Lit A Han Solo miniseries by John Ostrander?

Star Wars comic fans as well as comic book fans in general may be familiar with John Ostrander's blog on comicmix. Well, in a recent post by Mr. Ostrander, he talks about several comic ideas of his that never got realized (yet). One of them is about a Han Solo miniseries. Here's what John wrote about it:

http://www.comicmix.com/2017/01/22/john-ostranders-spare-plots/

Personally, I'd love to see this story published, not just because Ostrander would be the author, but also because of the recent Han Solo mini by Marvel which I really enjoyed, and hey, there's a Han Solo movie coming up too, right?

So, why haven't we seen this comic? According to Ostrander:

Hmm, Marvel doesn't want DH authors on their SW comics? Or just hasn't got to hire some of them yet? I sincerely hope it's the latter. Del Rey doesn't shy away from hiring older SW authors along with new ones, so why should Marvel be an exception?

Anyway, regarding the potenital miniseries, I think it can work as a separate mini like the previous Han Solo by Marvel, or maybe they can do it as an arc in the main series once it gets closer to Episode V.

Opinions?

 

I'd read anything by Ostrander. Plus Han pairing up with Mon Mothma is certainly unique. I also think its scope is something that fits with the particular focus Disney seems to be wanting for the OT era stories, too.

But I think Ostrander is right, Marvel probably will not hire people who wrote for DH Star Wars for a long time. That would require admitting that there were Star Wars comics between 1986 and 2014, after all. Plus Star Wars is their golden goose right now, there's no way they're going to give it someone from outside their core stable of authors. That being said, I think one or two artists who did work on the Dark Horse line have worked on a few of the new Marvels.

 

The ironic thing is that both Jan Duursema, Ostrander's frequent art partner, and Ostrander himself did work for Marvel before. They can't be brought back...?

 

Sounds fun. I enjoyed the recent Han Solo mini, but I'll take anything from DH writers. Outside of Marvel keeping SW books for their own writers, I think the reason why we may not have gotten this yet is because we aren't close enough to ESB yet. I don't think Marvel wants any of the miniseries (outside of Shattered Empire) to pass the ongoing SW comic, so it's entirely possible Marvel could get Ostrander to do this story when the main comic reaches this point in the timeline, and ESB takes place 3 years after ANH, so who knows how long they'll stretch this period out.

 

Actually, Marvel HAS hired authors and artists on their new comics that have worked on SW comics by Dark Horse. So far only two iirc: Terry Dodson wrote the Princess Leia mini for Marvel and he did the art for Dark Force Rising adaptation for DH. Dave Dorman did some covers for several of the new SW comics, and he's done similar work for DH as well.

And as sidv88 said, both Ostrander and Duursema worked for Marvel in the past. Ostrander hasn't worked on anything SW for Marvel yet, but has for other Marvel titles. Duursema did the art for SW Marvel 92 back in 1985.

 

Maybe it would have included AG-37.

So much potential left for stories. And we won't get them........

 

I refuse to give up hope. There's certainly room for an Ostrander&Duursema SW canon project in addition to what we're getting now.

 

Sounds like it would have been fun, I do miss the writers Dark Horse had for their Star Wars titles, but I'm not holding out for Marvel to hire Ostrander yet. I doubt Marvel even wants to acknowledge Dark Horse especially after they relaunched Star Wars in 2015 with the slogan "Welcome Home" which I always thought was a bit of an insult to Dark Horse in my view. Still it's strange that the new canon novels have had a hand from previous Dark Horse writers like John Jackson Miller (LOVED his KOTOR run) and Alexander Freed, if anything I'm surprised they haven't been given a contract by Marvel yet. Maybe after Episode 8 comes out we can see that happen.

Speaking of John Ostrander and Jan Duursema, they had a kickstarter project going to release a new comic of theirs which looks like Star Wars in all but name, Hexer Dusk. The kickstarter for that was a success, but for the life of me I can't find a place that sells that comic, I'm not even sure if they finished it yet. I need more Ostrander and Duursema material in my life so I hope it's still coming along.

 

I disagree with the notion that Marvel refuses to acknowledge the Dark Horse material. They are re-publishing it as Legends Epic Collections. Last month they released Clone Wars volume 1 which has several Ostrander&Duursema stories. Also, last year Legacy volume 1 was released which is entirely written by Ostrander.

I think Hexer Dusk is going to be published sometime this year. I haven't heard of a specific date though. Definitely looking forward to that title! In fact, I'm secretly hoping that a SW comic from Marvel written by Ostrander and with art by Duursema will be announced soon, and the whole waiting was because of Hexer Dusk. Now that it's almost complete, they can switch to SW Wishful thinking? Most likely, but I've said this before and I'll say it again: Ostrander&Duursema are to SW comics what Zahn is to SW novels. We got Zahn in the canon for the novels, now it's time for the comics.

 

I like Ostrander and Duursema, but my preference is actually John Jackson Miller's work from KOTOR. I'd love to see if they can get him back too

 

If it's a hiring decision then it sounds like dumb politics at work. Comic pros like John and Jan have pretty much racked up work for everyone!

 

I know but I kind of wish they acknowledged in those collections that these comics were originally published by Dark Horse. I mean they're not under obligation to do so, but Dark Horse did acknowledge Marvel when they reprinted their comics, same with IDW when they reprinted the Marvel Transformers and G.I. Joe comics. Feels somewhat odd Marvel doesn't do the same. Oh well.

 

I agree with you that that's unfair. At least the artists and authors are acknowledged.

 

I really like that as an idea. It's not quite the usual scenario you see between the movies, and I love highlighting Mothma. And it would have been fantastic to see John get to write Han Solo. I was always disappointed that he never got the chance to really work with the big three. AOTE and one Boba Fett comic was all he ever really got to do even close to the OT era. I think Ostrander and Han would be a great fit, especially showing Han clashing with the underworld.

And who knows, maybe Villie could be one of the pirates.

 

Wasn't there a Villie reference in Rebels, something conected with Vizago?

 

Vizago's blaster pistol was called "Vilmarh's Revenge" in the Visual Guide.

 

Aw man! What a missed opportunity! I've always wanted to see AG's encounter with Han. I hope Marvel isn't afraid of including EU characters.

That would be great. Gotta love Uncle Villie! He was alive by the time of ESB, according to Infinites: ESB.