Star Wars #4 was published in April 2015, but for Star Wars Day on May 4th, GameStop released Star Wars #4 with two exclusive covers. A Rebel variant cover was sold at GameStop retail stores while the Empire variant cover could be earned through the PowerUp Rewards program.
The Rebel variant cover features the main heroes from the original trilogy.
Star Wars #4g - Marvel Comics, U.S. (May 2015) GameStop retail exclusive
The Empire variant cover features Darth Vader and the bounty hunters from The Empire Strikes Back.
Star Wars #4h - Marvel Comics, U.S. (May 2015) GameStop PowerUp Rewards exclusive
The connecting covers are drawn by Nick Bradshaw. There is a lot of detail in the art and Bradshaw is clearly influenced by Art Adams.
James Bond has the distinction of being the longest continually running movie series, starting with the release of Dr No in 1962. There have been 26 James Bond films and the movies are the 3rd highest grossing series behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Harry Potter. (Star Wars is the 4th highest grossing series and has the possibility of passing both James Bond and Harry Potter with the release of the 9th film, Rogue One, in December.) Based on books written by Ian Fleming, there are many Bond tropes that are familiar to fans of the movie series. The 5-part mini-series, Star Wars: Agent of the Empire - Iron Eclipse, pays homage to James Bond and uses many familiar cliches.
Jahan Cross is the James Bond-like character in the Agent of the Empire series. The story starts with Cross learning about project Iron Eclipse from a corrupt Imperial, Colonel Muhrlein, who Cross kills. He gets permission from head of Imperial Intelligence, Armand Isard, an M-like character, to travel to the Corporate Sector, and under the guise of a diplomatic envoy, to uncover the secret of Iron Eclipse . Naturally, Isard tells Cross he will disavow his mission if discovered and Cross stops by the tech division to pick up some gadgets from Allessi Quon, a Q-like character, and Royd Pew, whose last name sound like Q. The main gadget he secures is the female droid IN-GA 44 or Inga, a companion Cross has used on several assignments. In the Corporate Sector, Cross attends a social event and meets the beautiful Elli Stark and her brother Iaclyn Stark. They are children of Iaco Stark who fled to the Corporate Sector from the Republic after starting the Stark Hyperspace Wars and died a few years earlier. Cross also meets Dah'lis Stark, the step-mother of Elli and Iaclyn, who he spends the night with; Dah'lis reveals that Eclipse is a space station whose construction was started by Iaco and that work is being continued by Iaclyn. Cross is awoken the next morning by the local Security Police and discovers Dah'lis is dead. Framed, he flees and fakes his death so he can continue his investigate. He enlists the aid of Elli Stark and they travel to the Eclipse station orbiting Reltooine. There, Cross is captured by Iaclyn's droids. Iaclyn reveals that Iron Eclipse is "a virus that spreads to all droids making them servants -- our army. It eclipses all other programming -- including any injunctions against killing sentients." Cross also learns that Iaco is not really dead, but had his head grafted onto a droid body. Iaco kills Iaclyn while Cross and Elli flee. They are confronted by Inga who is infected by the virus, but in the end, Cross kills Iaco and Inga destroys the Eclipse station along with herself, as Cross and Elli escape the station.
Han Solo and Chewbacca are rescued by Jahan Cross when he travels to the Corporate Sector and, to repay Cross, they use the Millennium Falcon to transport Cross and Elli Stark to and from the Eclipse space station. They are shown on the cover of the first issue.
Star Wars: Agent of the Empire - Iron Eclipse #1a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (December 2011)
Dark Horse, following the lead of other publishers, was releasing retailer incentive covers for many first issues around the time this mini-series was published. This series has one of these incentive covers.
Star Wars: Agent of the Empire - Iron Eclipse #1b - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (December 2011)
As can be seen by the remaining covers, there are other characters who are involved in the twists and turns of this spy thriller.
Star Wars: Agent of the Empire - Iron Eclipse #2a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (January 2012)Star Wars: Agent of the Empire - Iron Eclipse #3a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (February 2012)Star Wars: Agent of the Empire - Iron Eclipse #4a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (March 2012)Star Wars: Agent of the Empire - Iron Eclipse #5a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (April 2012)
Jahan Cross would return in a followup mini-series, Star Wars: Agents of the Empire - Hard Targets.
A year ago, Star Wars: Shattered Empire #1 was the top selling comic book, in no small part to its tie-in to The Force Awakens. Marvel had plans to repeat the success of that mini-series with a tie-in to Rogue One this year, but circumstances prevented those plans from coming to fruition. It isn't known if their original plans have been abandoned or if we'll see them at a later date.
The 4-part Shattered Empire mini-series takes place in the aftermath of the destruction of the 2nd Death Star as the Imperial Remnant carries out the last order of the deceased Emperor Palpatine. Operation: Cinder has the Imperials attacking many worlds throughout the galaxy as an act of revenge and to hide Sith secrets. Swept up in the chaos are a married couple, pilot Lieutenant Shara Bey and special forces Sergeant Kes Dameron, whose lives intersect with those of the main Star Wars heroes throughout the series. In the first issue, Shara Bey is about to attack the Imperial Shuttle piloted by Luke Skywalker leaving the 2nd Death Star, but upon learning it is piloted by a friendly, flies escort for him until he clears the battlefield around the 2nd Death Star. The day after the celebration on Endor, Shara Bey and Kes Dameron take part in the assault on an Imperial base on the far side of the moon led by Han Solo. In the second issue, we learn Shara Bey and Kes Dameron had a son Poe, after the events of the first issue. Shara Bey is Princess Leia's pilot on a diplomatic mission to Naboo. Naboo comes under attack by Imperials who plan to use satellites to control the weather and leave the planet uninhabitable. In the third issue, Kes Dameron is part of the assault team led by Han Solo which discovers the plans of Operation: Cinder while attacking another Imperial stronghold. Back on Naboo, Shara Bey, Leia, and Queen Soruna use antique Naboo Fighters to launch an attack on the Imperial satellites. Protected by an Imperial Star Destroyer, the three are about to be overwhelmed by the Imperials when a squadron of Rebel Fighters led by Lando Calrissian come to the rescue. The final issue has Shara Bey recruited by Luke Skywalker on a mission to steal some Force trees from an Imperial base on Vetine. The series ends with Shara Bey and Kes Dameron retired and settled on a planet to raise their son Poe Dameron.
The first issue has the usual large number of variant and exclusive covers that defines the modern comic publishing era. Comic retailer Disposable Heroes Comics is the only retailer to have exclusives for all 4 issues.
Star Wars: Shattered Empire #1p - Marvel Comics, U.S. (September 2015)Star Wars: Shattered Empire #2d - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 2015)Star Wars: Shattered Empire #3d - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 2015)Star Wars: Shattered Empire #4d - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 2015)
The covers all feature the visage of an armored Imperial soldier with a scene below by artist Julian Totino Tedesco. The first issue has Darth Vader, followed by a Stormtrooper, a TIE Pilot, and an Imperial Scout. I like the idea, although the Darth Vader helmet should have been larger on the first issue to match the remaining issues.
Disposable Heroes Comics was based out of Belfast, Ireland and shut down operations in late 2015, early 2016 leaving many customers scrambling to recover money they had spent on comic pre-orders. It isn't clear if these store exclusives sold out prior to their closing or what happened to the remainder of their comic stock.
The Comics Chronicles released the August 2016 estimated sales earlier this month. DC Rebirth titles again dominated the top of the charts. Marvel's top title, Amazing Spider-Man #16, took the 4th position on the chart. Marvel's next title to chart was Star Wars, in position 20, and for the second month in a row is the only Star Wars title to break into the top 25 titles for the month.
Title
Issue
Monthly Rank
Estimated Sales
Last Estimated Sales
Percent Change
Star Wars
22
20
85,126
90,863
-6.31%
Darth Vader
24
31
75,401
77,430
-2.62%
Han Solo
3
26
67,816
83,738
-19.01%
Poe Dameron
5
44
52,581
57,712
-8.89%
The Force Awakens
3
51
41,575
49,423
-15.88%
For the second month in a row, every Star Wars title saw a drop in units sold. Like last month, Darth Vader had the smallest drop, with a loss of over 2,000 units. The main Star Wars title fell a surprisingly high 5,700+ units. In just 2 months, the main title has shed over 10,000 units. The recent announcement of a Yoda tale pre-The Phantom Menace in issue #26 should prove a much needed lift for this title. It has to be remembered that every comic has to compete for reader dollars and the best way to capture a reader's attention is to generate buzz for the title. Darth Vader is approaching it's end with issue #25 which has readers speculating which character's are going to live and die including fan favorites Doctor Aphra, 0-0-0, and BT-1. Star Wars has not had an attention grabbing story since the Vader Down crossover. This is not to say the stories since Vader Down have been bad, but to remain a top selling title these days requires an event to pull in readers.
Poe Dameron's loss is inline with the drop for Kanan's 5th issue. So far, Poe Dameron has proven to be a better seller. With the followup movie for The Force Awakens still over a year away, Poe Dameron could survive as one of Marvel's mid tier sellers until then.
Han Solo #3 fell another 19.01%, which is pretty normal for a mini-series. Han Solo #1 sold another 6,885 units in August. The Force Awakens #3 shed just under 8,000 units. Overall, both mini-series are performing as expected.
Marvel has not announced any new mini-series past Han Solo and The Force Awakens which will end in November. It has announce a new ongoing title which will debut in December, the same month Rogue One is due to hit theaters. The content of the title is being kept under wraps. This should help lift the Star Wars line out of the doldrums it has seen the last few months.
The following table shows the total number of Star Wars units sold per month since January 2015 along with the average number of sales per issue. Note this chart does not include reprints.
Month/Year
Total Estimated Sales
# Issues
Average Sale per Issue
January 2015
985,976
1
985,976
February 2015
526,451
3
175,484
March 2015
596,299
4
149,075
April 2015
537,812
4
134,453
May 2015
324,835
3
108,278
June 2015
396,931
4
99,232
July 2015
597,023
5
119,404
August 2015
430,241
5
86,048
September 2015
551,880
5
110,376
October 2015
953,289
10
95,329
November 2015
1,003,954
8
125,494
December 2015
507,545
6
84,591
January 2016
465,698
5
93,139
February 2016
288,355
4
72,088
March 2016
355,554
5
71,110
April 2016
533,976
5
106,795
May 2016
299,189
4
74,797
June 2016
545,833
6
90,972
July 2016
359,166
5
71,833
August 2016
322,499
5
64,500
The average sale per issue is the lowest for the modern Star Wars line and it would rank 42nd on the top 300 chart for the month of August. Star Wars trade paperbacks and reorders are not accounted for with these numbers. The Star Wars trade paperbacks are strong sellers.
Swedish Månadens äventyr usually contains two Indiana Jones or Star Wars stories inside. Månadens äventyr #12 from 1986 only contains the story from the doubled-sized Star Wars #92.
Månadens äventyr #12a - Semic Press, Sweden (December 1986) contains Star Wars #92
Unlike other Månadens äventyr issues that focused on Star Wars, this comic contains a different cover than a U.S. issue. The cover for Månadens äventyr #12 1986 is actually the art from the 2nd panel on page 2. Since this story is post-Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker is not actually facing off with Darth Vader; instead the confrontation is in a dream sequence. The interior pencils are the earliest published Star Wars work by Jan Duursema, who is best known for her work on the Dark Horse Star War line, most notably Star Wars: Legacy.
In August 1999 Dark Horse published two version of Star Wars #0, one for the online retailer AnotherUniverse.com and another for AnotherUniverse.com's mail order company, American Entertainment.
Star Wars #0 reprints the story The Keeper's World from the comic strip in Pizzazz #1 - 9.
Star Wars #0a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (August 1999) American Entertainment exclusive
The American Entertainment exclusive cover features Princess Leia. The art is re-purposed from a 1993 Topps Galaxy trading card by Brian Stelfreeze. The full body picture of Leia is taken from a well-known publicity photo. It isn't clear why her gown was drawn differently at the bottom as it looks odd on the cover.
Steve Milo founded American Entertainment, a mail order comic retailer based in Virginia, in 1984 at the nascence of the comic book speculation boom. In addition to sending out monthly catalogs, they also ran ads inside comics using the Entertainment This Month or ETM brand which catered to the speculation market. Having survived the comic speculation collapse in 1993, they started selling comics online as AnotherUniverse.com in 1996 and when that business boomed, they officially renamed the company AnotherUniverse.com in 1998. In 2000, Fandom.com acquired AnotherUniverse.com with Milo assuming the position of Executive Vice President of Merchandising. Fandom.com folded and their comic stock was purchased by New Dimension Comics in 2001, the final year the dot-com bubble burst.
The company sold comics with exclusive variant covers as both American Entertainment and AnotherUniverse.com, making them an early pioneers in exclusive comic covers along with Dynamic Forces. Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi - The Fall of the Sith Empire #1 American Entertainment exclusive is one of these comics.
Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi - The Fall of the Sith Empire #1c - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (1997) American Entertainment exclusive
Like Dynamic Forces, they also offered signed editions.
Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi - The Fall of the Sith Empire #1d - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (1997) American Entertainment exclusive signed
Signed copies come with a Certificate of Authenticity from Wizard Magazine as well as a holographic sticker affixed to the cover declaring the comic Wizard Authentic.
