A long time ago, in a comic industry far, far away, Star Wars comics were created exclusively by one publisher. Dark Horse Comics, to be exact. Marvel Comics once held the license to Star Wars, but after the sci-fi bubble burst in the 1980s, rights fell away and were picked up by the independent studio of Dark Horse.
And Dark Horse made some fantastic Star Wars comics, during the two-plus decades that they held the creative rights to expand on that universe. From Old Republic sagas that detailed the rise of Sith Lords, to prequel tie-ins that made fans realise that something good could come from George Lucas after all, it was a great time to be a fan of Star Wars. See Star Wars: Legacy, for more of my gushing on this.
And then Disney bought Star Wars, for a cool sum of literally billions of money grandmas. And seeing as how Disney also owns Marvel, you didn’t have to put two and two together to realise that the Star Wars would be returning to the house of ideas. It was a good run for Dark Horse, I’ll give them that. After all, they gave us the tale of George R Binks.
Marvel is rilling out their first new Star Wars comic next year, a comic that is prophesised to be the chosen one that will shift a million copies, something that hasn’t been since 1993. And they’ve certainly got the right crew for the job. Jason Aaron on scripting duties, backed up by the art of John Cassady? The Force is strong with this one.
Naturally, the comic is highly anticipated. Even more naturally, Marvel is taking advantage of this, with retailer exclusive variant covers. And some of them are absolutely fantastic. Here’s a bunch of them, from RebelScum:
Boba Fett, undeniable badass and paying homage to none other than Iron Man himself in this classic cover from Alex Maleev.
Bring your daughter to work day, was rather awkward for Darth Vader. One of my favourite artists in the industry has to be Amanda Connor, who does the very best facial expressions alongside bombastic art.
Man, that is striking. What a fantastic use of “less is more”. Art by John Tyler Christopher.
All new, all new different! Charlie Xavier is gonna sue somebody!
Mint on card!
Believe it or not, that is not Bucky O’ Hare. It’s actually a terrible character by the name of Jaxxon.
This is the primary cover for Star Wars. And I think it looks space-ace.
This might be my favourite of the bunch. You’ve got one of the greatest comic book cover artists of all time, Alex Ross, lending his style to the cover of the very first Marvel Star Wars comics from way back in 1977.
Actually, I might rescind that previous comment. Here’s an Adi Granov cover, which pulls off a perfect three-point landing.
And here’s another great one. Pure art, but the Daniel Acuña cover pays homage to the very first appearance of the Punisher in Amazing Spider-Man 129.
Last Updated: December 11, 2014
Raptor Rants A Lot
December 12, 2014 at 06:41
Man, some of those are seriously cool looking. Love this one:
http://imageslgmr.lazygamer.netdna-cdn.com/2014/12/StarWars6.jpg
Admiral Chief BellatorMachina
December 12, 2014 at 06:57
Dude, I was about to say the same thing, That one is also the best for me
Raptor Rants A Lot
December 12, 2014 at 07:16
You know which other one is my fav?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B3_axmsIUAAN19C.jpg
#AlwaysRemember
#Brenda
#Darryn
Admiral Chief BellatorMachina
December 12, 2014 at 07:19
Magnificent
Hammersteyn
December 12, 2014 at 07:38
Darryn can’t wait till he gets out of prison 😛
Hammersteyn
December 12, 2014 at 07:41
Wake me up when they release a new cover for this
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7d/Swtiefightercd.jpg
Raptor Rants A Lot
December 12, 2014 at 10:10
Dat cover
Captain JJ glitterati fantasti
December 12, 2014 at 07:55
I’ll just leave this here:
ONLY Han shot.
2scaly4j0o
December 12, 2014 at 08:53
I Need them ALL! I WILL have ALL of them!
Matthew Holliday
December 12, 2014 at 09:51
the adi granov one is my fav aswell, not a fan of the more realistic comic styles, i want my comics to look like comics, but cool and stuff.
xcovick
December 15, 2014 at 17:49
I find most of these covers have my interest that pull me to come back anytime this season.Couldn’t wait to see what will happen next.