By: louis-holt on August 27, 2009
Digital comics just keep growing, and now Dark Horse Comics has announced that Star Wars comics will be released on iTunes. Dark Horse is releasing the comics in partnership with Lucasfilm and THQ Wireless. It will mark the first time ever that Star Wars comics have been available on the iPhone mobile platform.
The first three collections to be released are Star Wars: The Clone Wars Vol. 1 – Shipyards of Doom, Star Wars: Empire Vol. 1 – Betrayal and Star Wars: Legacy Vol. 1 – Broken. These collections cover the time period between the Clone Wars era, the Classic era and the distant future.
Here are the Dark Horse Comics descriptions for each collection.
Star Wars: Empire Vol. 1 – Betrayal is set just weeks before the events of the original film, Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, and follows a faction of disgruntled Imperial Officers attempting to overthrow Emperor Palpatine. But the plot is complicated by the emergence of the bounty hunter Boba Fett and by the loyalty of Darth Vader to his dark master. Betrayal will be released in four chapters, written by Scott Allie and drawn by Brian Horton.
Star Wars: Legacy Vol. 1 – Broken takes place more than a century after the events of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi and focuses on a fifth-generation Skywalker named Cade, a rogue Jedi and bounty hunter who travels the galaxy living by his own code. Broken will be released in two parts, written by John Ostrander and drawn by Jan Duursema.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Vol. 1 – Shipyard of Doom is based on the wildly popular animated series from Lucasfilm Animation and highlights events from the epic time period when Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Padawan Ahsoka Tano struggled to maintain order and peace in a war-torn galaxy. Shipyards of Doom will be release in its entirety, written by Henry Gilroy, and drawn by the Fillbach Brothers.
Dark Horse Senior Editor Randy Stradley and Senior Web Designer Mike Denning worked with Lucasfilm and THQ Wireless to carefully reformat each panel and page to the iPhone. Great care was taken to insure that the material would transition to the new medium while maintaining loyalty to the original comic book format.
Mike Richardson, who is President of Dark Horse Comics, said “Lucasfilm has been a proud and longstanding partner of ours, and I’m equally excited to be working with the wonderful people at THQ Wireless on this program. The stories of The Clone Wars, Legacy, and Empire embody some of the best comics in the Star Wars universe that Dark Horse has ever released. I think it’s wonderful that these key tales will be available to fans everywhere in a new and accessible way.”
Adam Comiskey, who is Vice President of THQ Wireless said, “Bringing a selection of some of the finest comic books to the iPhone mobile platform is an exciting chapter in our relationship with Lucasfilm. Our partnership with Dark Horse means that for the first time, Star Wars Fans will be able to use their iPhone to view a fantastic line up of comics.”
