin, Williamson, Russ Manning, Steve Gerber, Alfredo Alcala, Carlos Garzon and letterer Ed King. Goodwin switched from writing Marvel's Star Wars series to the weekly newspaper comic strip after the release of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), becoming the first writer to draw from more than just the original film in establishing the era set between the two films. The strip was based on the storyline and characters established in the original trilogy, but never adapted any of the films, instead fleshing out the history between them. From October 1980 to February 1981, Goodwin and Alcala adapted Brian Daley's Han Solo at Stars' End (1979).
In 1991, Russ Cochran published a 2500-copy limited run of a three-volume hardcover boxset of all of Goodwin and Williamson's Star Wars comic strips from 1981 to 1984, signed by both creators, and featuring new cover illustrations by the latter. Dark Horse Comics collected colorized compilations of the newspaper strip in its Classic Star Wars series from 1992 to 1994. Between 2017 and 2018, The Library of American Comics published a three-volume reprint series of the complete comic strip.
Blackthorne (1987–1988) Blackthorne Publishing released a three-issue series called Star Wars 3-D from December 1987 to February 1988. The comics were later reprinted in a black-and-white, non-3-D format by Dark Horse in their 2013 Star Wars Omnibus: Wild Space, Volume 1.
Dark Horse (1991–2014) Adaptations Film and television adaptations Dark Horse Film Star Wars: A New Hope — The Special Edition #1–4January–April 1997Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace #1–4May 1999Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones #1–4April–May 2002Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith #1–4March–April 2005The Clone Wars LegacyStar Wars: Darth Maul – Son of Dathomir #1–4May–August 2014 Dark Horse also published miniseries adapting Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith . From 1998 to 1999, Dark Horse produced Star Wars manga, adapting the original trilogy and The Phantom Menace as manga with all the typical narrative and stylistic characteristics of the form. Title Material collected Year Pages Format ISBN Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir (trade paper back) Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir #1–4, material from Star Wars Tales #7–9 November 2017 136 pages Softcover
Legends novel adaptations
Dark Horse Thrawn trilogyStar Wars: Heir to the Empire #1–6October 1995 – April 1996Star Wars: Dark Force Rising #1–6May–October 1997Star Wars: The Last Command #1–6November 1997 – July 1998 OtherStar Wars: Splinter of the Mind's Eye #1–4December 1995 – June 1996Classic Star Wars: Han Solo at Stars' End #1–3March–May 1997 Between 1995 and 1998, Dark Horse published adaptations of the Thrawn trilogy of novels by Timothy Zahn.
Original series (Dark Horse comics) Dark Horse subsequently launched dozens of series set after, in between, and before the original film trilogy, including Tales of the Jedi (1993–1998), X-wing: Rogue Squadron (1995–1998), Republic (1998–2006), the mostly non-canonical Tales (1999–2005), Empire (2002–2006), Knights of the Old Republic (2006–2010), and Legacy (2006–2010).
Dark Empire Dark HorseStar Wars: Dark Empire #1–6December 1991 – October 1992Star Wars: Dark Empire II #1–6December 1994 – May 1995Star Wars: Empire's End #1–2October–November 1995 In the late 1980s, writer Tom Veitch and artist Cam Kennedy secured a deal to produce a Star Wars comic for Archie Goodwin at Epic Comics, a Marvel imprint. After the project was announced, Goodwin left Marvel, which dropped the comic. Dark Horse Comics subsequently published it as the Dark Empire sequence (1991–1995).
Classic Star Wars Classic Star Wars is a series of comics which included compilations of weekly installments of the newspaper comics written by Archie Goodwin with art by Al Williamson.
Dark HorseClassic Star Wars #1–20August 1992 – June 1994Classic Star Wars: The Early Adventures #1–9August 1994 – April 1995Classic Star Wars: Devilworlds #1–2August–September 1996
X-wing Dark HorseStar Wars: X-wing – Rogue Squadron #0–35July 1995 – October 1998Star Wars: X-wing – Rogue Leader #1–3September–November 2005
Star Wars: X-wing – Rogue Squadron is a comic book series of 35 issues released between 1995 and 1998. It follows the titular squadron beginning about one year after the events of Return of the Jedi.