This afternoon at New York Comic Con 2024 in Manhattan, Lucasfilm Publishing held a panel featuring a number of Star Wars authors talking about their past, current, and upcoming work in A Galaxy Far, Far Away. Below are all the major news items coming out of this presentation.
Image via StarWars.com
What’s happening:
- Lucasfilm Publishing held a panel at New York Comic Con 2024 this afternoon, moderated by Krystina Arielle (host of Star Wars: The High Republic Show) and featuring appearances by writers Steven Barnes, Zoraida Córdova, Marc Guggenheim, Lydia Kang, and Charles Soule, plus creative director Michael Siglain.
- Soule is writing a new Star Wars comic book for Marvel, which will be “sort of a look back and a look forward” at characters he has worked on in the past.
- Churo the Hutt (from Star Wars: The High Republic – Beware the Nameless) will return in The High Republic Adventures comic Annual from Dark Horse. Soule is also writing a story for this Annual with his daughter Rosemary, which will feature the younglings from their children’s book Star Wars: The High Republic – Jedi Brave in Every Way.
- Kang will continue writing Star Wars: The High Republic short stories for Star Wars Insider magazine. This next round will focus on the Battle of Eriadu.
- The Star Wars: The High Republic – Tempest Breaker audio drama by Cavan Scott will be released in December of this year and “will feature Lourna Dee confronting Marchion Ro in ways we don't expect.”
- Cover art was released for the first two Star Wars: The High Republic comics coming from Marvel next year, plus the middle-grade novel Star Wars: The High Republic – A Valiant Vow by Justina Ireland (May 6th, 2025) and the young-adult novel Star Wars: The High Republic – Into the Light by Claudia Gray (April 1st, 2025).
- The panel also showed off new concept art for the characters of Avar Kriss, Elzar Mann, Bell Zettifar, Burryaga, and Azlin Rell– all in what appears to be Jedi Temple Guard armor and masks. This is evidently reflective of how they will appear in the novel Star Wars: The High Republic – Trials of the Jedi by Charles Soule (June 17th, 2025). “Everyone’s lives will come down to the last five pages,” says Soule.
- Star Wars: The Acolyte – The Crystal Crown (July 29th, 2025) was announced as the title of author Tessa Gratton’s upcoming young-adult novel that will serve as a prequel to the live-action Disney+ series.
- Guggenheim will be writing a new ongoing Marvel comic called Star Wars: Jedi Knights (March 2025), which is set prior to the events of The Phantom Menace and will focus on a different Jedi in each issue, including Yaddle and a new character who is disabled. Several covers were revealed for this title.
- Soule also teased that Marvel Comics is in the process of putting together “other stuff” for the Star Wars license.
What they’re saying:
- Lucasfilm Publishing: “The final stories in the Star Wars: The High Republic initiative are coming to your bookshelf next year, and during New York Comic-Con’s Lucasfilm Publishing Panel we got our first look at some of the cover art celebrating the grand finale of Phase III. At NYCC 2024, authors Steven Barnes, Zoraida Córdova, Marc Guggenheim, Lydia Kang, and Charles Soule joined host Krystina Arielle to give fans a glimpse at never-before-seen interior art, upcoming titles, and other news from Star Wars books and comics.”
- Marvel Comics: “Marvel’s first series focusing on the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy will be brought to you by Emmy Award-winning screenwriter and acclaimed Star Wars comics writer Marc Guggenheim (STAR WARS: HAN SOLO & CHEWBACCA, STAR WARS: YODA) and drawn by rising star artist Madibek Musabekov (STAR WARS, X-MEN RED). Taking place before The Phantom Menace, STAR WARS: JEDI KNIGHTS stars the Jedi Order as fans came to know it during the Prequel Trilogy including legendary characters like Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, Count Dooku, Mace Windu, and many more. In addition to featuring iconic and fan-favorite Jedi duo, the series will introduce all new Jedi characters that served the Republic during this pivotal era. Each issue will spotlight a different Jedi duo on a different mission throughout the galaxy, but an overarching threat binds them together. Who is the mysterious new villain targeting Qui-Gon Jinn for death and how will it force the Jedi Order to evolve for a new age?”
- Marvel Editor Mark Paniccia: "Marc and Madibek deliver a blockbuster first issue with a cliffhanger that kicks off one action-packed issue after another featuring your favorite knights. You’ve literally never seen so much lightsaber action in a comic book!"
