The State of the Star Wars Comics
Greetings! We here at Star Wars News Net know most of you come here to escape the woes of the world. At a time where the world is in a constant state of uncertainty, we all need an escape. Unfortunately, even the escape of comic books isn’t immune from the current pandemic affecting so many lives. If you’ve been following comic industry news you most likely heard recently that Diamond Distributors (a distributor responsible for getting most comics to retailers) have shutdown due to “shelter in place” measures to protect their employees from exposure to COVID-19. It’s the responsible thing to do but it is not without consequences. For the foreseeable future, there will be no new issues of any Star Wars comics.
Doctor Aphra #1 was set to be released April 1st and after the post-December lull the Star Wars titles looked to pick up speed. Not only Doctor Aphra, but a new Clone Wars comic from IDW by Michael Moreci would grace comic shelves. Why not just release these titles digitally? It would decimate comic book shops around the world. Many retailers shuttered their shops to protect themselves, their employees, and their customers. They’re going to have a hard enough time paying the bills and re-opening once this is over. For major publishers to release digitally and essentially cut them out would be yet another huge hit to an already teetering retail industry. As much as we want to read and write about these new issues, it’s refreshing to see these big publishing companies stand in solidarity with the people on the ground who work so hard to promote their product.
So when will we get these new issues? It’s very hard to say. There have been whispers Marvel may release a handful of issues digitally over the next month. Doctor Aphra is still listed as being scheduled to release via digital retailers next Wednesday (a week delayed from its original April 1st announcement), but none of us at SWNN are holding our breath. Best guess would be mid-May but most likely sometime in June. Much like every other industry, the daily news changes everything and uncertainty is the only constant. We will keep our pulse on the news and promise to be waiting and ready for whenever any of these new issues drop.
In the meantime…Jelena, Jordan, Brady, and myself (Kyle) have come up with a plan to keep the comic reviews coming. We are pleased to announce that while this absence continues we will be introducing “Retro Reviews”. There are nearly six-years worth of Star Wars comics out there right now, spanning the prequel trilogy to the sequel trilogy. We figured this hiatus would be as good a time as any to revisit some of our favorite issues…now that we know how the Skywalker saga ends. These reviews will be published weekly and we might even recruit some other SWNN staff to jump in and talk about issues they love. We know it’s not the same as a new review each week but we want to give you loyal readers something.
We would also like to take this chance to thank you for your many years of readership. So many of you take the time out of your day to experience these comics with us and we are so grateful to you. We promise to bring you the same coverage that’s kept you coming back all these years once things get back to normal. For now, we want to send our love and gratitude to you, your families, communities, and friends. May the Force Be With You! Always!
Kyle Larson lives in Portland, Oregon. When he's not running trails, he's reading and writing.
