Lit Obscure, Unsubstantiated Rumor Indirectly Denied by Randy: Star Wars comics moving to Marvel?

They said past January 1st they could talk about it, by have not yet chosen to do so.

 

I would hope that if star wars goes to marvel, then DH would know ahead of time so things can end neatly for arcs, particularly Dark Times.

 

Dark Horse has a licensing contract, and will know whether it's being renewed or not well before said contract actually ends. Whether they would have time to wrap up their handful of ongoing stories prior to the current contract's end is open to debate.

 

Hopefully DH takes 2013 to just go pedal to the metal and go out with a bang.

My wish would be they just go crazy on releasing Omnibuses until the end of their license.

 

I need DH to

1: Crank out Omnibuses (because Marvel SUCKS at collecting all past issues into one volume. Example: if you want to buy any of the old "New X-men" series go to ebay, amazon, or an obscure comic shop and go hunting)
2: Go nuts. Any crazy, controversial idea having to do with Star Wars just throw them all out there. Print them and collect them before you go

 

Couldn't they still make omnibuses even if t hey lose the license? At least for a time? I can see Marvel buying the license to print new material, but not the old DH stuff.

 

This better not happen, Dark Horse is too awesome and as many of you have said, I don't feel like Marvel would handle the license well.

 

I believe that marvel will get the license out of pessimism. That being said, I can live with marvel getting it if the current DH stories get proper closure or at least end with greatness, and that the omnibuses will continue from DH even after losing the license.

I saw someone write on this forum back when the VII news broke that DH could still make omnibuses if they lost the license. Its this thought that will give me sanity when my fears might come true.

 

I agree, I wouldn't be happy about it, but if it happens that'd be the smart way to do it!

 

I'm not sure on the details for that. It depends on the terms of the license. I'm assuming that Dark Horse purchased additional rights to the Marvel and L.A. Syndicate comics in order to reprint them. If not, then the rights to publish and reprint all comics, both current and previous, may lie with the license holder.

 

That's my understanding of the situation - DH bought the rights to the older comics and have the rights to republish their own. The same way that Del Rey didn't magically get the rights to publish the old Bantam novels under its own banner. So I would imagine that DH would keep the rights to publish - in omnibus form or any other - everything up to the point they lose the license, unless they choose to sell those rights to someone else.

But, obviously, I'm not 100% sure on this.

 

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Unfortunately, it may not be that clear. After they lose the license, it's possible that Dark Horse may lose the ability to publish anything with the Star Wars label on it, regardless of whether it is a reprint of previous material.

Also, since Random House now owns both Bantam and Del Rey, I'm not sure anymore if Del Rey could not put out the Bantam books under their banner now.

 

But the Random House thing would be an issue of who currently owns the copyright, not the question of whether losing the current license means you lose the right to republish work completed under an old license. Whether or not their shared ownership under Random House means that hypothetically Del Rey could publish the Bantam-era Star Wars novels, they don't, and those books remain in print to this day with the Bantam Spectra logo on the spine. So at least in the world of books, Bantam continued to publish their old licensed material after the end of said license.

 

My assumption would be that in all circumstances LFL owns the copyrights of all Star Wars books, comics, etc. Thus they may giveth and taketh away any rights they like, unless previous contracts require them to allow future reprints beyond the date ranges of the licenses. It all really depends on the way the license contracts are written, and that is not something any of us likely will ever see all the details and fine print.

 

so disney can't force LFL to do certain deals?

 

Disney can force LFL into almost anything as they have a controlling interest in the company now. However, when Disney bought LFL, they also get stuck honoring all of the previous contracts LFL has already signed and agreed. Thus Disney can force LFL to do anything not already restricted by existing contracts and agreements.

 

I don't know if the situation is analogous or not, but when game companies have lost the SW license, they were disallowed from selling anything Star Wars, even already printed and packaged product, after a certain date. This is a big part of why Decipher set up a nonprofit to continue running the Star Wars Customizable Card Game after they lost the license, and donated to it over a million dollars worth of product that would soon have been unsalable.

 

Well, considering what they did to WOTC over the Star Trek license, I can't say Decipher didn't deserve it.

 

Those existing contracts likely have severance clauses, probably with hefty financial penalties but Disney could take the hit easily.

 

Are you sure you have the timeframe right on that? I was thinking the SW license negotiations were before the Last Unicorn Games buyout.

 

Perhaps. We don't know what's in the contracts and even with severance clauses we don't know what rights the publishers retain to continue selling reprints of the SW material after termination of the license. I believe DH had to buy the rights from Marvel to publish the Marvel SW material implying that Marvel must have retained some rights even after they lost the license in the late 80's / early 90's.

Also, there's no reason to unnecessarily take a financial hit. The only reason to pay such a penalty would be if there was some expectation to make even more money by changing licensee early.

 

IIRC, the infamous pulling of the Star Trek license was announced at the same time at WOTC's announcement of the buyout of Last Unicorn Games - GenCon in Aug 2000. Decipher lost the Star Wars CCG license at the end of 2001, and in fact had released the Jedi Knights game the same year. WOTC certainly was unaware of Decipher's actions, as it was fairly embarrassing to announce the takeover of a company that effectively had absolutely no product line (considering that the only other real RPG was the ill-fated Dune RPG).

 

Not necessarily, if Disney's desire for absolute control over-rides all other concerns.

 

Well, someone asked Marvel's EIC about Star Wars and got "no comment". Seriously, this is getting irritating.

 

For good reason, unfortunately. Letting that kind of news slip prematurely can seriously impact sales to either party (if not both).

Having said that, I'd actually take Randy's comments here fairly seriously. Sure, people may deny rumors publicly to keep things under wraps, but Dark Horse's recent actions do not in any way line up with a company that seems likely to suddenly lose the license. They've got 2 brand new ongoing series which would last less than a year, and while it can happen, that just doesn't make much sense. Also remember that this has been in the works for far longer than we expected.