Disney's Star Wars comics have been better than the movies. In 2012, Disney purchased Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion. It was a valuable acquisition, with income from global box office and many other sources, including merchandise and tie-in material. There are reports the House of Mouse had begun to make a profit by as early as October 2018.
Unsurprisingly, in January 2014 Disney announced the license to make Star Wars comics would be moving back to Marvel. Marvel began publishing comics a year later, in January 2015, with a new Star Wars series written by Jason Aaron and with art by John Cassaday. It was a phenomenal success, the top-selling comic of the last decade. Ever since, Marvel has been publishing a constant stream of comics.
They've followed the traditional Marvel approach, but tweaked, with core titles that have been relaunched when necessary and a number of miniseries. And, while Marvel has had a difficult time over the last few years, they've done a phenomenally good job with the Star Wars franchise.
The Core Star Wars Titles
Jason Aaron remained in place for an impressive 37-issue run, before being replaced by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larocca. This first series was set entirely between the events of the first A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, and they charted the growth of Luke Skywalker from farmboy to Rebel leader, finally leading up to the establishment of the Rebel base on Hoth. Marvel used The Empire Strikes Back as a relaunch point, and the current ongoing - helmed by Charles Soule, with art Jesus Saiz - is exploring the Rebel Alliance's desperate attempt to regroup, and the beginning of Leia's quest to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt. The series has consistently received rave reviews, with the first issues establishing the precedent for shock twists by revealing a previously-unhinted encounter between Darth Vader and Luke.
In addition to the core Star Wars title, there have been a succession of Darth Vader runs. The first was a companion to Aaron's Star Wars, written by Kieron Gillen, and there were two major tie-in events. One of these, "Vader Down," was the best Star Wars event of the last decade - including the movies. This saw Darth Vader brought down on a deserted planet, hunted down by all the forces the Rebellion could muster. The outcome was never in doubt, but Aaron and Gillen used that as an actual narrative tool, demonstrating Vader's sheer power.
The story would prove to be a spiritual forerunner of the closing scenes of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, where Darth Vader attacked the Rebels in pursuit of the Death Star plans. The second Darth Vader series stepped back in time to the aftermath of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, explaining - among other things - how Vader settled on Mustafar.
The secret to Marvel's success has been their conscious decision to ensure a select group of writers remain in charge of the Star Wars franchise's overarching narrative. Jason Aaron was at the heart of it until 2017, but now the mastermind appears to be Charles Soule. He's the architect of Project Luminous, an upcoming initiative set hundreds of years before the movies, which incorporates both novels and comics. The various writers have worked together closely, and their plans seem more comprehensive than Lucasfilm's plotting of the entire sequel trilogy.
Star Wars Comics Haven't Been Perfect, Either
Lucasfilm launched the sequel trilogy with 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and since then they've attempted to ensure Star Wars has a constant presence on the big screen. While these films have generally performed well in the global box office, production has been troubled, and the film franchise has lacked a sense of overarching direction. Unfortunately, this has also had a profound impact on Marvel's ability to publish tie-ins. It says everything that, until 2020, the most important tie-in was a series called Shattered Empire that explained how Poe Dameron's parents had settled down to have a child shortly after Return of the Jedi. Lucasfilm cut the tie-in comics for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story at short notice, for reasons that are still unclear. As good as the official tie-ins were, they felt largely superfluous.
Until, that is, Charles Soule's recent miniseries The Rise of Kylo Ren. Lucasfilm allowed Charles Soule to tell the definitive backstory of Ben Solo, detailing how he had been manipulated by Palpatine into becoming Kylo Ren. For the first time, a tie-in comic seemed essential to the Star Wars story. This may reflect Lucasfilm's desperation to tie up the sequel trilogy's loose ends; alternatively, it may also be partly because of the deepening of their relationship with Soule, whose first Star Wars novel will launch the High Republic Era.
Meanwhile, it's true the Star Wars miniseries and one-shots have been of mixed quality; the low-point was a Chewbacca miniseries that felt utterly irrelevant. For all that's the case, though, Marvel should be commended for their willingness to use limited series and special editions to experiment with different characters and concepts. Many of these have been bestsellers, and some issues have helped provide added depth to the likes of Mace Windu, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Darth Maul.
Star Wars Comics Have Added New Depth To The Galaxy
The scale of Marvel's success is best indicated by the fact they've managed to introduce brand new characters, who have gone on to star in their own ongoing comics. Step forward Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra, a secondary character in Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca's Darth Vader series. She's a criminal archaeologist, a sort of female Indiana Jones who isn't quite so altruistic. Oddly enough, this archetype has never been seen in Star Wars before, and it was soon clear Aphra filled a gap Lucasfilm had never realized existed in the first place. There's now even Doctor Aphra merchandise, notably an action figure in Hasbro's Black Series.
The Star Wars franchise is slinking off the big screen for a while now the sequel trilogy is over. In the meantime, Lucasfilm is expanding it with a series of Disney+ TV shows. They're allowing the publishing arm to blaze its own trail while they do so, and the result is the eagerly-anticipated Project Luminous. Marvel Comics - and their writers - stands at the heart of this exciting proposition, which could well set the tone for the future of Star Wars. And, given how well these comics have been put together over the last five years, that's just the way it should be.