Marvel announces the first Star Wars Epic Collection, with the first volume reprinting Dark Horse issues about the rise of Darth Vader following the events of Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.
Marvel Comics announced today the first in a series of trade paperbacks collecting complete stories from the Star Wars universe. The Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Empire assembles 18 issues by various writers and artists, previously published by Dark Horse, into a self-contained collection. The first volume includes stories set in the years following Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. The collection will go on sale in April 2015. Marvel has previously published Epic Collections for other titles, including Captain America, Avengers, Wolverine, and many other series.
David Gabriel, Marvel’s Senior Vice President of Sale and Marketing, says, “We’re thrilled to be bringing our innovative Epic Collections to a galaxy far, far away. We’ll be bouncing around to different periods of Star Wars history with each Epic Collection, constructing one huge tapestry, collecting full unbroken runs of all the greatest Star Wars comics from the past 35 years.”
The Epic Collection features art by Luke Ross, Douglas Wheatley, Jim Hall, Chris Scalf, Marco Castiello, Andrea Chella, and Rick Leonardi. Writers featured in the collection are John Ostrander, Randy Stradley, Haden Blackman, and Alexander Freed. Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Empire contains Star Wars: Republic issues #78-80, Star Wars: Purge #1, Star Wars: Purge – Seconds to Die #1, Star Wars: Purge – The Hidden Blade #1, Star Wars: Purge – The Tyrant’s Fist #1-2, Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Lost Command #1-5, and Star Wars: Dark Times #1-5.
Marvel announced in January that it would be taking over publishing comics in the Star Wars universe as of 2015. Dark Horse Comics held the license since 1991, and will stop producing print copies of its series this year. All rights for Dark Horse’s back catalog of Star Wars material goes to Marvel, and today’s announcement confirms that Marvel will be reprinting at least part of that catalog. Marvel has also announced an Omnibus collection of the original Star Wars comics it published in 1977. The Omnibus, due out in January 2015, collects Star Wars issues #1-44 and Star Wars Annual #1. The first new Star Wars film, Star Wars: Episode VII is due out December 18, 2015.
Source: Marvel Comics
