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Every few years since the publisher got its hands back on Star Wars a decade ago, Marvel has relaunched the main book to jump ahead to in between then next set of events in the original Star Wars trilogy, filling in the gaps between A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. So it shouldn’t be altogether that surprising that the latest relaunch of the book will step forward after Return and into the first days of the New Republic–but it is, just for the sheer potential of what’s now in Marvel’s hands.
This morning Lucasfilm confirmed that the Star Wars ongoing will relaunch for its latest volume in May with writer Alex Segura–who recently penned the publisher’s Battle of Jakku miniseries, depicting and expanding upon events from the earliest days of the “Journey to The Force Awakens” transmedia initiative–and artist Phil Noto. The new volume will be set shortly after the Battle of Jakku, and continue to follow Han, Luke, and Leia as they each discover hardships that could oppose the peace secured with the conclusion of the Galactic Civil War, from mercenary gangs and the criminal underworld to emergent political alliances.
While since The Force Awakens there’s been a lot of material set in the 30 year gap between the original and sequel trilogies, there’s still not actually been that much Star Wars that covers a lot of those early years of the New Republic, especially from the perspective of what Han, Luke, and Leia were up to before things went south. Shows like The Mandalorian and Ahsoka have begun to poke and prod at the early rot around the fringes of the New Republic and various jockeying factions of Imperial Remnants, but for the most part things have leapt significantly forward beyond that to closer to the sequels, examining the splintering of the senate and the pathway to the First Order’s rise.
Although it is still constrained in some ways–we know how things are eventually going to go for the New Republic at large, as well as these characters–it marks the first time since Marvel relaunched its Star Wars line that the timeframe the main book gets to work in is operating on more than just the couple of years between each movie in the original trilogy. That’s not stopped the publisher from jamming in a bunch of wild stuff into those tiny gaps, but with a bit more breathing room, and a largely blank canvas, the potential for some of the most interesting Star Wars storytelling to come out of the main title in years is very promising.
Star Wars will relaunch with a new issue #1 on May 7.
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