The characters of Disney and Lucasfilm’s upcoming film “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” are set to appear first on a Marvel comics series. The comics will serve as a prequel to the movie that’s slated to hit theaters later this year.
Marvel announced that the comics will be composed of a three-part prequel series and a one-shot stand-alone during comic during the Diamond Comics Retailer Breakfast at the C2E2 in Chicago on Friday, March 18. The comics are expected to be part of a “big merchandising wave” that will begin the countdown to December when “Rogue One” is scheduled to release. The companies behind “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” carried out a similar marketing strategy late last year as well.
Marvel plans to launch the upcoming “Rogue One” three-issue prequel comics in October. These will be followed by the one-off issue at a later date. The publisher did not provide information regarding the comics’ writer or art team, and no art reveal accompanied the announcement.
The comics will serve as fans’ first look at the group of rebel heroes before they banded together to hatch the plan of stealing the plans of the first Death Star. Marvel has confirmed to IGN that the “Rogue One” comics will be a lead-in to the film rather than an adaptation.
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” takes viewers to the events that transpired before “Star Wars: A New Hope.” The movie is directed by Gareth Edwards and stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, and Riz Ahmed. It is slated to release on Dec. 16, 2016.
