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Marvel/Disney officially resumes control of Star Wars publishing from Dark Horse in 2015

TorchsongTorchsong Posts: 2,794
in Comics Talk Community - The On Topic Forum
http://starwars.com/news/lucasfilm-and-marvel-join-forces-to-publish-star-wars-comics-and-graphic-novels.html

Thanks for the amazing 20 years of expanding the Star Wars Universe, Dark Horse. You did a hell of a job keeping the galaxy far, far away exciting and fun for this Jedi-in-waiting.

Marvel, don't f*** this up. :)
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  • GregGreg Posts: 1,946
    Dark Horse did some great stuff, Marvel has some big shoes to fill.
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  • RickMRickM Posts: 407
    The number of titles that Marvel will be publishing is going to go from massive to staggering.
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  • bralinatorbralinator Posts: 5,967
    I have confidence that Marvel can do Star Wars well, even Brian Wood works for Marvel, so the possibilities are endless. Sucks for DH though. Dark Horse had better get on Comixology asap - their reading app sucks. And they might think about getting their other licenses pumped up a bit (PotA, Aliens, Predator, etc). Nothing will replace SW, but DH has done little to create a hero line that can stand out even as well as Valiant has.
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  • WetRatsWetRats Posts: 6,314
    I wouldn't be surprised to see Marvel hire some of the folks who've written Star Wars for Dark Horse.
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  • WetRatsWetRats Posts: 6,314
    bralinator said:

    DH has done little to create a hero line that can stand out even as well as Valiant has.

    And I applaud them for avoiding the super hero genre.
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  • bralinatorbralinator Posts: 5,967
    Even with strong titles like Hellboy, BPRD, Conan, Aliens, and Predator Dark Horse will suffer a huge financial loss unless some other popular genre presents itself - but I don't think that they are avoiding the super-hero line.

    When you see them trying Captain Midnight, X, Ghost, Brain Boy, Black beetle, Buzzkill, Blackout, The Occultist, etc - DH clearly thinks this is where they need to be. Sort of an "indie" version of the SH genre. Maybe they can beef up their pulp line as well. Perhaps even get the LOTR license?

    Who knows?

    The article "Super Heroes Rise Again at Dark Horse" from August 7, 2013 explains Dark Horse's plans for their super-hero line pretty well.
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  • WetRatsWetRats Posts: 6,314
    bralinator said:

    Even with strong titles like Hellboy, BPRD, Conan, Aliens, and Predator Dark Horse will suffer a huge financial loss unless some other popular genre presents itself - but I don't think that they are avoiding the super-hero line.

    When you see them trying Captain Midnight, X, Ghost, Brain Boy, Black beetle, Buzzkill, Blackout, The Occultist, etc - DH clearly thinks this is where they need to be. Sort of an "indie" version of the SH genre. Maybe they can beef up their pulp line as well. Perhaps even get the LOTR license?

    Who knows?

    The article "Super Heroes Rise Again at Dark Horse" from August 7, 2013 explains Dark Horse's plans for their super-hero line pretty well.

    OK. I don't applaud them then.

    Apparently, new superhero titles are invisible to me.
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  • bralinatorbralinator Posts: 5,967
    WetRats said:



    Apparently, new superhero titles are invisible to me.

    That's an interesting super power you have there @WetRats
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  • playdohsrepublicplaydohsrepublic Posts: 1,377
    edited January 2014
    This is disappointing to me. Because, with the exception of Dark Tower and Oz, Marvel hasn't done a licensed property justice in 25 years when GI Joe ended. Its not in their business plan and its not in their wheelhouse. I understand that it's synergistic keeping everything under the Disney umbrella, but Marvel just isn't equipped for it. Where's all the books to replace the Boom Disney titles, when they took over that license... it's been years now. Or Halo comics.

    Some companies know how to do licensed properties, Dark Horse, IDW, even DC to an extent. If it's outside of the Marvel Universe, Marvel does not know the first thing about nurture a line like that.
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  • bralinatorbralinator Posts: 5,967
    edited January 2014
    playdohsrepublic said:

    Marvel hasn't done a licensed property justice in 25 years ...its not in their wheelhouse.

    playdohsrepublic said:

    Marvel does not know the first thing about nurture a line like that.

    Wow! I disagree. Yes, Marvel has a checkered history of license adaptations, but some highlights would be Stephen King's Dark Tower series as well as The Stand, ROM, Ptolus: City by the Spire, GI Joe, and of course Conan - there are others.

    But imagine if Marvel/Disney can recruit John Ostrander, Grek Pak, Brian K. Vaughan or Jan Duursema for a gig on the Marvel/Star Wars imprint. Count me as someone who is actually interested in seeing how Marvel handles Star Wars in its current climate. Alex Ross on Star Wars series? Yes, we've seen it, and Ross has worked for both DH and Marvel... so has Brian Wood. With so many top tier artists and writers under their umbrella, there's no limit to what they can do. Besides, we knew this was coming.

    Furthermore, after that Star Trek/X-Men cross-over, who isn't begging for a Boba Fett vs Iron Man duel? LOL

    (Just kidding about that last point, seriously.)

    image
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  • playdohsrepublicplaydohsrepublic Posts: 1,377
    edited January 2014
    I feel edited! I specifically refered to Marvel's post GI Joe handling of licenses, (which means it doesn't include ROM or Conan or the like) as being problematic, and mentioned Dark Tower as an exception. Though I think The Stand is a prime example of Marvel failing a license. They finished it, which is amazing, but it never felt like a priority for Marvel. Its not just about the quality, its about putting the same level of marketing and PR that they do for their original IPs, which they haven't. Then the books don't generate interest and then they don't sell and finally they stop making them.

    And I've never even heard of Ptolus before right now, and it took more than a simple google search to find out what it was.

    A good licensed property should do 3 things: Bring in fans of the source to the comic, Bring in comic fans to the source and expand the universe its culling its story from in an interesting way. Marvel hasn't been great at this, primarily because they haven't needed to be. Maybe Star Wars will sell itself. It probably will. And Marvel has the talent pool to make good books. But they don't have a good track record when it comes to building licenses into viable books for them.
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  • luckymustardluckymustard Posts: 927
    This should get me to buy a Marvel (print) book for the first time in years.
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  • RickMRickM Posts: 407
    Marvel's adaptation of The Stand was very good. Not sure if marketing was going to make a difference, as the thing had a built-in audience of King fans, and probably wasn't the most coveted thing for people who don't read him.
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  • GregGreg Posts: 1,946
    ...and most importantly Star Wars NOW! and All New Star Wars Now!
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  • Mr_CosmicMr_Cosmic Posts: 3,200
    Greg said:

    ...and most importantly Star Wars NOW! and All New Star Wars Now!

    All New Star Wars Now #12.NOW #1

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  • CaptShazamCaptShazam Posts: 1,178
    A preview from the upcoming X-Wars Crossover title:

    Darth: "Logan...I am your father"
    Logan: "No way, bub"

    Darth: "Impressive...Most Impressive...Professor X has taught you well.
    Logan: "I am the best at what i do"

    Darth: "Only your hatred can destroy me"
    Logan "I hate Scott Summers"
    Darth "As do we all"
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  • bralinatorbralinator Posts: 5,967
    edited January 2014
    I understand the concerns, and I share many of them. I may just be optimistic. There is little doubt that since this license transfers in 2015 that it's timed perfectly for a mere Episode VII adaptation. If that is all Disney / Marvel is looking at, well I am not that excited. And yet, I was a fan of the original 70's run on SW and while reading Dark Horse's treatments I have often wondered what Marvel could have done, especially with folks like Alex Ross and other talents working for them now, and the printing technology what it is.

    Sure Disney / Marvel is going to tap the vein and cash-in, why else would they hire JJ Abrams? They aren't looking at nostalgia, they're looking at $$$. I'm just being hopeful that they won't screw it up. I've already gotten a bad taste for the way Disney treats SW, again, just trying to be hopeful...

    Behold the ugh...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBUdzyv-M5w

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  • DoctorDoomDoctorDoom Posts: 2,586
    That link may have been so wrong... but I still enjoyed it.
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  • SolitaireRoseSolitaireRose Posts: 1,445
    I have some concerns...the Star Wars comics sell at levels that would lead to cancellation at Marvel, and they took back the Mupp0et and Disney licenses from Boom and have done...next to nothing. There is also the MASSIVE amount of stuff in the "Extended Universe", which I lost track of years ago. I see they recently put out a 9 novel series, and I just shook my head. I hate when they do stuff like that because it kills any interest for me as a casual reader. It's why I was happy that DH started the new Brian Wood series...I can read it without remembering the 100s of comics, novels and video games you need to have consumed to know what is going on in the extended universe.

    Still, with the new movie dropping in 2015, I can see Marvel being able to have more room to play than another company would, and a series that fills in the gaps between Episodes VI and VII would be a no-brainer.
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  • batlawbatlaw Posts: 879
    Im ready for something new with Star Wars. I know DH did some good SW stuff. I read much of it for years, but it lost steam and leveled off and grew stale IMO. I have concerns marvel will too heavily "marvelize" it, but will give it a try and hope I'm impressed.
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  • rebisrebis Posts: 1,820
    "Marvel/Disney officially resumes control of Star Wars publishing from Dark Horse in 2015"

    And, you won't be able to buy the books at Barnes and Noble.
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  • spidspid Posts: 203
    Mr_Cosmic said:

    Oh good..I'm looking forward to titles such as Star Wars, Mighty Star Wars, Uncanny Star Wars, New Star Wars, All New Star Wars, Secret Star Wars...

    Darkhorse has essentially been doing the same thing for at least the last 10 years.
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  • HexHex Posts: 944
    bralinator said:


    Behold the ugh...

    oh. my. god.
    You are an evil, evil, EVIL person... some things can never be un-seen.
    This will haunt me until I die.
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  • fredzillafredzilla Posts: 2,131
    bralinator said:

    I understand the concerns, and I share many of them. I may just be optimistic. There is little doubt that since this license transfers in 2015 that it's timed perfectly for a mere Episode VII adaptation. If that is all Disney / Marvel is looking at, well I am not that excited. And yet, I was a fan of the original 70's run on SW and while reading Dark Horse's treatments I have often wondered what Marvel could have done, especially with folks like Alex Ross and other talents working for them now, and the printing technology what it is.

    Sure Disney / Marvel is going to tap the vein and cash-in, why else would they hire JJ Abrams? They aren't looking at nostalgia, they're looking at $$$. I'm just being hopeful that they won't screw it up. I've already gotten a bad taste for the way Disney treats SW, again, just trying to be hopeful...

    Behold the ugh...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBUdzyv-M5w

    "This episode of Death Star's Got Talent is brought to you by Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace. In theaters now!"
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  • DennisCuzinskiDennisCuzinski Posts: 265
    edited January 2014
    any chance we'll see Jaxxon again?!

    http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jaxxon
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  • PeterPeter Posts: 470
    edited January 2014
    Definitely something to this article:
    http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2014/01/dark-horse-editor-finds-bright-spot-in-loss-of-star-wars-license/

    Knowing how much of a hold Hasbro has over their line of toys made into comics over the years, I can only imagine the Disney/Star Wars back and forth has the potential to be a nightmare. Obviously it's a different situation since Marvel is "in-house", but we'll see, I suppose.
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  • SolitaireRoseSolitaireRose Posts: 1,445
    Peter said:

    Definitely something to this article:
    http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/2014/01/dark-horse-editor-finds-bright-spot-in-loss-of-star-wars-license/

    Knowing how much of a hold Hasbro has over their line of toys made into comics over the years, I can only imagine the Disney/Star Wars back and forth has the potential to be a nightmare. Obviously it's a different situation since Marvel is "in-house", but we'll see, I suppose.

    Toy companies have an amazing amount of power over entertainment. They are why WWE is now PG (and have toned down the violence/revenge aspect of wrestling), why some shows on Cartoon Network don't get renewed...it's kind of scary how much power they wield.

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  • bralinatorbralinator Posts: 5,967
    edited January 2014
    Looks like the expanded universe may actually be respected and implemented in future tales by Disney / Lucasfilm, if these twitter feeds from Leland Chee are accurate. Chee is an employee at Lucasfilm and is on their new "Story Team". He's been answering questions on Twitter about how it all works. Weaving the EU into the main movies would certainly explain the purpose of Story Group, at least.

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  • random73random73 Posts: 2,318
    Here is another article http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/7/5285906/official-star-wars-canon-can-now-include-expanded-universe-stories
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