Marvel Announces ‘Star Wars: Shattered Empire’, First Prequel To ‘The Force Awakens’


Marvel comics has announced its first entry in the Star Wars: Journey To The Force Awakens series as Shattered Empire, and the recently released cover art suggests that the comic will pick up right where the original trilogy of films left off.

Star Wars: Journey To The Force Awakens was announced earlier in the week, as the Inquisitr previously reported. A series of 20 books to be released through varying publishing companies, Journey To The Force Awakens is intended to fill in the timeline between the end of the original Star Wars trilogy and the first of the new films, re-writing the Expanded Universe with Disney’s new canon. As Movieweb points out, Marvel will participate in the initiative, releasing two titles to coincide with the series.

The first of those comic series has now been announced as Shattered Empire. While the cover art for the first installment, created by Phil Noto, has been released, it failed to give Star Wars fans any hint at the new canon, instead depicting the Ewok celebration that concluded Return of the Jedi. As Comicbook notes, however, the cover does strongly suggest that Shattered Empire will pick up right where the third original Star Wars film left off.

In addition to the Shattered Empire cover, several other Journey To The Force Awakens novels have been announced. While plot descriptions have been released for several young adult books, the novel Star Wars: Aftermath appears to tie into the same events suggested by the Shattered Empire cover.

“The second Death Star is destroyed. The Emperor and his powerful enforcer, Darth Vader, are rumored to be dead. The Galactic Empire is in chaos. Across the galaxy, some systems celebrate, while in others Imperial factions tighten their grip. Optimism and fear reign side by side. And while the Rebel Alliance engages the fractured forces of the Empire, a lone Rebel scout uncovers a secret Imperial meeting…”

Despite the release of Shattered Empire‘s first cover, no details about the comic series or the creative team behind it have yet been revealed. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set to debut in theaters this December, but fans will get their chance to experience Shattered Empire when it launches in September.

[Image: Marvel via Comicbook]

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