Cover art for the first issue of Star Wars
A new ongoing comic series will be launched by Dark Horse Comics in January, 2013 – Star Wars. The simplistically titled series will focus on the early adventures of the Original Trilogy characters. More details will be revealed at the San Diego Comic-Con this week, but for now, i09 has an exclusive first look at some of the artwork, and an interview with Dark Horse editor Randy Stradley.
The comic will be written by Brian Wood, with artwork from Carlos D’Anda (and cover art, at least for the first issue, by Alex Ross).
Says Stradley:
As for how this series is “different” from past entries in this time period, I guess the answer would be that we’re trying very had to keep everything fresh — as if Episode IV had just come out in theaters. This is the Star War sseries for everyone who has loved the films, but has never delved into any of the comics or novels. There is no vast continuity that a reader needs to know beyond the events in A New Hope. This is the beginning of the adventures of Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie.
Stradley on writer Brian Wood:
Brian is the kind of writer I welcome on Star Wars. He’s a longtime fan of the films, but he’s not steeped in the continuity or the minutiae of the Expanded Universe. He’s not afraid to do his research, but he’s also not driven to draw connecting lines between between everything he’s writing and some previously established piece of Star Warshistory. An approach like that, in my opinion, leads to the kind of impenetrable continuity that scares new readers away from Star Wars. Brian, I’m happy to say, is more interested in telling good stories.
Take a look at the art and the rest of the interview here.
UPDATE: Writer Brian Wood has updated his personal site with the cover of the first issue of Star Wars , with art done by Alex Ross. The image has the caption of “In the Shadows of Yavin IV” below it, which appears to be the title of the first arc of the upcoming series.
Austin Blankenship is the webmaster of EUCantina. He is a host of our official podcast, EUCast, and also founded our sister website, SoloSound.net. Austin helped turn EUCantina from a forum into a website in 2007, and continues to operate the site and the EUC social media accounts. Austin works as a librarian in a small town above Atlanta, Georgia. 
This is great news! And also facepalm worthy. I mean didn’t we just get away from ongoing series as the marketing push? We’re doing the arc style releasing and now we go back again. Getting dizzy. Next I wonder if it’ll grow into a titled line like the last Star Wars title did becoming Republic.