Rumor: Is Lucasfilm Pulling the Plug on IDW Star Wars Comics?
While Lucasfilm’s main output of Star Wars comic books since the Disney acquisition has been through Marvel, they’ve also published stories aimed at younger readers through IDW. But that might be changing, as a report suggests that the company is shifting away from developing stories through that publisher.
Bleeding Cool, which previously reported that Marvel are phasing out young readers IDW titles for their library of superhero characters by the end of the year, are now claiming that Star Wars will similarly cease production of comics for IDW in the near future. Here’s what they had to say:
“Bleeding Cool has learned from senior sources [that] Disney/Lucasfilm has withdrawn the Star Wars All-Ages comic book license from IDW. IDW has been publishing an all-ages Star Wars comic book line for a number of years, just as Disney-owned Marvel Comics has been publishing a Star Wars comics line aimed at older audiences. Some have asked why Marvel Comics simply doesn’t do both, but the current system has suited folks for a long time, and Disney/Lucasfilm licenses comics rights to a number of other publishers as well. And recently the IDW and Marvel titles collaborated in the joint-continuity publishing line The High Republic. But Bleeding Cool had learned that this is coming to an end. Disney has withdrawn the license from IDW. But won’t be handing it to Marvel Comics, they have other plans.”
Bleeding Cool’s editor, Rich Johnston, speculates that Scholastic may be where future young-readers Star Wars stories may go, as that’s set to be the go-to place to publish new young-readers Marvel superhero comics, but he notes that nothing is final at this time for Lucasfilm.
What we do know is that IDW has published a variety of Star Wars comics since the partnership began in 2015, and as it stands, they currently publish two ongoing titles for kids: Star Wars Adventures and The High Republic Adventures. If a new home for these comics are found quickly, then it’s likely that Lucasfilm leaving IDW behind will be only a temporary setback – assuming that this report is accurate, of course. In any case, it’s not clear when the final story from this publisher will be released, but it will most likely be next year, so the current comics that they’re developing will likely get some kind of closure.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
