2011: The Year of Star Wars

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2011: The Year of Star Wars

03/25/2011 10:05am

C2E2 came and went with a bang and created quite a stir within the Star Wars community!

The Dark Horse/Star Wars twentieth-anniversary panel took place on Sunday, March 20, 2011. Star Wars alumni included John Ostrander (Legacy), John Jackson Miller (Knight Errant), Scott Allie (Jedi: The Dark Side) and Star Wars editor Dave Marshall. Throughout the panel, various covers and images from upcoming books were revealed, in addition to an unexpected surprise: the return of the celebrated Crimson Empire series.

Fans will get their first glimpse of Crimson Empire in an eight-page story contained in Dark Horse Presents #1. Crafted by Randy Stradley and Paul Gulacy, key contributors to the original series, this new story will be a great jumping-on point for both new and old fans alike.

Mike Richardson, president of Dark Horse Comics and head writer of Star Wars: Crimson Empire, stated, "We did the first two parts of what was planned to be a trilogy years ago," referring to the 1997 and 1998 series he cowrote with Stradley, which also had Gulacy on art. "They actually were two of our best-selling Star Wars series, so it's been one of the most-requested series we've had over the years. During the course of writing, because of the new movies [The Phantom Menace was released in 1999], we unintentionally kept stepping on the [movie’s] story line and in the course of storytelling we kept having to constantly change it. It's hard when you have basic building blocks in your story and they're being pulled out one by one. So there's a lot of changes we had to make in the first set of books, and many more in the second. Suddenly, we were sort of covering for holes in the story because we couldn't use certain things.

"Now, after all these years, we're going back, and it's always kind of been in the back of our minds. So Randy is doing a recap story for Crimson Empire, putting everything back into context since we've been away for a while. We're in the process, the original team, of putting together the final chapter in that series."

Courtesy of CBR

Crimson Empire III will be released fall 2011.

Star Wars: Crimson Empire III #1–#6

Writer: Mike Richardson

Art: Paul Gulacy

Colors: Michael Bartolo

Lettering: Michael Heisler

Covers: Dave Dorman

Cover of Crimson Empire III #1 by Dave Dorman and two interior pages from Dark Horse Presents #1, art by Paul Gulacy. Click to Expand:

Also unveiled was another exciting new series, Star Wars: Agent of the Empire, written by Star Wars fan favorite John Ostrander. Ostrander, who was part of the Dark Horse panel, described it as “James Bond meets Star Wars.” He said that because the story’s superspy for the Sith is working in the classic era of the films, we may see the return of several beloved characters, including Han Solo, Leia, and Winter. Stéphane Roux, who is currently creating the stunning covers for Jedi: The Dark Side, will be the new series’ artist.

Agent of the Empire will be released in December 2011.

Star Wars: Agent of the Empire #1–#6

Writer: John Ostrander

Art: Stéphane Roux

Colors: TBD

Lettering: Michael Heisler

Covers: TBD

Also announced was the next story line for the Knight Errant series. John Jackson Miller, who was also part of the panel, commented, “We’ll get our first look at some of the characters that were mentioned in the Knight Errant novel, which is available now from Del Rey. Readers don’t have to have read that to enjoy Deluge, but it’s fun background. While Deluge occurs after the events of the novel, it’s not about tying up threads from it; there are a lot of stories to be told in this time, and a lot of sights to see. We don’t always hit readers with the obvious stories they immediately expect—where would be the surprise? I think Deluge adds a lot to the Knight Errant story—including a lot about what’s going on beyond the frontiers.” Another interesting twist in the upcoming story line is that the main villain, whom one might expect to be a Sith, is actually a starfighter-flying Hutt named Zodoh.

Courtesy of Newsarama

Deluge hits shelves August 17, 2011.

Star Wars: Knight Errant—Deluge #1–#5

Writer: John Jackson Miller

Issue #1 art: Ivan Rodriguez

Issues #2–#5 pencils: Iban Coello

Issues #2–#5 inks: Sergio Abad

Colors: Michael Atiyeh

Lettering: Michael Heisler

Covers: Joe Quinones

Cover of Star Wars: Knight Errant-Deluge #1 by Joe Quinones. Click to Expand:

Lastly, news regarding the next Dark Times story arc was released. Head writer Mick Harrison commented, “Like all of the arcs focusing on Jedi Master Dass Jennir, this one has him struggling with how to stay true to his Jedi roots in a galaxy where the Jedi Order has been destroyed and all Jedi are fugitives. After Blue Harvest, Jennir feels that he's back on the right track, but he's not completely out of the woods—or wilderness—as far as reconnecting with the Force. Also, Jennir is stuck in an actual wilderness in this story.” The Out of the Wilderness arc also finds Darth Vader confronting a shadowy and mysterious new foe.

Courtesy of CBR

Out of the Wilderness is on shelves August 3, 2011.

Star Wars: Dark Times—Out of the Wilderness #1–#5

Writer: Mick Harrison

Art: Douglas Wheatley

Colors: Dan Jackson

Lettering: Michael Heisler

Cover: Pablo Correa

Interior pages from Star Wars: Dark Times-Out of the Wilderness #1. Click to Expand:

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2011: The Year of Star Wars

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