Five Star Wars Comics We Want to See

The Star Wars franchise is the hottest thing in entertainment right now.Not only has the popular movie franchise absolutely wrecked box office records left and right, Marvel’s new Star Wars line of comics has helped the publish maintain a healthy lead in sales over its chief rival DC (and the rest of the comics industry).Marvel has approached the Star Wars license with the “right” mindset, hiring A-list talent to craft fun stories mostly featuring characters from the Original Trilogy.With the Star Wars brand bigger than ever before, it’s time for Marvel to capitalize by publishing EVEN MORE Star Wars books, including some featuring characters from The Force Awakens.Here’s a few suggestions of some Star Wars comics we’d like to see in the coming months:

The Adventures of Maz Kanata

Marvel surprised Star Wars fans this week by announcing a series starring Poe Dameron, the charismatic Resistance X-Wing pilot.  Poe wasn’t the only intriguing character with plenty of back history to explore in The Force Awakens.  I’m of course talking about Maz Kanata, the diminutive alien played by Lupita Nyong’o.  Maz’s brief appearance in The Force Awakens hinted at a much deeper history, one that probaby intersected with many other characters from the Star Wars universe.  In addition to knowing Han and Chewie from a past adventure, Maz also had Luke Skywalker’s old lightsaber among the many artifacts she kept in her ancient castle.  If Marvel wanted to explore the now much cloudier history of the Star Wars universe, a comic starring Maz would be a fantastic choice.  Plus, a deleted Star Wars scene revealed that Maz was Force sensitive, so we could see how she kept that secret safe over her very long life.  

Old Man Han

Speaking of characters with back history to fill, Han Solo sounded like he had a few stories to tell about the period between his son’s betrayal and the start of The Force Awakens.  Han might have abandoned the Resistance after Ben Solo joined the dark side, but that didn’t stop him and Chewie from running afoul of just about every criminal and villain in the galaxy.  Disney has plans for a “young Han Solo” movie in the near-ish future, so giving fans one final “Old Man Han” adventure would be a great send-off for those who look fondly on Harrison Ford’s take on the galaxy’s best smuggler.

R2-D2

One of Marvel’s more surprising Star Wars comics was a four issue miniseries starring Chewbacca.  Despite being the main character of the miniseries, Chewbacca still spoke in growls and roars, just like he does in the movies.  If Chewbacca can get a miniseries without speaking a lick of English, why not make a comic about everyone’s favorite droid R2-D2? As shown in countless movies, R2-D2 is remarkably resilient, with plenty of different tools and accessories to help him succeed in even the most dangerous of missions.  If even C-3PO can get a comic book, shouldn’t a droid that isn’t a total waste of space get a spotlight?  

The Inquisitors

The Empire’s brutal takedown of the Jedi Order began with Order 66, when the Emperor had clone troopers wipe out hundreds of Jedis in one swoop.  As shown in Star Wars: Rebels, at least a few Jedi survived the initial purge, so the Empire created Inquisitors, a group of Force Sensitive hunters trained by Darth Vader, to hunt the remaining Jedi down.  While Marvel’s first attempt at a Star Wars: Rebels comic (a solo series starring rogue Jedi Kanan) didn’t sell very well, the Inquisitors sound like an intriguing group in Star Wars lore, especially if they have some sort of ties to The Knights of Ren, the group of Force sensitive users led by Kylo Ren. 

Blue Squadron

While we’re still waiting to learn the history of most of the minor characters we saw in The Force Awakens, several of the X-Wing pilots who flew alongside Poe Dameron during the Resistance’s attack on Starkiller Base have made appearances in other Star Wars media.  Blue Squadron members Jessika Pava and Temmin Wexley both made appearances in different Star Wars novels, providing a little bit of characterization and backstory to those characters.  Judging from the popular Rogue Squadron books, Star Wars fans LOVE their X-Wing pilots, so a Blue Squadron comic seems like a good way to appeal to both hardcore fans and people looking for more The Force Awakens material.  If anything, I’d love to read a Blue Squadron book just for the history behind Ello Asty, an alien pilot named after a Beastie Boys album.