Lucasfilm Publishing Announces New Comics & ‘The Last Jedi’ Tie-Ins

R.W.V. Mitchell
Comic-Con Comics
Comic-Con Comics Star Wars

Lucasfilm publishing dropped some exciting teases of upcoming projects at their San Diego Comic-Con panel. Michael Siglain of Lucasfilm moderated a panel with Ben Blacker, Christian Blauvelt, Cullen Bunn, Christie Golden, Claudia Gray, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Beth Revis, Cavan Scott, and Landry Walker. Near the end of the panel, Kevin Shinick joined to discuss his upcoming children’s book.

New Canon Novels

Christie Golden dropped some tantalizing details about Inferno Squad, including that the main arc of the story deals with Iden Versio and the other characters from the game being sent to fight the last vestiges of Saw Gerrera’s rogue Rebel cell, the Partisans. One of the characters from the book was taken from Beth Revis‘ book, Rebel Rising which tells the story of the “black flash” from when Jyn is in the bolt-hole as a girl in Rogue One up to where she is rescued in prison. Lucasfilm is so secretive, even Revis didn’t know the character would be in the book, though she seemed genuinely touched.

Rogue One ending Leia
An upcoming novel will chronicle Leia's origin story

Claudia Gray, a fan favorite author much loved for her Lost Stars YA novel, gave a brief overview of her upcoming book, Leia: Princess of Alderaan. She was fascinated by the character of Leia as a 19-year-old who is a major leader in the Rebellion. She described the book as Leia’s origin story in the Rebellion. Most enticingly, perhaps, she teased that many of the scenes and chapters are “Bail and Rhea Organa stories told through Leia’s eyes.” It will be thrilling to learn more about Leia’s upbringing and her adoptive parents. She seemed anxious to share more, but stopped before the “lawyers drop down on cables.”

Siglain promised that they would announce more details about the 40th-anniversary story collection, From a Certain Point of View at New York Comic-Con this fall.

Thrawn Drawn

Star-Wars-Rebels-Zero-Hour-Thrawn
Thrawn in 'Star Wars Rebels'

Most excitingly, Siglain announced some upcoming Marvel comics that are sure to leave fans excited. Jodie Houser is adapting Timothy Zahn’s highly successful Thrawn novel into comic format. He also announced a Mace Windu comic, marking a rare return to stories set in the prequel era.

Similar to what they did with The Force Awakens, Lucasfilm publishing is also curating a Path to the Last Jedi line of books. A big standout is Cobalt Squadron, which will tell the story of a Resistance bomber squadron. From the cover, it looks like it will delve into the backstory of Kellie Marie Tran‘s new character, Rose Tico. There is also the previously-announced Canto Bight, which will collect short stories set on the casino planet revealed in the trailer and promotional materials at Star Wars Celebration.

Prepare Yourself For Porgs

Siglain capped off the panel by inviting Emmy-award winning writer Kevin Shinick up to talk about a new children’s book, Chewie and the Porgs.

Schnick was previously tapped to write for the ill-fated Star Wars Detours comedy series, partially due to his collaboration on Robot Chicken‘s Star Wars episodes. They didn’t offer many details beyond that, but the book is likely to be a fast favorite for long-time fans with kids who are also in love with Star Wars.

R.W.V. Mitchell
R.W.V. Mitchell is a Fandom Contributor whose proudest accomplishment is winning the Star Wars trivia contest at the midnight showing of Revenge of the Sith.