Marvel Comics

Established in 1939 by Martin Goodman as a subsidiary for Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Comics, over time, grew into one of the largest and most successful comic book companies on the planet. Even though they are well known for their role in the superhero industry, they were also the first company to release comic books for the Star Wars saga, with their first crack at the franchise being their Star Wars run, which ran from 1977 all the way until 1986. After reacquiring the license in 2015, Marvel once again became the primary publisher of Star Wars comics, with their latest series being the Star Wars 2020 run, which is currently ongoing.
==History==
Marvel began as Timely Comics, publishing popular superhero titles. In the 1950s, as Atlas Comics they published mainly other genres such as romance, crime, western, and war stories. By the 1960s, the superhero genre was becoming popular again, and the newly named Marvel Comics started creating a number of new superhero titles written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby. During the 1970s Marvel's sales were declining and the company was in trouble caused, in part, by poor distribution.
In the late 1970s, Marvel Comics President, Stan Lee, was approached by Charles Lippincott to produce a Star Wars comic as a promotion. Lee was highly reticent with the proposal for the project considering the film was still in production, until his protege, Roy Thomas, persuaded him otherwise. Even then Lee, citing the poor sales history of comic book adaptations, negotiated a quota of 100,000 copies to be sold before any royalties to Lucasfilm could be discussed.
The resulting series turned out to be smash success, in 1977 after prodding by Roy Thomas, as well as burgeoning successes, like The Uncanny X-Men and Daredevil. Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief of Marvel from 1978 to 1987, would later say in an interview regarding the importance of Star Wars to the plight of the company, "Star Wars single-handedly saved Marvel... And that kept us alive." The only downside was that that 100,000 quota was surpassed quickly, allowing Lippincott to renegotiate royalty arrangments from a position of strength.
Marvel also published stories in Britain under the imprint Marvel UK. In addition to reprinting the American Star Wars comics, the UK series produced a number of original stories.
Marvel continued to publish Star Wars comics until 1986, and the Droids and Ewoks series until 1987. The comic-book license for Star Wars was later picked up by Dark Horse Comics, which began producing Star Wars comics in 1991 with the publication of Star Wars: Dark Empire. Dark Horse would later reprint much of the Marvel-produced Star Wars material under the title Classic Star Wars.
In 2009, Marvel was bought by The Walt Disney Company. Their former collaborator, Lucasfilm Ltd., followed suit three years later, when George Lucas sold the rights to his company to Disney.
On January 3, 2014, an announcement was made that the Star Wars comics license was moving from Dark Horse back to Marvel in 2015.
==Published series==
===Legends===
====Series====
*Star Wars (April 1977 – June 1986; May 2019Star Wars (1977) 108)
*Ewoks (May 1985 – July 1987)
*Star Wars: Droids (April 1986 – June 1987)
====Miniseries====
*Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (October 1983 – January 1984)
====Annuals====
*Star Wars Annual (1977) 1 (November 1978)
*Star Wars Annual (1977) 2 (August 1982)
*Star Wars Annual (1977) 3 (August 1983)
====Published Marvel collections====
====Republished Dark Horse paperback collections====
====Republished Dark Horse hardcover collections====
*Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace HC (May 2016)
*Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones HC (September 2016)
*Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith HC (November 2016)
*Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic Omnibus Vol. 1 (July 2021)
*Star Wars Legends: Rise of the Sith Omnibus (February 2022)
*Star Wars Legends: The Empire Omnibus Vol. 1 (May 2022)
*Star Wars Legends: The New Republic Omnibus Vol. 1 (January 2023)
*Star Wars Legends: The Rebellion Omnibus Vol. 1 (March 2023)
*Star Wars Legends: The Empire Omnibus Vol. 2 (October 2023)
*Star Wars Legends: The Rebellion Omnibus Vol. 2 (June 2024)
*Star Wars Legends: The New Republic Omnibus Vol. 2 (July 2024)
*Star Wars Legends: Tales of the Jedi Omnibus (July 2024)
*Star Wars Legends: The Empire Omnibus Vol. 3 (January 2025)
===Canon===
====Series====
*Star Wars (2015) (January 2015 – November 2019)
*Star Wars: Darth Vader (2015) (February 2015 – October 2016)
*Star Wars: Kanan (April 2015 – March 2016)
*Star Wars: Poe Dameron (April 2016 – September 2018)
*Star Wars: Doctor Aphra (2016) (December 2016 – December 2019)
*Star Wars: Darth Vader (2017) (June 2017 – December 2018)
*Star Wars (2020) (January 2020 – September 2024)
*Star Wars: Darth Vader (2020) (February 2020 – September 2024)
*Star Wars: Bounty Hunters (March 2020 – January 2024)
*Star Wars: Doctor Aphra (2020) (May 2020 – January 2024)
*Star Wars: The High Republic (2021) (January 2021 – March 2022)
*Star Wars: The High Republic (2022) (October 2022 – May 2023)
*Star Wars: The High Republic (2023) (November 2023 – August 2024)
====Crossover events====
*Star Wars: Vader Down (November 2015 – January 2016)
*Star Wars: The Screaming Citadel (May 2017 – June 2017)
*Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters (May 2021 – November 2021)
*Star Wars: Crimson Reign (November 2021 – June 2022)
*Star Wars: Hidden Empire (November 2022 – April 2023)
*Star Wars: Dark Droids (August 2023 – December 2023)
====Miniseries====
====Annuals====
*Star Wars Annual (2015) 1 (December 2015)
*Darth Vader Annual 1 (December 2015)
*Star Wars Annual (2015) 2 (November 2016)
*Poe Dameron Annual 1 (June 2017)
*Doctor Aphra Annual 1 (August 2017)
*Star Wars Annual (2015) 3 (September 2017)
*Star Wars Annual (2015) 4 (May 2018)
*Darth Vader Annual 2 (July 2018)
*Poe Dameron Annual 2 (August 2018)
*Doctor Aphra Annual 2 (September 2018)
*Doctor Aphra Annual 3 (October 2019)
====One-shots====
====Published paperback collections====
====Published hardcover collections====
====Published books====
*The Marvel Art of Star Wars (October 2019)
==Current series==
===Series===
*Star Wars: Legacy of Vader (February 2025 – present)
===Miniseries===
*Star Wars: Ahsoka (July 2024 – February 2025)
==Forthcoming series==
===Series===
*Star Wars: Jedi Knights (March 2025)
*Star Wars (2025) (May 2025)
===Miniseries===
*Star Wars: The High Republic – Fear of the Jedi (February 2025)
*Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Adaptation (February 2025)
===One-shots===
*Free Comic Book Day 2025: Star Wars 1 (May 2025)
==Forthcoming collections==
===Paperback===
*Star Wars: Inquisitors (March 2025)
*Star Wars: Ahsoka — Season One (May 2025)
*Star Wars: Darth Maul – Black, White & Red Treasury Edition (May 2025)
*Star Wars: Battle of Jakku (June 2025)
*Star Wars: Ewoks – Caravan of Carnage (July 2025)
*Star Wars Modern Era Epic Collection: Yoda's Secret War (July 2025)
*Star Wars: Visions Treasury Edition (August 2025)
*Star Wars: Kanan Modern Era Epic Collection: The Last Padawan (August 2025)
*Star Wars: Legacy of Vader Vol. 1 (September 2025)
*Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Adaptation (October 2025)
*Star Wars: Jedi Knights Vol. 1 (November 2025)
===Hardcover===
*Star Wars: Crimson Reign Omnibus (April 2025)
*Star Wars Legends: The Rebellion Omnibus Vol. 3 (June 2025)
==Canceled series==
*Star Wars: Shadow of Vader
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
==External links==
*Official website
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*Marvel Comics on Disney Wiki
*Marvel Database on Fandom
Category:Real-world publishing companies