Marvel Comics


History


The cover of the first issue of Marvel Star Wars.

The cover of the first issue of Marvel Star Wars.

Marvel began in 1939 as Timely Comics, publishing popular superhero titles. In the 1950s, as Atlas Comics they published mainly other genres such as romance, crime, western, and war stories. By the 1960s, the superhero genre was becoming popular again, and the newly named Marvel Comics started creating a number of new superhero titles written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby. During the 1970s Marvel's sales were declining and the company was in trouble caused, in part, by poor distribution.

In the late 1970s, Marvel Comics President, Stan Lee, was approached by Charles Lippincott to produce a Star Wars comic as a promotion. Lee was highly reticent with the proposal for the project considering the film was still in production, until his protege, Roy Thomas, persuaded him otherwise. Even then Lee, citing the poor sales history of comic book adaptations, negotiated a quota of 100,000 copies to be sold before any royalties to Lucasfilm could be discussed.

The resulting series turned out to be smash success, in 1977 after prodding by Roy Thomas, as well as burgeoning successes, like The Uncanny X-Men and Daredevil. Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief of Marvel from 1978 to 1987, would later say in an interview regarding the importance of Star Wars to the plight of the company, "Star Wars single-handedly saved Marvel... And that kept us alive." The only downside was that that 100,000 quota was surpassed quickly, allowing Lippincott to renegotiate royalty arrangments from a position of strength.

Marvel also published stories in Britain under the imprint Marvel UK. In addition to reprinting the American Star Wars comics, the UK series produced a number of original stories.

Marvel continued to publish Star Wars comics until 1986, and the Droids and Ewoks series until 1987. The comic-book license for Star Wars was later picked up by Dark Horse Comics, which began producing Star Wars comics in 1991 with the publication of Star Wars: Dark Empire. Dark Horse would later reprint much of the Marvel-produced Star Wars material under the title Classic Star Wars.

In 2009, Marvel was bought by The Walt Disney Company. Their former collaborator, Lucasfilm Ltd., followed suit three years later, when George Lucas sold the rights to his company to Disney.

On January 3, 2014, an announcement was made that the Star Wars comics license was moving from Dark Horse back to Marvel in 2015.

Series


  • Star Wars (April 1977 – June 1986; May 2019)
  • Ewoks (May 1985 – July 1987)
  • Star Wars: Droids (April 1986 – June 1987)

Miniseries


  • Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (October 1983 – January 1984)

One-shots


Published Marvel collections


  • Marvel Special Edition Featuring Star Wars (1977 – 1978)
  • Marvel Special Edition 2: The Empire Strikes Back (Spring 1980)
  • Marvel Super Special 16: The Empire Strikes Back (Spring 1980)
  • The Marvel Comics Illustrated Version of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (May 1980)
  • Marvel Super Special 27: Return of the Jedi (1983)
  • Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983)
  • Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol. 1 (January 2015)
  • Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (May 2015)
  • Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol. 2 (June 2015)
  • Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (August 2015)
  • Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol. 3 (October 2015)
  • Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (November 2015)
  • Star Wars: Droids & Ewoks Omnibus (June 2016)
  • Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Original Marvel Years Vol. 1 (September 2016)
  • Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Original Marvel Years Vol. 2 (July 2017)
  • Star Wars: The Marvel UK Collection Omnibus (September 2017)
  • Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Original Marvel Years Vol. 3 (July 2018)
  • Star Wars: Ewoks — Flight to Danger (March 2019)
  • Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Original Marvel Years Vol. 4 (August 2019)
  • Star Wars Legends: Forever Crimson (January 2020)
  • Star Wars: The Original Trilogy — The Movie Adaptations (January 2020)
  • Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Original Marvel Years Vol. 5 (August 2021)
  • Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Original Marvel Years Vol. 6 (May 2023)

Republished Dark Horse hardcover collections


  • Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace HC (May 2016)
  • Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones HC (September 2016)
  • Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith HC (November 2016)
  • Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic Omnibus Vol. 1 (July 2021)
  • Star Wars Legends: Rise of the Sith Omnibus (February 2022)
  • Star Wars Legends: The Empire Omnibus Vol. 1 (May 2022)
  • Star Wars Legends: The New Republic Omnibus Vol. 1 (January 2023)
  • Star Wars Legends: The Rebellion Omnibus Vol. 1 (March 2023)
  • Star Wars Legends: The Empire Omnibus Vol. 2 (October 2023)
  • Star Wars Legends: The Rebellion Omnibus Vol. 2 (June 2024)
  • Star Wars Legends: The New Republic Omnibus Vol. 2 (July 2024)

Series


Crossover events


  • Star Wars: Vader Down (November 2015 – January 2016)
  • Star Wars: The Screaming Citadel (May 2017 – June 2017)
  • Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters (May 2021 – November 2021)
  • Star Wars: Crimson Reign (November 2021 – June 2022)
  • Star Wars: Hidden Empire (November 2022 – April 2023)
  • Star Wars: Dark Droids (August 2023 – December 2023)

Published books


  • The Marvel Art of Star Wars (October 2019)

Series


Miniseries


  • Star Wars: Darth Maul – Black, White & Red (April 2024 – July 2024)
  • Star Wars: Inquisitors (July 2024 – present)
  • Star Wars: Ahsoka (July 2024 – present)

One-shots


Canon


  • Star Wars Modern Era Epic Collection: Skywalker Strikes (July 2024)
  • Star Wars: Mace Windu – The Twilight Run (August 2024)
  • Star Wars Vol. 8: The Sith and the Skywalker (September 2024)
  • Star Wars: Darth Vader Vol. 9 – Rise of the Schism Imperial (September 2024)
  • Star Wars: Thrawn: Alliances (September 2024)
  • Star Wars: The High Republic Phase II – Quest of the Jedi Omnibus (November 2024)
  • Star Wars: The High Republic Phase III Vol. 2 – The Hunted (November 2024)
  • Star Wars: Darth Vader Modern Era Epic Collection: Shadows and Secrets (November 2024)
  • Star Wars Vol. 9: The Path of Light (December 2024)
  • Star Wars: Darth Vader – Black, White & Red (December 2024)
  • Star Wars: Darth Vader Vol. 10 – Phantoms (December 2024)
  • Star Wars: Jango Fett – Trail of Lost Hope (January 2025)
  • Star Wars: Inquisitors (March 2025)
  • Star Wars: Kanan Modern Era Epic Collection: The Last Padawan (TBA)

Legends


  • Star Wars Legends: The Thrawn Trilogy (July 2024)
  • Star Wars Legends: Tales of the Jedi Omnibus (July 2024)
  • Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Rebellion Vol. 6 (September 2024)
  • Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The New Republic Vol. 8 (October 2024)
  • Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Original Marvel Years - Droids & Ewoks (November 2024)
  • Star Wars Legends: The Empire Omnibus Vol. 3 (December 2024)

Canceled series


  • Star Wars: Shadow of Vader
  • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Adaptation

Appearances