EXCLUSIVE: Star Wars #1 First Look With Brian Wood

He said “damn the man,” then saved the Empire.

In a galaxy very, very close, Dark Horse will be putting out a brand new monthly Star Wars comic book beginning on January 9th, 2013. Not only is it simply titled Star Wars and features a gorgeous cover from Alex Ross, but it’s set during the events of the original trilogy and is directly informed by the characters’ reactions to the events of A New Hope. And the icing on this intergalactically awesome cake is that it’s being written by Brian Wood, a man who is undoubtedly busier than you or I will ever be. With five (!) monthly titles on his plate, all signs would point to Wood using the Force to manage his Death Star-sized workload. We caught up with him to test his midi-chlorian levels, talk comic books and find out whether there’s a Fett’s chance in a Sarlacc Pit of seeing a Northlanders TV show. And it looks like Christmas came early because Santa Wood left us a gift in the form of exclusive advance pages from Star Wars #1 on Nerdist.com.

Nerdist News: So, Star Wars – that’s pretty big. It seems like simultaneously a daunting and extremely exciting task. What is the biggest challenge in writing for such an expansive universe as this?

Brian Wood: The biggest challenge is actually writing it under the shadow of reader expectation. And doing right by Randy Stradley, my editor, who has written a fair share of Star Wars himself and that can be intimidating. When I started the job I had this idea that Star Wars fans would be really hardcore and nitpicky and, to be frank, ready to challenge my work. Then I went to Star Wars Celebration, this convention, and I had one of the most positive experiences of my professional life. Everyone was super nice, very receptive to what I’m doing, and I felt like I belonged in a way that comic book conventions don’t. I came home from that show determined to write 10x on this title.

NN: You’ve mentioned that your Star Wars comic “will pretend like its 1977 and no other films were ever made or books ever written.” What does this mean for the comic? How much ground will it cover? How many issues can we expect? Is this just the time period that interests you most or is it designed to help attract those who have seen the movies, but may find the expansive comicsverse a little daunting?

BW: I’ve had to clarify that statement so many times!  By that quote what I meant to say is that IN THE CHARACTER’S MINDS, nothing has happened since the events of the first film. Luke and Leia don’t know they’re siblings, Vader doesn’t know Luke exists, and so on. Which is a challenge.

Read our complete interview with Brian Wood to find out more about his work habits, his personal stake in his projects and an exclusive look at three pages of art from Star Wars #1 only on Nerdist.com.

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