Marvel’s Star Wars comic books are becoming one with the Force. Disney-owned Marvel Comics, which has exclusively published Lucasfilm’s Star Wars comics since 2015, announced that Charles Soule’s current comic run on the flagship Star Wars series and Greg Pak’s ongoing Darth Vader are ending with giant-sized final issues this September. Star Wars #50 and Darth Vader #50 will be the last of the ongoing comics saga of storytelling set between the events of Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, and a line-wide relaunch — with new No. 1s — will take readers to a different era of the galaxy, far, far away later in 2024.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Marvel licensed the rights for the first movie-based Star Wars comic in 1977, months before George Lucas’ original space-fantasy released in theaters. The long-running comic adaptation released 107 issues between 1977 and 1986, and Marvel published other movie adaptations and spinoffs, including Star Wars: Ewoks and Star Wars: Droids, until 1987. Before Disney moved the Star Wars publishing license to Marvel in 2015, Dark Horse Comics held the license for the since de-canonized comics set in the “Legends”-branded Star Wars Expanded Universe from the 1990s through 2014.
Jason Aaron’s Star Wars, which followed a yellow lightsaber-wielding Luke Skywalker in between the events of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, launched the official Star Wars comics canon in 2015. Kieron Gillen’s Darth Vader comic, also set within the Age of Rebellion period, released that same year. Marvel Comics relaunched Star Wars and Darth Vader in 2020, with Soule and Pak penning every issue of their respective series that are coming to an end as Marvel shifts focus to the post-Return of the Jedi era spanning the decades before the sequel trilogy (2015’s Force Awakens, 2017’s The Last Jedi, and 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker).
Below, see artist Leinil Francis Yu’s (Star Wars: Jango Fett) complementing covers for Star Wars #50 (on sale September 11th) and Darth Vader #50 (September 18th), and a special connecting cover by Giuseppe Camuncoli (Star Wars: Bounty Hunters, Star Wars: The High Republic – The Blade).
Star Wars #50
STAR WARS #50
Written by CHARLES SOULE
Art by MADIBEK MUSABEKOV
Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YU
Connecting Variant Cover by GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI
On Sale 9/11
In Charles Soule and Madibek Musabekov’s Star Wars #50,Jedi Master Luke Skywalker must teach his student Ben Solo a powerfullesson about the true balance between Light and Dark! He offers up atale from the days of the Rebel Alliance that touches on multiple erasof Star Wars history, and brings this epic run to a thrilling, incredible climax!
Star Wars: Darth Vader #50
STAR WARS: DARTH VADER #50
Written by GREG PAK
Art by RAFFAELE IENCO & MORE
Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YU
Connecting Variant Cover by GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI
On Sale 9/18
Acclaimed writer Greg Pak closes out the longest-running Darth Vadercomic series ever alongside artist Raffaele Ienco and more in Star Wars: Darth Vader #50. Pak’s run reaches its stunning conclusion as the Dark Heart of the Sith comes full circle!
Darth Vader finally unleashes the unfathomable power he’s accumulatedthrough the Schism Imperial against the only person in the galaxy hehates more than he hates himself: Emperor Palpatine! Also featuring thefinal twists in the saga for key characters like Luke, Leia, Sabé, Ochi,the droid ZED-6-7, Sly Moore, the members of the Schism Imperial andmore!
Star Wars Final Issues Connecting Cover by by Giuseppe Camuncoli
