Everything you missed in the Lucasfilm Publishing panel at NYCC

The Lucasfilm Publishing panel at New York Comic Con is always a delight; this year’s announcements did not disappoint. The Lucasfilm Publishing:  Stories From a Galaxy Far, Far Away… panel gave fans a first look at what’s to come with an all-star group of authors, including Megan Crouse, Claudia Gray, Marc Guggenheim, E.K. Johnston, John Jackson Miller, Greg Pak, Ethan Saks, Charles Soule, Rosemary Soule, and Alyssa Wong and were also joined by Michael Siglain, Lucasfilm Publishing creative director.

StarWars.com shared all the announcements you missed from the panel:

Comics

Just in time for the 25th anniversary of The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Mace Windu arrives in January. This miniseries is written by Marc Bernardin with the cover by Mateus Manhanini.

It was revealed that the comic series Bounty Hunters will end with issue #42, but writer Ethan Sacks announced his next project: Star Wars: Jango Fett. This miniseries debuts in March with a cover reveal from artist Leinil Francis Yu.

Following his entry into live action, Grand Admiral Thrawn is back with an adaptation comic of the novel Thrawn: Alliances. Jody Houser, who teams up once again with Thrawn creator Timothy Zahn, returns to adapt the second novel from the new Thrawn trilogy.

Dark Horse Comics announced the first two graphic novels called Hyperspace Stories. The first is Qui-Gon, written by George Mann. Andrea Mutti is the artist. The second is Obi-Wan, written by Cecil Castelucci with art by Lucas Marangon. Michael Cho illustrated both covers.

Becoming a Halloween tradition, the next edition of spooky stories for all ages returns with Tales from the Death Star, the next series after the Tales from Vader’s Castle. Vicenzo Riccardi, Fico Ossio and Sebastian Cheng, Ingo Römling, and Juan Samu join this round as the artists for the Cavan Scott series.

Books

A new visual archive is coming to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Return of the Jedi. Writers Kelly Knox, Clayton Sandell, and S.T. Bende and cover artist Ise Ananphada created this book to pay tribute to the final film of the original trilogy along with Insight Editions.

Kelly Knox also returns with Star Wars: Dad Jokes, a punny joke book perfect for every Star Wars-loving dad. Johnny Sampson provides the illustrations.

The High Republic

The High Republic had its own section of the panel with upcoming books and comics. Fans were given a bigger look at Phase III, with cover art from Shadows of Starlight, The High Republic, and The High Republic Adventures. These cover highlights include looks at the villainous Marchion Ro, Keeve Trennis dueling Lourna Dee, and Kantam Sy squaring off against Tartak Vil. These issues will arrive next year.

Another unique book is Star Wars: The High Republic – The Lightsaber Collection, which showcases a detailed look at each lightsaber from this era. It will also include new artwork for those who wield these blades.

Fans also saw more pages from the upcoming Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia, with pages from the Path of the Open Hand, Maz Kanata, Porter Engle, and more.

The final High Republic entry was a look at artist Valerie Valdivia’s work for the kids’ book Jedi Brave in Every Way by the father-daughter duo of Charles Soule and Rosemary Soule.

Other noteworthy moments

E.K. Johnston and Charles Soule added some insight on Qi’ra from Solo: A Star Wars Story who has recently been featured in her fair share of novels and comics. Friends of the Force podcast live-tweeted the panel, featuring Johnston saying, “Usually I write the people who make good decisions and do nice things for their friends. This is not one of those cases.”

Soule followed up that Qi’ra is only trying to do the right thing in an unfair galaxy.

John Jackson Miller teased some of the more humorous moments from his upcoming novel The Living Force, like saying how Qui-Gon Jinn essentially tells the Jedi Council to “touch grass.” He describes the book as a Jedi road trip with the 12 High Council members with Ki-Adi Mundi and Yarael Poof having “one of the Lucasfilm readers said it was one of the funniest things they’ve seen in Star Wars.”

The current horror Marvel comic event series, Dark Droids, was brought up with a peek at what’s to come. While they note that Scourge is a sympathetic character, Alyssa Wong would jokingly ask Charles Soule about the horror aspects, saying, “How did you get away with that?”

Wong also noted the building romance between Aphra and Sana Starros in Doctor Aphra won’t be without its bumps in the road.

The Lightsaber

Last but certainly not least, Shop Disney will sell 5000 limited edition High Republic FX lightsabers based on Jedi Master Stellan Gios’ blade later this fall. The crossguard lightsaber will include other exclusives. It will also be available in Disney parks.

That wraps up everything you missed at the Lucasfilm Publishing:  Stories From a Galaxy Far, Far Away… panel. Stay up to date on all Star Wars book news here at Dork Side of the Force.