RUMOR: "Star Wars" License Shifts To Marvel In 2013

[CBR News]

Rumors have surfaced that the "Star Wars" license currently held by Dark Horse Comics will shift to the Disney-owned Marvel Comics in 2013.


Full article here.

[havok1977]

Surprising absolutely no one...

[JaggedFel]

Lol yeah only a matter of time and look they gets the rights back just in time for an Episode get time to launch

[C. Earl]

So Marvel will handle Star Wars the same way they handle the other Disney properties they have.

Better hope they sell tons more than Dark Horse did or this will be a short ride...

[rasx]

Good time to be a Trekkie!

[A_Nominus]

Good time to be a Trekkie!

Will never understand the fanboys who seem to think you can only like one of them.

[Kevin J]

SO long as they keep the current series, and announced series, going as planned, it doesn't matter to me if it's Dark Horse of Marvel.

That said, I do feel bad for Dark Horse as it will mean the loss of a large chunk of their monthly books. Not to mention the associated revenue.

[heiro5]

That's a drag. I understand the business logic behind it, now that Mickey has picked up this piece wanting to consolidate the comics iteration with their "comics department"... but I think Dark Horse's editorial staff has set a higher standard than Marvel's (and I like and read a lot of Marvel superhero titles). I think this will end with worse titles that maybe end up getting cancelled, instead of letting Dark Horse do what they've apparently been doing well for decades.

[Hypestyle]

if.. if.. this happens.. there needs to be an editor in place that exclusively deals with Star Wars projects (no juggling this plus the latest marvel-heroes crossover epic). It needs to be someone who understands the franchise, who 'gets' its meanings in pop-literature. It is someone who is willing to let the Star Wars brand sell itself on its own terms-- not try to turn it into Marvel superheroes. A mix of original mini-series, one-shots, and adaptations of prose novels should be well received, if the marketing is done right. Get talented writers and artists involved, even if they don't come from the world of "traditional" super-hero comics, or even comics at all. Dark Horse clearly had a formula that worked-- it would be premature to just chuck away their model because a new management structure takes over handling the brand.

[C. Earl]

They'll let Bendis take over the Star Wars line.

[Volderon]

They'll let Bendis take over the Star Wars line.

Oh god no please.

[MichaelPaytonMZ]

so that revival of Star Wars Legacy...yeah. that was cancelled before the first issue came out. Seriously: $#@^ You Mickey. @#$% You. You deserve to have your Spidey #700 leaked online.

[Bricolo]

Who gets rights to reprints? Or will those be tied up? Would they even bother? Could they transplant the Dark Horse titles, talent and canon to Marvel? Would they? I agree though, sales for these as is are probably not enough for them to produce consistently as much. I wonder if they will work it into the Marvel Universe. Certainly there will be a crossover as at least a What If. Maybe Darth Vader is going to be the next Dr. Doom level villain the X-Men take on.

[HIK248]

Losing the SW titles would be a big blow to Dark Horse,what percentage of their monthly sales do the SW titles represent?10-20%?

[MarvelMaster616]

I agree this isn't too surprising, but that doesn't make the implications any less staggering. Disney has historically tried to keep all it's properties tightly controlled and under one roof. It makes perfect sense to want Marvel and it's collection of top-selling writers take on Star Wars. I would love to see what Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, or Kieron Gillen write Star Wars. I think they could give the series a needed overhaul. I still feel somewhat bad for Dark Horse, but I think they had to have expected this after Disney bought Lucasfilms. It'll be interesting to see how they respond.