Marvel made several announcements during its Saturday afternoon panel at Star Wars Celebration, beginning with the news that writer Greg Pak (“Star Wars: Age of Rebellion”) and artist Phil Noto (“Uncanny X-Force”) will be taking over Marvel’s “Star Wars,” beginning with issue #68 in July. They will succeed Kieron Gillen and Angel Unzueta, whose run will conclude during the previous month.
Pak explained that his storyline takes place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, drawing inspiration from the opening crawl of the latter, which mentions thousands of probes sent out across the galaxy. The focus will be on those probes and the central heroes’ missions to thwart them, which will split them up into three pairings. Pak teased some of the pairings during the panel, as well as their storyline’s general vibe: Luke and R2-D2 will feature in a Western-inspired story, while Han and Leia’s will lean towards noir.
Details were also announced at the panel on “Star Wars: Age of Resistance,” the follow up to “Star Wars: Age of Rebellion.” Written by Tom Taylor (“X-Men Red”) and illustrated by Ramon Rosanas (“Infinity Wars: Iron Hammer”), with covers by Noto, the one-shots will focus on characters from the sequel trilogy beginning with Finn in July. Assistant Editor Tom Groneman also teased one-shots focusing on Rey, Poe, General Hux, and Captain Phasma, the latter featuring the art of Leonard Kirk (“Supergirl”). Additionally, Groneman announced “Star Wars: Age of Resistance Special,” created by Taylor, G. Willow Wilson, Chris Eliopoulos, and Elsa Charretier, which will star Holdo, Maz Kanata, and BB-8.
Finally, Marvel announced a new miniseries focused on Darth Vader. “Target Vader” will be a six-issue miniseries from Robbie Thompson and Marc Laming, with covers by Nic Klein. While a release date has yet to be announced, Groneman teased that the series will feature Valance, a cyborg bounty hunter with a vendetta against Darth Vader who first appeared in issue #16 of the ’70s Marvel “Star Wars” comic.
