When Disney purchased Lucasfilm, it was inevitable that Dark Horse Comics would lose the comic book rights for Star Wars to Lucasfilm’s new corporate sibling, Marvel Comics. Especially since Marvel was the very first publisher of Star Wars comics.
However, Marvel isn’t going to simply ignore over two decades worth of Star Wars comics that were published by Dark Horse. Today at the official Star Wars website, Marvel announced its first collection of Star Wars comics by Dark Horse.
In April 2015, Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Empire Vol. 1 will be released as a trade paperback that includes Star Wars: Republic #78 – #80, Star Wars: Purge #1, Star Wars: Purge – Seconds to Die #1, Star Wars: Purge – The Hidden Blade #1, Star Wars: Purge – The Tyrant’s Fist #1 – #2, Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Lost Command #1 – #5 and Star Wars: Dark Times #1-#5.
The stories with The Empire Vol. 1 take place immediately after Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, as Darth Vader and the Empire seize control of the galaxy and hunt down the remaining Jedi. The stories in this collection were written by John Ostrander, Randy Stradley, Haden Blackman and Alexander Freed with art by Luke Ross, Douglas Wheatley, Jim Hall, Chris Scalf, Marco Castiello, Andrea Chella and Rick Leonardi.
Related: Marvel Announces 3 New Star Wars Comics
Marvel’s David Gabriel teased further Dark Horse reprints when he said “We’ll be bouncing around to different periods of Star Wars history with each Epic Collection, constructing one huge tapestry, collecting full unbroken runs of all the greatest Star Wars comics from the past 35 years.”
At Comic Con International, Marvel announced plans to launch three new Star Wars comics next year. In January 2015, Jason Aaron and artist John Cassaday will headline a new Star Wars ongoing series, while Kieron Gillen and artist Salvador Larroca will launch Star Wars: Darth Vader the following month.
In March 2015, Mark Waid and artist Terry Dodson will team up for Star Wars: Princess Leia, a five issue miniseries.
