About a year from now, in a galaxy you’re living in — from Russ Manning, Archie Goodwin, Al Williamson and MORE…
We’re just about tapped on news about omnibi and other collected editions from Marvel and DC (for now, of course), but here’s one more tidbit for you: Coming in 2026 from the House of Ideas is Star Wars Legends: The Newspaper Strips Omnibus, with nearly 1,000 pages of the beloved series by the likes of Russ Manning and Al Williamson.
Dig the official description, along with placeholder art:
STAR WARS LEGENDS: THE NEWSPAPER STRIPS OMNIBUS
Russ Manning, Archie Goodwin, Alfredo Alcala, Al Williamson
Classic tales of STAR WARS, from the funny pages to your bookshelves!
Beginning in 1979, fans got a daily dose of a galaxy far, far away in their newspapers — and now you can savor those stories without the 24-hour wait! C-3PO chronicles the adventures of the rebel heroes! Luke takes his chances on a gambler’s world! A sojourn on Tatooine is anything but peaceful! Princess Leia is put to work as an Imperial servant! Han Solo makes another Kessel Run! Boba Fett makes his print debut! The Serpent Masters capture Luke, Doctor Arakkus prepares a death trap and the rebels’ base is besieged! There are dangers in the depths of Aquaris and an ancient threat lurking in the heart of Yavin’s moon! But who is that claiming to be Ben Kenobi?! Plus: As the Rebel Alliance prepares to relocate to the ice planet Hoth, Luke gears up for a climactic showdown with Darth Vader — and Han faces a rogues’ gallery of bounty hunters!
COLLECTING: Classic Star Wars: The Early Adventures (1994) #1-9, Classic Star Wars: Han Solo at Stars’ End (1997) #1-3, Classic Star Wars (1992) #1-20, Classic Star Wars: A New Hope (1994) #1-2, Classic Star Wars: The Vandelhelm Mission (1995) #1, Star Wars newspaper strips (“The Constancia Affair,” “The Kashyyyk Depths,” “Planet of Kadril”)
Written by Russ Manning, Archie Goodwin & Rick Hoberg
Pencilled by Russ Manning, Alfredo Alcala, Al Williamson, Allen Nunis & Rick Hoberg
On Sale Date: July 21, 2026
968 pages
$125
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A few thoughts:
— Y’know, I love a lot of what we’ve gotten since 1980, but I still recall those days when it was just Star Wars with deep, deep fondness. The earliest strips in this book predate The Empire Strikes Back.
— Was having dinner with friends recently and someone asked what movie do you see as the dividing line of “before” and “after.” To me — and much of my generation — it was Star Wars.
— Standard caveat: The description comes from Penguin Random House’s online catalogue. PRH handles Marvel in the book market. This hasn’t been formally solicited by Marvel yet, so nothing is official until it’s official.
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MORE
— All the Silver and Bronze Age MARVEL EPIC COLLECTIONS Coming in 2026 — So Far. Click here.
— Childhood in 1977 — When It Was Just Called STAR WARS. Click here.
August 5, 2025
I agree there’s everything before Star Wars & everything after Star Wars…I’m in the before era…I love westerns, James Bond & gothic horror movies…I was 20 when Star Wars came out in ’77…I liked it, but I was never a fanatic, but I can see if you were 7 years old when ya saw it in the theater it made a huge impact on ya…it’s that generation’s Beatles…haha
August 5, 2025
From the description of what’s collected, these are Marvel’s reformatted versions of the strips, with colorized dailies.
August 5, 2025
Good to have them all in one volume, though I don’t think you can beat the idw collections in their original ratio.
August 5, 2025
Marvel didn’t reformat the strips. That was 100% Dark Horse, who reformated the strips and colorized about 80% of the comic strip for standard comic book format. When Marvel put out the Epic trades reprinting them, they used the Dark Horse comic versiond and for the 20% of the strips that had never been published before in any format (both by Dark Horse and a third party HC line from the early 1990s), those “lost strips” were presented in the original black and white comic strip format.
November 21, 2025
Those strips were not lost but were burnt when Sarajevo (in Bosnia) was bombed by Serbs from the surrounding mountains burning the offices of current SAF comics which had the rights to publish around the world many artist including Al Williamson, so many artist original art was burnt.
August 6, 2025
Usually I’m a purist but I loved the Classic Star Wars comic, in which Dark Horse reprinted the strips in a comic book format. I believe Williamson was recruited to do covers and fill-in images.