By now, everyone has had a chance to view the Force Awakens trailer that was released on April 16, 2015. Several sites picked up immediately on the similarities between the Kylo Ren villain in the trailer and the Darth Revan character from the Knights of the Old Republic video game. Darth Revan appears several times in the Knights of the Old Republic comic series, but his first appearance in a comic is in Star Wars Tales #23.
Star Wars Tales #23c - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (May 2005) photo cover
Darth Revan appears in a single panel in a flashback in a story titled Shadows and Light. He is the character in shadows wearing the robe in the left most panel.
Star Wars Tales #23 - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (May 2005) Darth Revan panel
Interestingly, copies of this comic have dried up on eBay with the remaining copies priced at $20 or more, no doubt due to the speculation surrounding this character. While there is no doubt Darth Revan's look was an influence for Kylo Ren's look, it remains to be seen if Kylo Ren is Darth Revan or Darth Revan is just used as inspiration for the look of this new villain.
A year ago, Dark Horse Comics began publishing the mini-series, Star Wars: Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir. This is the last series Dark Horse would start publishing for their Star Wars line and is the first comic series in the new canon. This is also the only series Dark Horse published that is considered part of the new canon. The series is an adaptation of sixth season scripts for Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series that were never produced.
Star Wars: Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir #1a - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (May 2014)Star Wars: Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir #1b - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (May 2014) Las Vegas Retailer Summit 2014Star Wars: Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir #1c - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (May 2014) Atlanta Wizard World Comic Con 2014 limited to 1000Star Wars: Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir #1d - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (May 2014) Atlanta Wizard World Comic Con 2014 black and white; limited to 500Star Wars: Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir #1e - Dark Horse Comics, U.S. (July 2014) San Diego Comic Con 2014
For the first issue of this series, Dark Horse published a Las Vegas Retailer Summit variant, 2 Atlanta Wizard World Comic Con variants, and a San Diego Comic Con variant in addition to the standard issue. The notable variants though are the 2 Atlanta variants. At just 1000 and 500 copies each, these are some of the lowest printed Dark Horse Star Wars issues in their 23 years of publishing Star Wars comics.
The April estimated sales are in from The Comics Chronicles and the Star Wars titles continue their strong performance:
Title
Issue
Monthly Rank
Estimated Sales
Star Wars
4
1
203,817
Darth Vader
4
5
123,394
Kanan Last Padawan
1
8
108,167
Princess Leia
3
10
102,434
The Star Wars title continues to lead the pack (and the sales chart) with over 200,000 copies. Kanan Last Padawan #1 debuted with over 100,000 copies, which is very strong for this relatively new character in the Star Wars mythos. Both Darth Vader and Princess Leia also have a decent showing with each selling over 100,000 copies.
In 1980, along with the paperback version of The Empire Strikes Back, Italians also received a trade paperback Guerre Stellari: L'Impero Colpisce Ancora. Measuring 8" x 11", this trade paperback contains the altered Yoda pictures which look more like the movie Yoda.
Guerre Stellari: L'Impero Colpisce Ancora - Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Italy (1980)Guerre Stellari: L'Impero Colpisce Ancora - Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Italy (1980) back
What makes Canadian and British pence copies unique among foreign Star Wars editions is they are printed on the same presses as the U.S. editions. At times over the years, Marvel Comics felt it was necessary to print a different cover for Canadian newsstand copies to account for the different valuation between a U.S. and Canadian dollar. Marvel Star Wars #64 - 107 all have Canadian newsstand copies as well as Star Wars Annuals #2 and 3, Return of the Jedi #1 - 4, Marvel Movie Showcase #1 and 2, Ewoks #1 - 14, and Droids #1 - 8. Because of the lower Canadian population and the shift from newsstand to direct, these Canadian editions are harder to find than their U.S. counterparts.
The only difference between the Canadian edition and the U.S. edition is the cover price. The Canadian edition of Droids #1 is priced at $0.95 where the U.S. edition is priced at $0.75.
Marvel Comic's Star Wars titles have taken 4 of the Top 10 spots for April 2015, including Star Wars #4 placing in 1st. The freshman title Kanan: The Last Padawan #1 placed 8th, which is very strong debut for a non-movie related title. Head on over to The Comics Chronicles to read more.
Forbidden Planet.com offered 2 Star Wars #1 variants in January 2015 like many other retailers. They offered a 3000 edition color version of a Star Wars cover featuring Boba Fett by Adi Granov and a 1500 edition black and white version.
Star Wars #1x - Marvel Comics, U.S. (January 2015) Forbidden Planet color variantStar Wars #1y - Marvel Comics, U.S. (January 2015) Forbidden Planet black and white variant
Like several retailers who offered a Star Wars #1 variant, both their versions sold out quickly. They ordered another variant, called the "Hoth" variant, which features a black and white background with a color Boba Fett.
Star Wars #1z - Marvel Comics, U.S. (April 2015) Forbidden Planet "Hoth" variant
There are still copies of the "Hoth" variant for sale on the Forbidden Planet.com website, but they all are signed by the cover artist Adi Granov.
