By George & Josh Bate
The mainline Star Wars comic series from Marvel Comics, which came to an end in 2024 with a story taking place between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, will be relaunched this May with a new story set during the New Republic era!
Written by Alex Segura with cover and interior art by Phil Noto, the new Star Wars comic takes place after the events of Return of the Jedi and the recently concluded Battle of Jakku comic series. The story will follow Luke, Han, and Leia (in addition to allies like Mon Mothma and Beilert Valance) as the rebel heroes try to forge a new order while holding off against pirates and thieves who are trying to fill the power vacuum left by the defeated Empire.
The publisher’s summary for the upcoming first issue of Star Wars (2025) is as follows: “AN EPIC NEW ADVENTURE BEGINS FOR LUKE, LEIA AND HAN IN THE WAKE OF RETURN OF THE JEDI!
LEIA ORGANA must grapple with a new alliance opposed to the goals of the New Republic!
New York Times best-selling author ALEX SEGURA launches the bold next era of STAR WARS.
LUKE SKYWALKER must defend the NEW REPUBLIC from a bloodthirsty gang of mercenaries!
HAN SOLO investigates a deadly underworld mystery — and saves a surprising ally!”
“Now that we’ve put the period at the end of the Galactic Civil War with the Battle of Jakku, we can speed ahead into a new, uncharted era, with some new galactic threats, foes, and mysteries for our beloved heroes to grapple with, blending the familiar with the new and shocking,” author Segura said regarding the new comic. “These stories will be packed with action and the character moments Star Wars fans have come to expect, featuring twists on the galaxy and landscape we know, with an eye toward making sure people can jump in easily and with any issue. We can’t wait.”
Phil Noto, who has illustrated some of the best Star Wars comics covers of all time, will provide the artwork for both the covers and the interiors of the new series. “I’ve been a giant Star Wars fan since A New Hope and have been lucky enough in the past decade to realize my childhood dream of drawing Star Wars as a job,” Noto said. “Alex is an amazing writer and has come up with some great storylines and new characters for this series and I’m thrilled for the opportunity to bring them to life on the page! It’s also been exciting to draw the classic characters in the post-Return of the Jedi era because there’s no existing film or TV versions of them. I get to create new looks for them while also having reference of the actors from the 80s to help sell the look of this timeline.”
Check out the cover (left) and variant cover (right) of Star Wars #1 by Phil Noto and Leinil Francis Yu respectively below….
Issue 1 of Star Wars (2025) arrives on May 7 and is available to pre-order now.