In an announcement made today, Star Wars comics books will be returning to the Marvel umbrella. Star Wars comics had been published by Dark Horse since 1991, a run of over 20 years.
When Disney purchased Star Wars, it was largely expected that many licensing deals would be brought in house. The announcement that comics would move to Marvel is in line with those expectations.
Marvel Comics published the first Star Wars comic book, STAR WARS #1, in March 1977, which went on to sell more than 1 million copies. The license remained with Marvel for nearly a decade, and moved to Dark Horse soon after in 1991.
Marvel Worldwide Publisher and President, Dan Buckley commented on the news:
We here at Marvel could not be more excited to continue the publication of Star Wars comic books and graphic novels… The perennial brand of Star Wars is one of the most iconic in entertainment history and we are honored to have the opportunity to bring our creative talent pool to continue, and expand Star Wars into galaxies far, far away.
Look for the first Marvel-published Star Wars comics in 2015.