For most people, the big news regarding Disney’s purchase of LucasArts is the announcement of Star Wars episode seven.
Although the prequels were questionable quality-wise, hopes are high that episode seven will return the franchise to its former glory.
However, there are more repercussions than that. The Star Wars universe is much larger than just the films. There are video games, novels, the animated series and comic books.
The company Dark Horse has been publishing Star Wars comics since 1991.
Their work has been critically acclaimed and the stories have fleshed out the universe like nothing else. The movies are a single moment in time when compared to the vast chronology that the comics have created.
Since Disney purchased Marvel in 2009, it’s almost certain that they’ll soon be the new publishers of Star Wars comics.
The president of Dark Horse has announced that they will continue publishing Star Wars comics for “the near future.”
Comics featuring Disney characters were published by BOOM! Studios until Disney bought Marvel. At that point the license was transferred to Marvel, so it’s safe to say the same will be done with the Star Wars license.
In a way, this would be a homecoming for the franchise.
Marvel published Star Wars comics from 1977-1986. But Marvel stayed within the world that the movies created. Dark Horse has created so many new characters, places and concepts.
Most likely, LucasArts owns the rights to all of Dark Horse’s creations. But is that right?
It doesn’t seem fair that after all of Dark Horse’s contributions to the world of Star Wars that their ideas are taken away from them.
I have faith that Marvel will make great Star Wars comics. It’s just unfortunate that the switch will cost so much for Dark Horse.
The franchise definitely plays a huge role in the company’s financial stability. They always have multiple Star Wars titles at the same time.
Another concern of mine is what will happen to the expanded universe. It’s unlikely Marvel has been keeping up with Dark Horse’s innovations.
They will probably be unfamiliar with all the characters that have been created since the movies.
As a result, these characters may wind up forgotten never to be used again.
The sales still fresh so there are a lot of details that have yet to be ironed out. I would expect Marvel to be publishing Star Wars comics by 2014 though.
They will certainly have a lot to live up to.
