Maythe Force Be With You
Cover artwork for Star Wars Tales

Original generated cover art — not a reproduction of any published cover

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Star Wars Tales

A quarterly sixty-four-page anthology where the licence was allowed to be strange: gag strips, prestige short stories, and a standing policy that nothing in it had to be true.

Twenty-four quarterly issues from 29 September 1999 to 13 July 2005, each running several short stories by different teams. Stories from #1–20 were retroactively labelled Infinities and placed outside continuity; those in #21–24 counted unless a story said otherwise. Dates in the issue table are documented release dates — Dark Horse printed no cover date on these comics.

Publisher
Dark Horse Comics
Published
29 September 1999 – 13 July 2005, quarterly
Issues
24 issues
Format
Anthology
Continuity
Star Wars Legends
Writers
Jason Hall, Ron Marz, Ryder Windham, John Ostrander, Kevin Rubio, Mark Evanier, W. Haden Blackman, Garth Ennis, Jim Woodring, Timothy Zahn, Peter David, Tony Isabella, Dave Cooper, Dan Jolley
Artists
Lucas Marangon, Claudio Castellini, Chris Brunner, Kilian Plunkett, Robert Teranishi, Howard M. Shum, Jan Duursema, Igor Kordey, Dave Cooper, Sean Phillips, Tom Fowler, Rick Leonardi, Sergio Aragonés, Francisco Ruiz Velasco
Cover artists
Kilian Plunkett, Andrew Robinson, Leinil Francis Yu, Lee Bermejo, Brandon Badeaux, Igor Kordey, Claudio Castellini, Dave Dorman, Matt Hollingsworth, Francisco Ruiz Velasco, Kia Asamiya, Jon Foster, John McCrea, Tim Bradstreet

The verdict

The most interesting failure in Star Wars publishing: an anthology that was better than the line around it precisely because nobody had to keep it canonical.

Star Wars Tales ran quarterly for twenty-four issues and sixty-four pages a time, and its editorial position was unusual: the stories were not required to be canonical. Later, Lucasfilm's continuity database quietly absorbed some of them and firmly rejected others. At the time, the effect was liberating.

What that permission bought

It bought range. One issue will hold a serious Old Republic short, a four-page joke, and a mood piece with no dialogue. Kevin Rubio's Tag & Bink Are Dead — two hopeless Rebel officers accidentally present at every event of the original trilogy — began here and is funnier than a licensed comic has any business being. Karen Traviss, Timothy Zahn, Ron Marz and Peter David all wrote for it. So did Jim Woodring, which tells you how wide the net was.

The cost

Anthologies are judged by their weakest strip, and Tales has plenty. A quarterly with three or four stories an issue is a lot of pages to fill, and the filler is very visibly filler. The photo-cover variants that ran alongside the painted covers have aged into a period curiosity.

Where it sits

The six collected volumes are the sane way in — four issues each, in order, and cheap secondhand. Read it as the pressure valve for a publishing line that was otherwise spending the 2000s being extremely careful.

Every issue

Issue list — 24 of 24 catalogued

Number, title, cover date and credits. A dash means the field is not verified — not that it is empty.

Issue list: number, title, cover date, credits, story arc and notes
# TitleCover date WriterArtistCover artist ArcNotes
129 September 1999Jim Woodring, Timothy Zahn, Ron Marz, Peter DavidRobert Teranishi, Igor Kordey, Claudio Castellini, Martin Egeland (pencils), Robert Teranishi, Igor Kordey, Claudio Castellini, Howard M. Shum (inks)Igor Kordey
25 January 2000Tony Isabella, Ron Marz, Dave Cooper, Dan JolleyJohn Nadeau, Claudio Castellini, Dave Cooper, Sean Phillips (pencils), Jordi Ensign, Claudio Castellini, Dave Cooper, Sean Phillips (inks)Claudio Castellini
329 March 2000Ryder Windham, John Ostrander, Rich Handley, Darko Macan, Rich HeddenTom Fowler, Jan Duursema, Chris Brunner, Rick Leonardi (pencils), Tom Fowler, Rick Magyar, Chris Brunner, Mark Lipka (inks)Dave Dorman
428 June 2000Lovern Kindzierski, Kevin Rubio, Mark Evanier, Sergio Aragonés, Kilian PlunkettRamón F. Bachs, Robert Teranishi, Lucas Marangon, Sergio Aragonés, Kilian Plunkett (pencils), Lucas Marangon, Kilian Plunkett (inks)Kilian Plunkett
527 September 2000Andrew Robinson, Matt Hollingsworth
620 December 2000Tom Fassbender, Jim Pascoe, Ian Edginton, Mark Schultz, Mark Evanier, Sean Konot, Scott Morse, Ryder WindhamLucas Marangon, Eric Powell, Mark Martin, Rick Neilsen, Kellie Strom, Sergio Aragonés, Scott Morse, Kilian Plunkett (pencils), Drew Geraci, Keith Barnett (inks)Kilian Plunkett
77 March 2001W. Haden Blackman, Phil Amara, Randy Stradley, Beau Smith, Kevin RubioLucas Marangon, Jan Duursema, Francisco Herrera, Francisco Ruiz Velasco, Mike Deodato, Jr. (pencils), Ray Kryssing, Howard M. Shum, Neil Nelson (inks)Francisco Ruiz Velasco
813 June 2001Ryan Kinnaird, Andi Watson, Henry Gilroy, John OstranderLucas Marangon, Ryan Kinnaird, Andi Watson, Dario Brizuela, Glenn Murakami, Francis Portela (pencils), Howard M. Shum (inks)Kia Asamiya
910 October 2001Ron Marz, Dave McCaig, Jay StephensChris Brunner, Rick Leonardi, Dave McCaig, Jay Stephens (pencils), Terry Austin (inks)Jon Foster
1012 December 2001Garth Ennis, Mike Kennedy, Christian Read, Jason Hall, Brett MatthewsLucas Marangon, John McCrea, Francisco Ruiz Velasco, Chris Slane, Christina Chen, Vatche Mavlian (pencils), Jimmy Palmiotti (inks)Leinil Francis Yu
1120 March 2002Kia Asamiya, Garth Ennis, Jason Hall, Scott Allie, Jan DuursemaLucas Marangon, Kia Asamiya, Amanda Connor, Chris Brunner, Paul Lee, Brian Herring, Jan Duursema, Dave McCaig (pencils), Jimmy Palmiotti (inks)Kilian Plunkett
125 June 2002John McCrea
1325 September 2002Scott Beatty, Fabian Nicieza, Jim Krueger, W. Haden Blackman, Bob Harris, Jason HallLucas Marangon, Sanford Greene, Timothy II, Kagan McLeod, Michael Zulli, Jerome Opeña (pencils), Kris Kaufman (inks)Tim Bradstreet
1411 December 2002Pat Lee
1512 March 2003Jason Hall, Christopher Cerasi, Jim Beard, Jay Laird, Scott Lobdell, Brian AugustynSunny Lee, Kilian Plunkett, Todd Nauck, Timothy II, Sean Murphy, Paco Medina (pencils), Randy Emberlin, Jamie Mendoza, Joe Sanchez (inks)Leinil Francis Yu
1625 June 2003Ashley Wood
171 October 2003UDON
1824 December 2003Cam Kennedy
1914 April 2004Andrew RobinsonSources conflict on the date: Dark Horse’s own listing gives 14 April 2004, Marvel.com gives 14 May 2004. The publisher’s date is used here.
2030 June 2004Tony Millionaire
2120 October 2004Lee Bermejo
2223 February 2005Lee BermejoContains "Honor Bound" by Ian Edginton and Steve Pugh, one of the few Republic Commando comics stories.
2311 May 2005Brandon Badeaux
2413 July 2005Brandon Badeaux

In print

Collected editions — 6

Trades, omnibuses and Epic Collections. ISBNs appear only where verified.

Collected editions of Star Wars Tales
EditionFormatPublisherYearCollectsISBN
Star Wars Tales Volume 1TPBDark Horse Comics2002Star Wars Tales #1-41569716196
Star Wars Tales Volume 2TPBDark Horse Comics2002Star Wars Tales #5-81569717575
Star Wars Tales Volume 3TPBDark Horse Comics2003Star Wars Tales #9-121569718369
Star Wars Tales Volume 4TPBDark Horse Comics2004Star Wars Tales #13-161569719896
Star Wars Tales Volume 5TPBDark Horse Comics2005Star Wars Tales #17-201593072864
Star Wars Tales Volume 6TPBDark Horse Comics2006Star Wars Tales #21-241593074476