‘Star Wars’ Comics Are Returning To Dark Horse

For nearly two and a half decades, Dark Horse published Star Wars comic books starting with Dark Empire in 1991 and ending in 2014 with Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir, the only title from that era that remained part of the new canon when Disney purchased Lucasfilm. The rest of the Dark Horse Star Wars comics were rebranded to Star Wars Legends. Since 2015, Star Wars comics left Dark Horse, returning to Marvel (Marvel Star Wars originally ran from 1978-1986), and teaming up with IDW Comics for their all-ages titles.

Since returning to Marvel and joining with IDW, Star Wars comics have consistently published a relatively steady stream of high-quality material by some of the best writers and artists in the business. Although there has not been any official word, rumor has it that Star Wars is leaving IDW next March 2022. Supporting that rumor is the official word that Star Wars comics will return to Dark Horse Comics beginning in Spring 2022.

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Rising from what was commonly known to Star Wars fans as the dark times of Star Wars 1987-1991, Dark Horse Comics published Dark Empire, which lasted six issues. The series was written by Tom Veitch with art by Cam Kennedy. Initially meant for Marvel (but turned down by Marvel), Dark Horse obtained the title and ran with it. Although controversial at the time for its art quality (Kennedy used watercolors, and several panels used monotonic colors), and for bringing back the Emperor (we’ll come back to this later), Dark Empire helped bring Star Wars back to the collective consciousness.

With the success of Dark Empire came an eight-arc series of how the ancient Jedi fought and defeated the Sith called Tales of the Jedi (1993-98). If you have not read these, I highly recommend seeking them out, especially if The High Republic is not working for you because it only goes back 200 years. Tales of the Jedi goes back to 4,000 years before the original Star Wars movie. The eight-arc series consists of Tales of the Jedi (2 arcs), The Freedon Nadd Uprising, Dark Lords of the Sith, The Sith War, Golden Age of the Sith, The Fall of the Sith Empire, and Redemption. Of note, artist Dario Carrasco Jr.’s work for Tales of the Jedi is phenomenal and it is still some of my favorite art in any comic book.

Another highlight from Dark Horse was X-Wing: Rogue Squadron, based on Bantam’s book series which were published concurrently. X-Wing: Rogue Squadron ran for 35 issues (1995-98) with some of the best cover art you have ever seen (see the Warrior Princess arc, you’ll thank me later) and featured writer Michael Stackpole.

Not every title was a home run, however. Star Wars: Droids was a series probably only read by serious Star Wars fans. The stories were not as good as some of the other series, and the art was not great either. Droids felt more geared towards younger readers, much like the Droids and Ewoks animated series that aired on Saturday mornings from 1986-87.

As the prequel era neared, we had a new series called Star Wars: Republic, which ran from 1998-2006 with 83 issues. Republic started with an arc called Prelude to Rebellion which occurred just before The Phantom Menace. Republic featured several artists and writers and were essential to the lore because it filled in what was happening off-screen. Remember when Obi-Wan mentioned the Battle on Boz Pity in Revenge of the Sith? You can learn more about what happened in Republic #77.

After Republic ended, the Dark Times began, literally. Star Wars: Dark Times ran for 32 issues (2008-2013) and introduced me to the art of Doug Wheatley. Star Wars: Dark Times told the story of a lone Jedi in hiding who struggled to keep his Force abilities secret while helping a group of rebels battle an evil empire.

Dark Horse Comics briefly returned to the Star Wars galaxy in 2020 when it published The Art of Star Wars Rebels. Fans can also pre-order The Art of Star Wars Visions from Dark Horse which will be released on May 31, 2022.

Over its twenty-three-year history of publishing Star Wars comics, Dark Horse had several ups and downs as far as quality of story went. However, Dark Horse is not afraid to try new things. Hopefully, Disney and Lucasfilm will allow them to live up to their creative potential. If the rumor that IDW is losing Star Wars is true, it is unfortunate because IDW has also published a lot of great and fun comics like the Tales From Vader’s Castle series and The High Republic Adventures. One has to wonder if there is a chance that the older run of Dark Horse Star Wars comics will rejoin the current canon again. It is unlikely, but that would make a lot of fans happy. The circle will be complete...again.

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Written By Eric Onkenhout

Source(s): StarWars.com, Dark Horse Comics

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