Welcome Marvel editors C.B. Cebulski and Jordan White, Lucasfilm senior editor Jennifer Heddle — and a surprise guest: Leland Chee, Keeper of the Holocron!
How are they striking the balance between honoring the past and moving forward?
Cebulski first thanks the crowd – Star Wars #1 was the highest selling comic in 25 years.
He says they’re all fans, and the team at Lucasfilm is amazing to work with.
The Leia comic was the highest selling comic for March — big cheers.
In Star Wars #6, a certain person tasked with finding out who blew up the Death Star will catch up with Luke…
Star Wars #7 will be drawn by Simone Bianchi, and will be a solo adventure for Obi-Wan on Tatooine!
Star Wars #8 will be the debut issue for new series penciller Stuart Immonen! He’s a huge Star Wars fan.
In the Darth Vader series, we’ve seen that Vader is in trouble with his boss…
So, he’s been doing his own side missions, trying to reclaim his well-standing.
In issue #6, there may be a lightsaber duel…
The Princess Leia series ends in June, but maybe something will follow…?
The new Kanan series tells how the Star Wars Rebels Jedi survived Order 66 — it’s written by Greg Weisman, executive producer of Season One of the show. Weisman is going to write the second arc of the comic, as well.
And Lando #1 is coming!
It will take place between A New Hope and Empire.
And features Lobot!
Greg Rucka and Marco Checchetto are confirmed as the creative team for Shattered Empire, the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens series.
Also, more then 500 classic Star Wars Legends comics are now available digitally on Marvel Unlimited. Eventually, they’ll ALL be there. This includes classic Marvel comics and Dark Horse, as well.
Fan questions!
What does the panel do day to day?
White will get a script, give notes, and pass it on to Jen Heddle.
She’ll give feedback, and share it with the Story Group, who give their input. “They’re involved in every step of the process…my primary goal is to liaise between Marvel and the Story Group.” Lucasfilm’s Frank Parisi, however, will be taking over the Marvel books shortly!
Chee says that with the new Story Group, they can “make it a cohesive universe and avoid conflict.”
Cebulski oversees things from the Marvel end.
A fan thanks Marvel for combining the prequels with the originals. In the Leia comic, she sees a hologram of Padme.
White points out that the Darth Vader series gives us a chance to explore him later in life, the way the prequels focused on his earlier life.
Why set the books between ANH and Empire?
“It’s the sweet spot…if you go between Empire and Jedi, you lose Han Solo.” Also, this era is “year one” — a good place to start off with for the new continuity alignment.
Are we ever going to see Darth Vader’s bots versus Artoo and Threepio?
“Maybe…I think it would be fun,” White says. But it’s pointed out that Threepio can’t really defend against anything…
How do they capture the voice of Star Wars?
Heddle: “It’s about making sure that it feels consistent with what we’ve seen on screen and that it stays true to the characters.”
A number of books are concurrent — what are the challenges that come with that?
That was Marvel’s idea, to have the books crossover and impact each other.
“It’s been great doing that…We all get together and talk about what the stories will be and how they can weave together.”
Will they cover the era between Episodes V and VI?
They will get there eventually!
Jimmy Mac asks if there are challenges in keeping Vader pure evil?
“We do hope that you’re kind of rooting for him, even though he’s the worst guy in the room,” White says. “He’s gonna do some really bad stuff.”
How did Vader get a “promotion” between ANH and Empire? The Vader series will explore that.
Why did General Tagge not get blown up in the Death Star?
Chee says Tagge was checking out Dantooine — the Story Group looked into the movie and stills, and he was not on the Death Star when it blew. So, in the Vader series, Tagge’s back.
Since all the comic series are canonical, will they be reflected in the movies and TV?
“There’s definitely certain times in the story that we give Marvel direction to do certain things, because we have an agenda,” Chee says.
For the Leia series, how do they tell a profound story of her searching for Alderaanians but keep it light?
Heddle: “Leia will not let her grief stop her from doing what’s right.”
“She knows that her grief can’t slow things down.”
Will there be a Force Awakens adaptation?
“We’re not doing one right away, but we will be doing one [later].” Marvel doesn’t do adaptations of their films at the time of release.
Also, while Cassaday is leaving the Star Wars books, issue 6 “is not his last Star Wars project for Marvel.”
Will there be an attempt to canonize earlier arcs or elements?
There’s no set rule against it — it would be a case by case basis.
How do they decide which classic characters to use?
“We do try and use the old characters, but we do want to introduce new characters, as well,” White says.
Heddle: “We don’t want the Star Wars galaxy to start feeling small…so it’s a case by case basis.”
Cebulski: “It’s been amazing how supportive Lucasfilm has been for us to create new characters.”
The Lando series will feature a lot of new characters.
Is it hard to capture Vader’s voice when he’s not discussing something plot driven?
In issue #2, they had to revisit the script — originally, Vader was talking too much. They try and capture the rhythm of how a character speaks, but not repeat anything from the films.
Will Marvel tackle any unused Clone Wars scripts?
Heddle: “That’s always on the table.”
And that’s it! Thanks for following along!
Jimmy Mac takes the stage and introduces the panel!