Marvel’s Star Wars Variant Covers Celebrate Black History Month

January 15, 2023, 6:00pm

Characters from the episodic Star Wars saga, TV’s The Mandalorian, and the Marvel comic books will take the spotlight in a series of variant covers celebrating Black History Month 2023. Throughout February, cover artist Mateus Manhanini (Marvel’s Wakanda, Miles Morales: Spider-Man) will debut ten variant covers appearing on Marvel’s Star Wars comic titles, including issues of The High Republic, Darth Vader, and Hidden Empire. The Star Wars Black History Month variant cover series rolls out weekly, beginning with the debut of Justina Ireland and Pere Perez’s five-issue limited series Star Wars: Sana Starros #1 on Tuesday, February 1st.

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Manhanini’s Black History Month variants features beloved icons, fan-favorite characters, and upcoming stars across the Star Wars galaxy, among them the younger Lando Calrissian (portrayed by Donald Glover in Solo: A Star Wars Story), Greef Karga (portrayed by Carl Weathers in Star Wars: The Mandalorian), Jedi Mace Windu (portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson in the Star Wars prequel trilogy), and Marvel’s Star Wars (2015) breakout Sana Starros.

The first batch of covers, which you can see in the gallery below, celebrate Black heroes throughout Star Wars media, including: ex-First Order stormtrooper and Resistance hero Finn (the Star Wars sequel trilogy), freedom fighter Jannah (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker), Phel Starros (Star Wars: Sana Starros), young Jedi Keeve Trennis (Marvel’s Star Wars: The High Republic), Jedi Knight Oliviah Zeveron (Star Wars: The High Republic – Phase II), and Imperial officer Lt. Haydenn (Marvel’s Star Wars: Bounty Hunters).

“When we asked Mateus if he’d be interested in designing a set of covers to showcase these great characters, we were delighted to find out he’s a big Star Wars fan and his love for the franchise really showed,” said Star Wars editor Mark Paniccia. “What he came back with is exciting, elegant and powerful.”

Manhanini “felt a great responsibility to represent these characters,” the artist told StarWars.com, adding: “I hope that these covers manage to remember and reaffirm the presence of these Black characters within the Star Wars universe and about the importance of their stories being told. The more diversity we have, the more richness, power, and solidity this universe will have, and this will influence the life and experience of many readers.”