The announcement of the Thrawn comicbook adaption at SDCC 2017 was met with a lukewarm reception across fandom, especially for those hoping for new in-Universe material from Marvel. This will be the first comic adaption of a new canonical novel and will stand alongside adaptions of TFA and Rogue One, but this is far from the first time stories from Star Wars novels or films have been adapted to comics. The entire Legends Thrawn trilogy was put to panels by Darkhorse in 1995, each OT film found an an adaption in the first run of Marvel comics (1977), and the Prequels saw their own comic iterations.
New Canon Marvel Comic Adaptions
Star Wars: Thrawn
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Comicbook adaptations in their simplest form offer a more visual type of storytelling and allow artists to translate written descriptions to the panels. Star Wars has always been a visual experience with a huge part of the story expressed through careful attention to world building details and state-of-the-art special effects. The novels are a fantastic addition to the Universe but I still find I’m craving more cinematically from the stories, and this is where comics come in.
What could be; an image of Ceina Ree drawn for Star Wars Fantasy Flight Game, Armada.
The next step in the the evolution of bringing these stories to life is an artist interpretation of the characters and scenes in the books. How could you not be excited about seeing Lost Stars or Aftermath adapted to comics or a full series worth of artist interpretations of characters like Ciena Ree, Thane Keyrell, Rae Sloane, and Norra Wexley?
With the current run of Dr. Aphra giving fandom the confidence in Marvel to create new and exciting characters in the Star Wars Universe, I understand the angst behind what could be interpreted as hesitation to produce fresh content, and maybe even double dipping. But, I really see this as an opportunity to enrich the novels with the visualizations that add an another layer to the Star Wars stories. I don’t want the adaptions to take the place of other comicbook stories but I fully support them being apart of the new canon and I'm looking forward to more announcements of comicbook adaptations!
To leave you with a tease, images of Norra Wexley and Rae Sloane drawn by Steve Thomas for the Barnes & Nobel release of Empires End give us a little more insight into what could be with more comic adaptions.
Norra Wexley
Rae Sloane
Marvel's next adaptation, Star Wars: Thrawn will hit shelves in February, 2018 starting with an oversized 30 page issue and will run for 6 issues.
What are your thoughts of Marvel adapting the new novels to comicbooks? Let us know in the comments below!
Tim