Dark Horse Comics' Star Wars #1 Puts Leia in the Pilot's Seat

On January 9, Dark Horse Comics kicks off a brand-new Star Wars monthly series. While that isn't normally anything groundbreaking -- Dark Horse has been publishing Expanded Universe stories for years -- the comic book series launching next week is titled simply Star Wars and already promises to be something special. Set between the films A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, the new ongoing series brings back Luke, Leia, Han, and the rest of our friends in an all-new story.
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Star Wars #1 Preview Image © Dark Horse Comics

On January 9, Dark Horse Comics kicks off a brand-new Star Wars monthly series. While that isn't normally anything groundbreaking – Dark Horse has been publishing Expanded Universe stories for years – the comic book series launching next week is titled simply Star Wars and already promises to be something special. Set between the films A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, the new ongoing series brings back Luke, Leia, Han, and the rest of our friends in an all-new story.

Writer Brian Wood, who impressed me recently with his other new title, Mara, explained his thoughts on the story of the series in a December interview with Newarama. Most enticing of all is Wood's comments on Princess Leia and how he approaches her character in Star Wars #1 and beyond:

Leia spends a LOT of time in an X-Wing here, as a pilot equal in stature to Wedge and Luke, and close in skill. If there's anything "controversial" in what people already know about my story, it's this idea that Leia is a fighter pilot. That she ISN'T one, actually, since we've never seen her doing it.

I simply applied logic to the situation: If we, here, learn to drive at age 16, why wouldn't someone in Star Wars learn how to fly as a coming of age thing? Luke did, as a farm boy. Wedge did, working his parent's gas station. Why not Leia, a daughter of privilege? She can handle firearms, she basically takes over her own escape from the Death Star. She survives torture. She BEATS torture, actually. Later we see her on speeder bikes, fixing the Falcon, shooting more dudes, and so on. It's almost insulting to suggest she can't fly an X-Wing, the Rebellion's fighter of choice.

With the focus on our beloved characters rather than just space battles (although there will be some of those), not to mention art by Carlos D’Anda and a cover by Alex Ross, this is the most excited I've been for a new Star Wars title in any medium in years. Swing by your local comic book shop January 9 to pick up a copy of Star Wars #1.