If anyone has read the newest Previews Dark Horse solicitations for Star Wars: Legacy they surely noticed that it was mentioned the newest arc titled Extremes will be the last one, ending the series at its 50th issue. This news has pretty much sent a wave of surprise and disappointment to the fans that have supported this book, which has been almost unanimously viewed as the best in Dark Horse’s line of Star Wars titles. An announcement was also made on the Dark Horse Facebook page and throughout this article will be several excerpts from that announcement.
We are proud to say that the quality of Star Wars: Legacy has never dropped. John Ostrander and Jan Duursema have consistently created issue after issue of excellent art for nearly four years straight. Very few creators can claim such landmark success, and we hope John and Jan are as proud as we are of delivering such great material.
We have never felt that John and Jan’s work dipped below the benchmark of fine sequential art. So, it was a hard, but ultimately necessary, decision to close this chapter of the Star Wars universe with issue #50.
Star Wars: Legacy #50
Those who have been reading the series from the beginning might be as confused as I am as to how this era can be summed up in only fifty issues with so many interesting characters and the in depth subplots that have been established over the past few years. It seems impossible. This really has been a consistently great series, and it’s actually a little frustrating that Star Wars: Legacy will no longer be on the shelf while loads of craptacular books continue to take up space. I guess that’s the nature of the business though.
At this time, we cannot announce what, if any, projects John and Jan will be a part of in the future. We hope fans will appreciate our proprietary stance in this matter. Know that we will make announcements regarding new Star Wars projects at the proper time, in coordination with our partners at Lucasfilm.
We are now focused on making our future Star Wars comics as incredible as possible, including Star Wars Adventures, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Invasion—Rescues, and the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic. We are also extremely excited to work in conjunction with DelRey and writer John Jackson Miller to create a brand-new tale in a largely unexplored time with Star Wars: Knight Errant.
We ask that fans continue to support the Star Wars line, and us, and hope that any concerns will subside as we move forward.
Now various criticisms have been aimed at Dark Horse and Lucasfilm for the series’ cancellation (Dark Horse stated it’s their decision alone) and in my opinion it’s unjustified because we as fans don’t know what’s goin’ on behind closed doors. I’m willing to bet a lot of it is coming from the same people who wrote the series off as “the end of Star Wars” when it was announced back in 2006. I actually hope anyone who did that feels a bit silly now after seeing that Star Wars: Legacy actually met, exceeded, and blew the doors off of any expectations. I’ll reserve much of what I’m thinking because I don’t know the final outcome, so I’ll save it when I review the final arc of Star Wars: Legacy. The optimist in me is hoping that this era of the franchise is visited again soon and maybe with a title change to signify that…though I’d be happy with Star Wars: Legacy Episode II.
Jan Duursema and John Ostrander told a story set over one hundred years after Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, starring Cade Skywalker, a direct descendant of Luke who has basically discarded his Jedi heritage and dropped the Skywalker name as he is now a bounty hunter/pirate. He’s accompanied by his only friends and crew Jariah Syn and Deliah Blue who don’t (at the beginning of the series) know that Cade’s a Jedi. While at this time period the galaxy is basically being governed by the Sith under the rule of Darth Kryat, and as things progress there’s a war on the horizon between the Imperials, Sith, and the Galactic Alliance with a few Jedi sprinkled here and there. Jan and John gave enough nods to the past of the franchise without ever getting stuck there as we only saw one returning character- R2-D2, and even he hasn’t been seen in a long time. The origin of Darth Kryat intertwined with that of Ben Kenobi’s history and it worked perfectly, and other than a few appearances from “ghost” Luke the series pretty much explored new territory on a regular basis, giving us fresh new characters and stories to enjoy.
Star Wars: Legacy #50 ships July 28 and from what I can tell it’s not going to be some double sized-gate fold-special edition that’s going to jack the price up. It’ll be the regular $2.99 cover price that I have had the pleasure of spending over the past four years, and though I’m not looking forward to this being over, I am hoping that Dark Horse allows Durrsema and Ostrander to give us more stories from this era. It’s hard to find a book that has a great story as well as great art and to do that for as long as they did is quite a feat!
To whom it may concern at dark horse…… Really? I’ll admit some personal disappointment cause i looked forward to that book every month, but…. how are you going to properly end this thing in the next two issues? Why are you killing one of the best era’s of the SW universe so soon? There had best be something in the future that comes back to this.
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I’m sure not too far down the road it will return. Star Wars is such a huge franchise.
Dark Horse would be foolish not to return to this era just because it allows for so much fresh and NEW material for the franchise
I am 100% NOT down with this news at all. Legacy was easily the best Star Wars title. Man this sucks.
even though I own every single issue Andy I’m down with your idea that Dark Horse release these issue in two nice lookin’ hardcovers!
Cade Skywalker is what you would get if Han and Luke had a baby and you throw in a little of Chuck Norris’ genes
ithink star wars legacy will return and i think legacy was just the start to a whole new era !!!
opps i think i mispelled a few things
i think this is just the start to a new era
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To whom it may concern at dark horse…… Really? I’ll admit some personal disappointment cause i looked forward to that book every month, but…. how are you going to properly end this thing in the next two issues? Why are you killing one of the best era’s of the SW universe so soon? There had best be something in the future that comes back to this.
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