From 1984 (probably): The STAR WARS ANNUAL was a British Christmas tradition for a generation of Star Warriors during the Star Age... but this is a permeation that you may be less familiar with.
Grandreams (MARVEL UK's early-eighties partner-in-crime for Christmas hardbacks) put together this special double-length compilation of Marvel's THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RETURN OF THE JEDI movie adaptations as a store-exclusive sold through BHS (formally British Home Stores).
The ESB strip is a rerun of the "wrong Yoda' version with a purple off-model version of the venerable Jedi master based on some pre-production art.
Nice to see so much star wars coverage here after my news about titan last week.
ReplyDeleteJust a little more speculation on my part but maybe titan or another publisher is waiting until the next star wars movie is released. They could then launch a new title with the ( inevitable ) comic adaptation of THE FORCE AWAKENS much as titan did with the phantom menace back in 1999.
Or maybe a new comic will emerge sooner with either uk re-prints of the new marvel title or original strips. What do you think slow robot...?
Hmmm... I'm not sure.
DeleteI imagine that a lot of the current licenses will either be allowed to wither ahead of the movie or have to be renegotiated to encompass the new film. After all, if you signed a deal five years ago to simply cover the original six films, the license would have been a lot less valuable (to both sides) than one that encompasses a brand new set of movies.
Disney, no doubt, have a very complicated and tightly coordinated marketing and merchandising plan in place for the new movies so, I suspect, international editions will also be locked into that plan and individual publishers wont be allowed to "go rogue" and do their own thing. That's why Disney killed the 3D versions of the previous films so quickly after the takeover, they didn't want to dilute the brand with (arguably) inferior and unpopular reheated old product. They wanted a clean slate.
Disney don't have to work so hard to attract older and lapsed fans to the new movies but they may have to do a little more work to convince younger, would-be, fans that they should be interested. Parent power will be incredibly powerful because older fans will want to take their kids to see the films on the big screen.
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ReplyDeletesome very perceptive comments on Disney...their accquisition of the star wars property must have been a major factor in the axing of the titan comic ( apart from titans own notorious penchant for dropping titles without explanation, ARROW and SUPERNATURAL being two such casualties )
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget that Disney have made it clear that they are ignoring all previous spin-off comics and novels and that all future stories will be ' tightly co-ordinated ' as you put it.