SDCC Lucasfilm Publishing Panel Recap – New High Republic Phase 3 Covers, ‘From A Certain Point of View’ Information, and More
San Diego Comic-Con is now in full swing, and Lucasfilm Publishing held their panel today revealing new details about their upcoming books and comics soon to be released. For those who weren’t in attendance, StarWars.com provided a full summary of the highlights from the panel. Most of the news shared focuses on phase 3 of The High Republic initiative, however, there were also some new looks at other non-High Republic publications, including information on From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi, pages from Marvel’s upcoming Dark Droids crossover, and the cover for a new Star Wars visual guide focused on the early years of the Rebellion.
We also want to give credit to Star Wars Explained and LaughingPlace.com who were in attendance at the panel and who provided other details not found on StarWars.com.
Up first, Lucasfilm Publishing showed off covers for two upcoming High Republic books. The first book highlighted is The High Republic: Escape from Valo, a middle-grade book by Daniel José Older and Alyssa Wong that introduces new Jedi into the story, along with the returning Ram Jomaram. The novel will be released January 30, 2024.
Following that, Lucasfilm Publishing showed off the cover for The High Republic: Defy the Storm, a young adult novel featuring Vernestra Rwoh, Jordana Sparkburn, and Avon Starros, written by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland. Defy the Storm hits shelves on March 12, 2024.
The covers for issues 1 and 2 of the mainline The High Republic comic were also shown off (provided below). Phase 3 will continue to be written by Cavan Scott and feature Keeve Trennis’s return. Scott noted that Keeve’s arc will center on coming to terms with being a Jedi Master, much like her arc in Phase 1 centered on her coming to terms with being a Jedi Knight. On the cover of issue #2 is a new villain known as the Children of the Storm. And yes, that is Lourna Dee on the cover of issue #1 apparently siding with the Jedi. The series launches in November.
There is also the new comic series, The High Republic: The Shadows of Starlight, which takes place within the first year after the fall of Starlight Beacon. This will be written by Charles Soule, and the cover for issue #2 was shown. Issue #1 releases this October.
The High Republic Adventures also is making a return alongside its characters Zeen and Qort, written by Daniel José Older. Both covers of issues 1 and 2 were revealed. The series returns in December.
And finally, for the High Republic, a few pages were shown for the upcoming The High Republic Character Encyclopedia, which will feature over 200 characters. Check out the full breakdown on StarWars.com for more pages from the book before picking it up on December 6.
In other non-High Republic initiative news, From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi will be featuring a story written by Alex Jennings who will be focusing on Obi-Wan Kenobi. The upcoming novel will be released on August 29, with the large majority of the characters featured still remaining a mystery.
.@CaptainEhud read a passage from From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi. Obi-WAN’s story by Alex Jennings, performing voices for Kenobi and Luke on the fly. VERY cool, and a great excerpt!
— Star Wars Explained (@StarWarsExplain) July 21, 2023
The panel also showcased a few pages from Marvel’s upcoming Dark Droids crossover. The first image shown below is from Dark Droids #1 written by Charles Soule.
Art for Dark Droids: D-Squad issue #1 was also shown, featuring R2-D2 and Chopper, written by Marc Guggenheim. All the Dark Droids fun starts on August 2.
Tales of the Death Star will soon be released in September, but for now, fans can take a look at a preview of the comic written by Cavan Scott, which will showcase stories from A New Hope to The Rise of Skywalker.
And finally, the cover and a few pages for the visual guide titled Star Wars: Dawn of the Rebellion were revealed. The guide is written by Pablo Hidalgo and Emily Shkoukani and will provide high-quality images and details about interesting figures, locations, and events focused on the formation of the Rebellion featured in Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and more. The guide will be available on November 7.
Feel free to check out StarWars.com for even more details about this and the other publications mentioned.
This certainly isn’t all, however, as Laughing Place also took a photo of one of Lucasfilm Publishing’s slides, showcasing current, new, and upcoming books and comics.
Star Wars News Net will continue to cover these upcoming books and comics in the future. But for now, you can also check out some of our reviews of the latest Star Wars tales, including Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade and Doctor Aphra issue #34.
Born and raised in Hawaii, Jay Goodearl runs the YouTube Gaming channel “Good Games, Dude” His channel aims to open up video games to beginners and immediate players and help them understand what makes games the art form that it is.
