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Marvel Comics is one of the largest companies in the world of comic books. They were the company to first release comic books for the Star Wars saga, with their Star Wars series.
Marvel began in 1939 as Timely Comics, publishing popular superhero titles. In the 1950s, as Atlas Comics they published mainly other genres such as romance, crime, western, and war stories. By the 1960s, the superhero genre was becoming popular again, and the newly named Marvel Comics started creating a number of new superhero titles written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby. During the 1970s Marvel's sales were declining and the company was in trouble caused, in part, by poor distribution.
In the late 1970s the company's fortunes turned around with the smash success of the Star Wars film adaptation, which it began publishing in 1977 after prodding by Roy Thomas, as well as burgeoning successes like The Uncanny X-Men and Daredevil. Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief of Marvel from 1978 to 1987, would later say in an interview regarding the importance of Star Wars to the plight of the company, "Star Wars single-handedly saved Marvel... And that kept us alive." [2]
Marvel also published stories in Britain under the imprint Marvel UK. In addition to reprinting the American Star Wars comics, the UK series produced a number of original stories.
Marvel continued to publish Star Wars comics until 1986, and the Droids and Ewoks series until 1987. The comic-book license for Star Wars was later picked up by Dark Horse Comics, which began producing Star Wars comics in 1991 with the publication of Dark Empire. Dark Horse would later reprint much of the Marvel-produced Star Wars material under the title Classic Star Wars.
In 2009, Marvel was bought by The Walt Disney Company. Their former collaborator, Lucasfilm Ltd., followed suit three years later, when George Lucas sold the rights to his company to Disney.
On January 3, 2014, an announcement was made that the Star Wars comics license was moving from Dark Horse back to Marvel in 2015.[3]
Published series
Series
- Star Wars (April 1977 – June 1986)
- Ewoks (May 1985 – 1987)
- Star Wars: Droids (April 1986 – June 1987)
Miniseries
- Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (October 1983 – January 1984)
- Star Wars: Princess Leia (March 2015 – July 2015)
- Star Wars: Lando (July 2015 – October 2015)
- Star Wars: Shattered Empire (September 2015 – November 2015)
- Star Wars: Chewbacca (October 2015 – December 2015)
One-shots
- Star Wars: Vader Down, Part I (November 2015)
- Star Wars Annual 1 (November 2015)
- Star Wars: Darth Vader Annual 1 (November 2015)
Published collections
- Marvel Special Edition Featuring Star Wars (1977–1978)
- Marvel Special Edition 2: The Empire Strikes Back (Spring 1980)
- Marvel Super Special 16: The Empire Strikes Back (Spring 1980)
- The Marvel Comics Illustrated Version of The Empire Strikes Back (May 1980)
- Marvel Super Special 27: Return of the Jedi (1983)
- Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983)
- Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Volume 1 (January 2015)
- Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Empire Volume 1 (April 2015)
- Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope (May 2015)
- Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The New Republic Volume 1 (May 2015)
- Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Volume 2 (June 2015)
- Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Old Republic Volume 1 (July 2015)
- Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back (2015)
- Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: Rise of the Sith Volume 1 (2015)
- Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Volume 3 (October 2015)
- Star Wars Volume 1: Skywalker Strikes (October 2015)
- Star Wars: Darth Vader Volume 1 — Vader (October 2015)
- Star Wars: Princess Leia (November 2015)
- Star Wars: Kanan Volume 1 — The Last Padawan (November 2015)
- Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Empire Volume 2 (November 2015)
- Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi (November 2015)
- Star Wars: Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Shattered Empire (November 2015)
- Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: Infinities Volume 1 (December 2015)
- Star Wars: Darth Vader Volume 2 — Shadows and Secrets (January 2016)
- Star Wars: Lando (January 2016)
- Star Wars Volume 2: Showdown on the Smuggler's Moon (January 2016)
Current series
Ongoing series
- Star Wars (January 2015 – present)
- Star Wars: Darth Vader (February 2015 – present)
- Star Wars: Kanan (April 2015 – March 2016)
Miniseries
- Star Wars: Obi-Wan & Anakin (January 2016 – present)
Forthcoming series
Ongoing series
- Star Wars: Poe Dameron (April 2016)
One-shots
- Star Wars Special: C-3PO 1 (March 2016)
Forthcoming collections
- Star Wars: Chewbacca (March 2016)
- Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The New Republic Volume 2 (April 2016)
- Star Wars: Vader Down (April 2016)
- Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace (May 2016)
- Star Wars: Kanan Volume 2 — First Blood (May 2016)
- Star Wars: Droids & Ewoks Omnibus (June 2016)
- Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Rebellion Volume 1 (July 2016)
- Star Wars: Obi-Wan & Anakin (July 2016)
- Star Wars: Darth Vader Volume 3 — The Shu-torun War (August 2016)
- Star Wars Volume 3: Rebel Jail (August 2016)
- Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones (September 2016)
- Star Wars Volume 1 (September 2016)
- Star Wars: Darth Vader Volume 4 (October 2016)
Bibliography
- "Boba Fett: Mystery Man in Not-So-Shining Armor" — Star Wars Galaxy Magazine 1
- The Secrets of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
- SDCC 2014: Inside Marvel's New Star Wars Comics – Exclusive on StarWars.com (backup link)
- "Blaster" — Star Wars Insider 152
- Marvel, Lucasfilm, and a New Era of Star Wars Comics on StarWars.com (backup link)
Notes and references
External links
- Marvel's website
- Marvel Comics on Wikipedia
- Marvel Comics on Wikia
- Star Wars: The Comic Book That Saved Marvel! on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- Axel-In-Charge: AiC on CBR TV - "Star Wars," "SHIELD" & Avengers NOW! on Comic Book Resources (August 1, 2014) (backup link not verified!)