Recap – New Titles Announced From Lucasfilm Publishing Panel At NYCC 2018

Some exciting news for fans hoping to get some new Star Wars reading material on their bookshelves in the near future. Senior writer and co-lead editor John Hoey was good enough to live tweet the Lucasfilm Publishing panel from New York City Comic Con 2018. There’s some exciting reading material headed our way later this year and 2019.

 

 

 

Below posted is a series of tweets from John’s great coverage at NYCC 2018! I’ve added some additional information and my own thoughts on what’s to come for Star Wars readers. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

I agree with this 100% and here’s to hoping Mur Lafferty gets to write some more Star Wars stories.

 

 

 

 

Writer Jody Houser did an amazing job of bringing Timothy Zahn’s novel and character to life in her comic adaptation and I imagined the daunting nature of that task matched up with the sentiment of this tweet.

 

 

 

 

I’m so happy we got a good look at the “Age of -“ comic series from Marvel. I’m especially excited about this, being that comics are my second favorite Star Wars medium, as well as writer Jody Houser (Rogue One adaptation, Thrawn adaptation) launching the series with “Age of the Republic”. It looks like Jody is going to start this series off with a bang, as we got a look at the covers of each title: Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Maul, and Jango Fett. There will be other issues for Anakin Skywalker, Count Dooku, Padme Amidala, and Grievous, but it doesn’t look like those covers were displayed. These covers look great and Jody has contributed some fantastic writing to the Star Wars canon, so there’s a lot to look forward to with these titles. This Marvel series will launch in December!

 

 

 

The “Age of the Rebellion” will be written by Greg Pak, who’s a veteran Marvel writer but this is his first journey into Star Wars territory. The series will cover Princess Leia, Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, Luke Skywalker, Jabba the Hutt, Grand Moff Tarkin, Boba Fett, and Darth Vader. A glimpse of two character covers, Princess Leia and Darth Vader, was given. Pak noted that Leia’s story will cover what was happening with her before she started the rescue operation of Han in Return of the Jedi. The covers for Princess Leia and Darth Vader look great!

 

 

 

 

The “Age of the Resistance” writer Tom Taylor was not in attendance, but as previously reported, that series will feature Poe Dameron, Supreme Leader Snoke, Finn, Captain Phasma, Rose Tico, General Hux, Rey, and Kylo Ren. No covers were released, but we should be just as excited since Tom is a veteran of some great Dark Horse Star Wars Legends titles.

 

 

 

 

Again, if you want more Solo: A Star Wars Story, Mur Lafferty’s adaptation is a great take on the same story with some added elements. I know some folks thought the Elthree merging with the Millennium Falcon chapters were kind of odd, but I thought it was an excellent way to open the door to a new look at the Falcon, as well as droid existentialism in the canon. Can’t praise that adaptation enough! You should definitely check it out.

 

 

 

Speaking of more Solo, this should be a great addition to the Marvel Star Wars line-up. We get a bit of this in Lafferty’s adaptation, but I think that story deserves it’s own series. Also thrilled we are getting more of the Solo Han. Writer Robbie Thompson is a Marvel veteran and also responsible for the first Poe Dameron annual. Excellent choice, in my opinion.

 

 

 

Also, Justina Ireland’s Lando’s Luck was released on October 2nd, so it’s good to see it get some attention. I’ve yet to check it out, but I’m crazy about Donald Glover’s performance and the excellent Marvel series by Rodney Barnes. Ireland’s writing will no doubt add to that and I’m excited to check this out!

 

 

 

Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy by Amy Ratcliffe is due out later this month and will profile 75 different female Star Wars characters. From the sneak peeks we’ve been given, this is going to be a great piece for fans. It will feature art from Alice X. Zhang, Amy Beth Christenson, Annie Stoll, Annie Wu, Christina Chung, Cryssy Cheung, Eli Baum, Elsa Charretier, Geneva B., Jen Aberin Johnson, Jen Bartel, Jenny Parks, Karen Hallion, Little Corvus, Sara Alfageeh, Sara Kipin, Sarah Wilkinson, and Viviane Tanner.

 

 

 

 

I’m excited to get more Phasma. I enjoyed Delilah S. Dawson’s novel about her origin, but it left me wanting to see more of her in action as a First Order officer. Should be interesting to see what details Amy Ratcliffe adds to her story.

 

 

 

Ciena Ree! Yes, Lost Stars fans, here she is! So cool!

 

 

 

 

I have this suspicion that the reason we don’t hear more about Enfys Nest right now is that Lucasfilm has big plans for her. I hope I’m right, but it’s great to see she’ll be featured in Amy Ratcliffe’s new book.

 

 

 

Charles Soule’s Darth Vader title really speaks for itself. It’s something very special for fans and gives us a look at the early days of the Empire and Darth Vader. This has been my favorite Marvel title.

 

 

 

 

This is a bummer, but not unexpected. I’m still a big believer that less is more when it comes to Vader and I didn’t expect Soule to keep giving us the dynamic stories about the Dark Lord forever. When it ends I have no doubt this will remain a classic series among fans. Let’s just hope Charles Soule continues to write Star Wars stories, as his other series, Poe Dameron, just ended.

 

 

 

Well now, this is great news! I loved Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath trilogy so I’m happy he’s going to return to Star Wars with a new spin on Vader: from the perception of others. We fans sometimes take for granted that we know Darth Vader’s whole story, but forget that to most people in the galaxy he was very mysterious. The canon has established almost no one was aware he was once Anakin Skywalker and were also uncertain about his role as Imperial enforcer. This will definitely be on my radar and it’s a great way to keep Vader stories going that don’t necessarily always need to be told from the Dark Lord’s point of view. It also has the potential to revisit classic moments and put an entirely new perspective on them!

 

 

 

If you’ve read the Aftermath trilogy, you’ll know this is a big deal. The Acolytes caused all sorts of trouble for the New Republic. They are a cult of non-Force users who deify the Sith and work to serve the Dark Side. Should be very interesting to learn a bit about how they came to revere Darth Vader. I’m happy Wendig is getting the opportunity to expand upon this, as it was one of the most intriguing elements of the Aftermath story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This should be a fun one for the kids. Anything to get kids reading these days and I remember how much I loved “Choose Your Own Adventure” books when I was young. Throw in Star Wars and this makes a great gift for young readers!

 

 

 

 

OOOOHHHH! One of the more overlooked Star Wars novels, in my opinion, is Alexander Freed’s Twilight Company. It was released as a companion novel to the first Battlefront, but the novel is so much more than that. It takes place alongside some of the bigger battles of the original trilogy. It also provided a great look at how the Rebellion functioned as a military unit. This is just speculation, but I imagine this will give us a good look into how the Rebellion transformed its militaristic elements into a clean-up crew dealing with the last remnants of the Empire and trying to establish a peacekeeping force for the New Republic. As John speculates in a tweet below, this is going to be a fan favorite. I absolutely agree with him!

 

 

 

Bloodline by Claudia Gray remains my favorite Star Wars novel. Claudia has also given us Lost Stars and Leia: Princess of Alderaan. If there’s a writer I could guarantee will always deliver an excellent Star Wars story, she would be my first pick. That said, I’m over the moon she’s not only writing about Qui-Gon Jinn, but also gets to pen more about my favorite character, Obi-Wan Kenobi. This title was announced over the summer at SDCC 2018, but this is the first look we’ve received of the cover. I have a feeling Jordan, Jelena, and I will be pitching hard about who gets to write the review of this.

 

 

 

 

 

That’s it! Again, huge thanks to John Hoey for the excellent coverage of this panel. John, as well as  Lacey Gilleran, will be at NYCC 2018 all weekend, so stay tuned to our Twitter feed and their’s for their continued coverage throughout the weekend! The Force is strong with Star Wars readers!

 

 

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Kyle Larson lives in Portland, Oregon. When he's not running trails, he's reading and writing.

Kyle Larson

Kyle Larson lives in Portland, Oregon. When he's not running trails, he's reading and writing.

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