Since early 2020, many marvelPrimary star Wars Comics – main star Wars series, Darth Vaderand it has already been completed Dr. Aphra And Bounty hunters– Jump to a new period in the timeline of the original films: the days and weeks following the events of the film The Empire strikes back. like the first A renewed generation From Marvel star Wars Material before that, which explored the years in between New hope And empirethis will explore the time between empire And Return of the Jedi.
Now, that era is coming to an end, with Marvel confirming that both star Wars And Darth VaderThe current volumes will end with issue 50, with both scheduled to be released as 50-page bite-sized comics in September. Here’s the problem though: the time period in between New hope And The Empire strikes back He was About three yearsJust like it actually was between the release of both films in our world. That’s a lot of time to write star Wars Comics in, and Marvel did, for about five years! The time period between The Empire strikes back And Return of the Jedi?
One year. One. on. And we got just as much, if not more, with all the different series that came out, star Wars The comics have been crammed into that time period – included as part of the current canon – for almost as long.
Don’t get me wrong, there are actually a lot of these stories out there It was really good. But they were also often completely crazy, like that time A lot of single Back For trying to kill Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine By imprisoning them A large box and throwing that large box into the sun, only to be stopped by the Knights of Ren (don’t worry about it); Or at that time whatever it was that led to the unleashing of an ancient piece of technology Robot zombie plague Which almost took over the entire galaxy in an attempt to control the Force itself (do no worried about something); Or the time Darth Vader revealed that Palpatine’s advisor Slymore was actually leading a rogue faction of the Empire seeking to… Overthrow of the emperorSchism Imperial, and before joining it himself (you might be concerned about this, as it’s a relatively recent plotline that was name-checked in Marvel’s PR about the road to Darth Vader No. 50, but we might as well not, because we know what happens right after that, it is Return of the Jedi!). And this is not even half from him.
All of these moments and revelations, in and of themselves, would still very much be a kind of brutality and madness, in that love star Wars In a physical way for the extended universe – whether rebooted or otherwise, it kind of needs those wild moments to feel right star Wars For me, but maybe that’s my frame of reference having grown up with things like At that time, Chewbacca died because extragalactic aliens dropped a moon on him or The episode in which there are many wives is Ki-Adi-Mundi. But the truth is that all these huge stories, on top Interesting and emotional Who made connections to set up Journeys characters like Luke, Leia, Lando, and Vader, the people we meet in… Return of the Jedi– Especially Luke, who had to deal with the truth about his father and his only way to him Become a grandfather-They had to be crammed into one year in the timeline which makes them feel even crazier.
Whatever is next star Wars Marvel comics are still little known. Today’s news only came with a vague promise of more information about the “new era” of comics in the coming weeks, rather than definitive confirmation of when it will be set. We can go right after that Return of the Jedi And fill in some of the gaps that are still surfacing from that period (Marvel has already done this in a small part). The Shattered EmpireDuring the trip to… The force awakens“Transmedia Initiative). There 30 years on it remains largely unexplored between serious And The force awakens Which is ripe for more storytelling opportunities. Hell, they could even start doing what they did with the original trilogy with the sequels, jumping between the films volume by volume. Or introductions! Comics can go back in time as much as they go forward.
There are so many possibilities opening up now in this particularly wild age star Wars The comics are coming to an end, and hopefully the next era will find a place with more breathing room.
Want more io9 news? Check when to expect the latest marvel, star WarsAnd Star Trek Releases, what’s next for DC Universe in film and televisionAnd everything you want to know about the future Doctor Who.