Last Friday the announcement came out that in 2015 Star Wars publishing rights would transfer back to Marvel. While the move seemed inevitable to most, many were sad to see Dark Horse lose a title they had been putting out for 20 years much to the satisfaction of fans. Randy Stradley, Dark Horse Vice President of Publishing, issued a statement earlier that is both a silver-lining and a jab at the Disney/Marvel conglomerate.
The VP of Publishing at Dark Horse took to his Facebook yesterday to issue the following statement to the fans:
From my perspective, the upcoming films will mean less freedom to do what we at Dark Horse have always done best: expanding the universe. With a new film scheduled every year, and a new television series, it is likely that there will be a lot of comics pages devoted to adaptations and direct spin-off stories in support of the films and TV shows. That’s not where my interests lie, and it has never been Dark Horse’s strong suit. That would be too much like real work to me. Probably, the coming years will be a great time to be a Star Wars fan (especially a *new* Star Wars fan), and I hope you all enjoy the ride, but I think I’m going to be glad to not be in the mix.
I am immensely proud of all of the work that has been done by our many, many creators over the years. I would urge you to channel your anger into thanks for them. Go find them — most of them are on Facebook — and tell them thank you. I guarantee all of them could benefit from a kind word right now. […] And, finally, I want to thank all of the fans for the years of support. Even if we weren’t always 100% successful, we always tried to give you more than you expected. It was your interest that fueled our creativity.
Will Marvel and Disney do just what Stradley predicts and devote comic pages to tying into the comic Star Wars movies and television shows? Most certainly. From a business standpoint it wouldn’t make sense not to. Whether up to the high bar set by Star Wars fans of not, Episode VII will drive a large crowd to the theaters and if Marvel can capitalize on that by selling comics to those in the seats then good for them. What Marvel needs to make sure the comic/comics they are creating are of a high quality and have the ability to stand by themselves and not depend on readers having watching all the Star Wars movies and shows. And with the talent pool at Marvel’s dispense, this shouldn’t be too large of a task.
Do you agree with Randy Stradley’s post to the fans? Have a differing opinion? Shout your thoughts to the Internet in the comments below!
3 Comments
LOMFAO @ the sour grapes from DH. If Disney hadn’t have pulled the license from DH they’d have been all to happy to keep doing Star Wars, new movies and all. I seem to remember 3 movies they adapted and an animated series or two they had to incorporate and publish in “support of the films and TV shows”.
I’m not sure why there wouldn’t be sour grapes of some sort. The Star Wars line has to be a cash cow for DH, the loss will be difficult to recover from, both creatively and financially.
I concur with Dark Horss: “…upcoming films will mean less freedom to do what we at Dark Horse have always done best: expanding the universe.”
The upcoming films and TV shows will never reach the depth Dark Horse Comics has within the Star Wars mythos.
The comics from Marvel may reach more people, but will they be as cohesive? Did the deal when Star Wars was sold to Disney require the same type of continuity (and creativity)?
Hope Brian Wood is able to provide a “conclusion” to his current Dark Horse Star War’s title.