The last group of characters to be featured on the Galactic Icon variant covers are the droids.
Star Wars: Darth Vader #23b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (November 2018) Galactic Icons variant 31/36Star Wars #56c - Marvel Comics, U.S. (November 2018) Galactic Icons variant 32/36Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #26b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (November 2018) Galactic Icons variant 33/36Star Wars #58c - Marvel Comics, U.S. (December 2018) Galactic Icons variant 34/36Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #27b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (December 2018) Galactic Icons variant 35/36Star Wars: Darth Vader #25b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (December 2018) Galactic Icons variant 36/36
Noticeably absent are 0-0-0 and BT-1 who are far more important to modern lore than IG-88 and 2-1B.
I would like to see more of these Galactic Icon variant covers. There are some big omissions from movie characters like Padme Amidala, Jar Jar Binks, Bail Organa, Lando Calrissian, Mon Mothma, and Admiral Holdo. None of the Rogue One characters were included and soldiers from the Republic, Federation, Empire, and the Rebellion would also be nice additions.
The next six Galactic Icon variant covers feature an eclectic group that can only be called the scum and villainy characters.
Star Wars #53c - Marvel Comics, U.S. (September 2018) Galactic Icons variant 25/36Star Wars: Darth Vader #21b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (September 2018) Galactic Icons variant 26/36Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #24b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (September 2018) Galactic Icons variant 27/36Star Wars #55c - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 2018) Galactic Icons variant 28/36Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #25b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 2018) Galactic Icons variant 29/36Star Wars: Darth Vader #22b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (October 2018) Galactic Icons variant 30/36
One character not present that come to mind is DJ, the back stabbing slicer from The Last Jedi. I like how Doctor Aphra is included and I would have liked Black Krrsantan to join this motley group of characters.
There are only three Jedi characters on the next three Galactic Icon covers. Granted, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Yoda are the most prominent Jedi from the movies outside of Luke Skywalker and Rey who are with the sequel trilogy themed characters.
Star Wars #52c - Marvel Comics, U.S. (August 2018) Galactic Icons variant 22/36Star Wars: Darth Vader #19b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (August 2018) Galactic Icons variant 23/36Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #23b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (August 2018) Galactic Icons variant 24/36
Since we have covers for Thrawn and Hondo Ohnaka, I would have liked covers for other prominent animated characters like Ahsoka Tano, Ezra Bridger, and Kanan Jarrus.
Villains is the theme of the next six Galactic Icon variant covers. Featured are villains from the prequel trilogy, the original trilogy, and even Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Star Wars #49c - Marvel Comics, U.S. (June 2018) Galactic Icons variant 16/36Star Wars: Darth Vader #17b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (June 2018) Galactic Icons variant 17/36Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #21b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (June 2018) Galactic Icons variant 18/36Star Wars #50d - Marvel Comics, U.S. (July 2018) Galactic Icons variant 19/36Star Wars: Darth Vader #18b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (July 2018) Galactic Icons variant 20/36Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #22b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (July 2018) Galactic Icons variant 21/36
Kylo Ren is part of the sequel trilogy themed covers. Other notable villians, like Boba Fett and Jabba the Hutt, are included with the scum and villainy themed covers.
The next six Galactic Icon variant covers all show characters from Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Star Wars #46c - Marvel Comics, U.S. (April 2018) Galactic Icons variant 10/36Star Wars: Darth Vader #14b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (April 2018) Galactic Icons variant 11/36Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #19b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (April 2018) Galactic Icons variant 12/36Star Wars #47c - Marvel Comics, U.S. (May 2018) Galactic Icons variant 13/36Star Wars: Darth Vader #16b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (May 2018) Galactic Icons variant 14/36Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #20b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (May 2018) Galactic Icons variant 15/36
I like the above choices, but noticeably absent is Dryden Vos, Tobias Beckett, and Beckett's crew. Interestingly, the Ranger Trooper above is the only Stormtroopers shown on any of these Galactic Icon covers. (Captain Phasma is a named character, so she does not count.) L3-37 is with the droids themed covers.
Everyone knows that Star Wars #1 was a sales phenomenon for Marvel. It sold over one million copies and remains the top selling comic book in the 21st century. It did not hurt that Star Wars comic enthusiasts had 78 variant covers to select from and many collections have way more than one copy of this comic because of this. But did you know that the second best selling modern Star Wars comic is the one-shot Vader Down #1 with reported sales of over 450,000 copies? Vader Down had a mere 45 variant covers which means there is more cover artwork than there are pages inside the comic!
One of the variant covers for Vader Down #1 is by Clay Mann. This cover, when connected to his covers for the other 5 parts of this event, form one panoramic image of Darth Vader flanked by our heroes on one side and his villainous cohorts on the other.
Star Wars: Vader Down #1c - Marvel Comics, U.S. (November 2015)Star Wars: Darth Vader #13b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (November 2015)Star Wars #13c - Marvel Comics, U.S. (December 2015)Star Wars: Darth Vader #14b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (December 2015)Star Wars #14c - Marvel Comics, U.S. (January 2015)Star Wars: Darth Vader #15b - Marvel Comics, U.S. (January 2015)
Below are the connecting covers for the heroes followed by the connecting covers for Darth Vader and his allies.
