Kieron Gillen And Kev Walker Are Working On A Mystery ‘Star Wars’ Comic
As much as I enjoyedStar Wars: The Force Awakens, this whole “Disney buys Lucasfilm and resets theStar Warscanon” thing has been worth it for the new comics. The new books being published byMarvelhave been solid all around and often sublime, capturing the voices of beloved characters and sending them on fantastic missions to every corner of this sprawling universe. Marvel has not been treating this as a cash-in side project – they’ve been routinely attaching upper tier writers and artist to these series and the results have been, more often than not, wonderful.
Another newStar Warscomic from Marvel has appeared on the horizon from writerKieron Gillenand artistKev Walkerand there’s no title yet. In fact, it’s just being calledStar Wars: Classifiedat the moment, with retailers being encouraged to order issues before the premise is even revealed.
Of course, we’re talking about a comic book series withStar Warsin the title – if a store orders it, it will sell.But what’s really interesting about this mystery seriesis that it’s keeping Gillen in theStar Warsfold. Although he’s regularly done work with Marvel superheroes in the past, Gillen has been writing the ongoingDarth Vadercomic for the company since its first issue in 2015. That series has been nothing short of fantastic, but the final issue,Darth Vader#25, is set to arrive later this year. Gillen has a passionate following for his creator-owned books likePhonogramandThe Wicked + The Divine, so whateverStar Wars: Classifiedis, it’s something big and special enough to keep him playing in this particular sandbox.
So, what couldStar Wars: Classifiedbe? My first guess would be that it’s a new series based around Doctor Aphra, the morally twisted scientist and explorer introduced by Gillen in the pages ofDarth Vader. After all, her fate is currently up in the air at this point and to introduce a follow-up series around this character before readers learn whether she lives or dies would be a huge spoiler. However, Aphra is a name that will only be known to those who read theDarth Vaderseries and it’s hard to imagine Marvel giving the go-ahead to an ongoingStar Warsseries based on a character who isn’t especially well known.
My second guess would be that this series is somehow connected toRogue One: A Star Wars Storyand that the secretive nature of that film has extended to all comics in its orbit. Then again, I could be completely and totally wrong and this could be a series based on someone well-known and popular.
WhenStar Wars: Classifiedarrives in December, it will be the third ongoing Star Wars comic alongside the flagshipStar Warsseries (which will soon explore some of Yoda’s untold stories) andStar Wars: Poe Dameron. As usual, these core series will be backed up by rotating five-issue miniseries spotlighting single characters.
