‘Star Wars’ Announces New Manga Starring Princess Leia

Star Wars is gearing up for its release of Han Solo’s standalone flick, but that does not mean its other heroes are being pushed to the side. In a few months, Lucasfilm will usher in May the Fourth with a round of celebratory projects, and one of them will be a manga focused on Princess Leia.

Thanks to LINE, the digital manga will make its debut on May 4 online. The series will adapt the young adult novel Leia, Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Grey, and the illustrator Haruichi will oversee its artwork.

You can check out LINE’s announcement for the manga below:

“On May 4, 2018 or “Star Wars Day” as it is now known, LINE plan to release a free serialization of their new comic “STAR WARS / Leia.

In this Manga, we will follow Leia who became part of the Alderaan royal family soon after birth in the last scene of the movie “Star Wars Episode 3 / Revenge of Sith” before encountering Luke and Han Solo in “Star Wars Episode 4 / A New Hope.” It is a story depicting the growth of Leia. How Leia became a Princess of Alderaan, became the youngest former Lieutenant, and follows a love story with an original character – Kier.”

This isn’t the first time LINE has dabbled with Star Wars manga. Last year, the company adapted the novel Star Wars: Lost Wars into a manga series. Yusaku Komiyama oversaw its artwork as the serial released new chapters once a week. The series was also released in print as will this new Leia-centric series. LINE will post each chapter in Japanese on its mobile app before its translated for print later this year.

These two manga pursuits are the most recent ones which Lucasfilm has gone after. A few decades ago, the original Star Wars trilogy tried its hand at manga through Dark Horse Comics. The publisher rolled out manga adaptations of the franchise’s first three episodes between 1998-1999. Dark Horse Comics ended the adaptations with Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, so there’s always a chance LINE could come in to take over where the publisher left off.

Will you be checking out this Star Wars manga? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!