Star Wars is an American epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various films and other media, including television series, video games, novels, comic books, theme park attractions, and themed areas, comprising an all-encompassing fictional universe. Star Wars is one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.
Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon, comic book shops known as Pegasus Books and founded in 1980.
Dark Empire is a Star Wars comic book metaseries produced by Dark Horse Comics. It consists of a six-issue limited series written by Tom Veitch and drawn by Cam Kennedy, followed by a second six-issue limited series by Veitch and Kennedy, followed in turn by a two-issue limited series written by Veitch and drawn by Jim Baikie. The initial series is notable for being one of the first Star Wars comics to be produced by Dark Horse, which retained the comic rights to the franchise for over two decades.
John Jackson Miller is an American science-fiction author, comic book writer, and commentator, known for his work on the Star Wars franchise and his research into comic book circulation history, as presented in the Standard Catalog of Comic Books series and the Comichron website.
Aliens is a line of several comic books set in the fictional universe of the Alien films published by Dark Horse Comics from 1988 forward. The stories often feature the company Weyland-Yutani and the United States Colonial Marines. Originally intended as a sequel to James Cameron's 1986 film Aliens, the first mini-series features the characters of Rebecca "Newt" Jorden and Corporal Dwayne Hicks. Later series also included the further adventures of Ellen Ripley, with other stories being unique to the Alien universe and are often used to explore other aspects of the species, such as their sociology and biology, and also tying into Dark Horse Comics' Predator and Aliens vs. Predator lines. The novels by Titan Books also crossed over with the comics leading to some shared continuity.
Star Wars: Legacy is an American comic book series set in the Star Wars universe. The series, published by Dark Horse Comics, is written by John Ostrander and Jan Duursema, and illustrated by Duursema and others, with inks by Dan Parsons and color by Brad Anderson. Issue #0, which cost 25¢ and introduced the setting and major characters, was released on June 7, 2006.
Star Wars: Purge is a comic book one-shot released on December 28, 2005 by Dark Horse Comics. The story was written by John Ostrander, and the art was done by Doug Wheatley. The events depicted take place in the Star Wars galaxy approximately one month after the events in Revenge of the Sith.
Dark Times is a 2006, 33-issue comic book mini-series published by Dark Horse Comics. It is part of their 30th-anniversary retooling of its long-running Star Wars series of comics, replacing Republic.
Jan Duursema is an American comics artist known for her work on the Star Wars comics franchise. She is the creator of Denin and Vila from Naldar, the Twi'lek Jedi Aayla Secura and the Kiffar Jedi Quinlan Vos.
The Jedi series of comics was written by John Ostrander and Jeremy Barlow, and was published by Dark Horse Comics from 20 August 2003 to 21 July 2004 as a series of one-shots chronicling the actions of five Jedi during the Clone Wars.
Star Wars comics have been produced by various comic book publishers since the debut of the 1977 film Star Wars. Marvel Comics launched its original series in 1977, beginning with a six-issue comic adaptation of the film and running for 107 issues, including an adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back. Marvel also released an adaptation of Return of the Jedi and spin-offs based on Droids and Ewoks. A self-titled comic strip ran in American newspapers between 1979 and 1984. Blackthorne Publishing released a three-issue run of 3-D comics from 1987 to 1988.
Star Wars has been expanded to media other than the original films. This spin-off material is licensed and moderated by Lucasfilm, though during his involvement with the franchise Star Wars creator George Lucas reserved the right to both draw from and contradict it in his own works. Such derivative works have been produced concurrently with, between, and after the original, prequel, and sequel trilogies, as well as the spin-off films and television series. Commonly explored Star Wars media include books, comic books, and video games, though other forms such as audio dramas have also been produced.
Star Wars: Invasion was an American comic book series set in the Star Wars universe. The series, published by Dark Horse Comics, was written by Tom Taylor, and illustrated by Colin Wilson with color by Wes Dzioba. Like another ongoing series by Dark Horse—Star Wars: Legacy—it included various ties to the novels by Del Rey, while still remaining accessible to new readers. It launched with two online-only preview issues on Starwars.com in May–June 2009. The first printed issue was published on July 1, 2009.
Star Wars: Knight Errant is a 2010 novel and comic book series set in the fictional Star Wars universe, written by John Jackson Miller. The comic series is the successor to the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series that was published by Dark Horse Comics and which ran for 50 issues. The story is set at the beginning of the Old Republic, 1000 years before the birth of Luke Skywalker, when the evil Sith lords still control large portions of the galaxy, and details the exploits of Kerra Holt, a young Jedi Knight who is attempting to fight against the Sith.
Tonči Zonjić is a Croatian comic book artist, writer and illustrator living in Toronto, Canada. He is best known for his work on Mike Mignola's Lobster Johnson series, and the Eisner Award-nominated Jake Ellis series. He designed the Praetorian Guards in Star Wars: The Last Jedi .
Dan Parsons is an American comic book artist and illustrator. He is best known for his work on Star Wars and Game of Thrones.
Classic Star Wars is a series of various classic Star Wars comics reprinted by Dark Horse Comics between 1992 and 1996. It notably includes compilations of the weekly newspaper Star Wars comic strips written by Archie Goodwin and illustrated by Al Williamson; these were published as 20 single issues between 1992 and 1994 with new cover art by Williamson and others, and collected as three trade paperbacks between 1994 and 1996. While originally achromatic, these comics were colorized for the Dark Horse reprints.
Star Wars: The High Republic is a multimedia project consisting of various stories from the Star Wars franchise set during the "High Republic" era, which spans 500 to 100 years before the Skywalker Saga and is set hundreds of years after the fall of the "Old Republic". The initiating event of the sub-franchise is "The Great Disaster" involving the antagonistic "space Vikings" known as the Nihil and the subsequent intervention of the Jedi.
Davidé Fabbri is an Italian comic book artist. He has worked mainly for Dark Horse Comics on various Star Wars series. He also worked for Dynamite and recently for DC Comics. In 2010, he worked on Victorian Undead, written by Ian Edginton for WildStorm. This series pitted Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson against a legion of undead zombies. It was nominated for a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards in 2010.
