Nearly four thousand years before Luke Skywalker was even a glint in his daddy's eye, a trio of Jedi seers have a vision of an ancient evil whose influence stretches far into the future-manifesting itself to some of the most powerful Force-users in the history of the galaxy . . . and possibly ending up in the hands of one of the secret Jedi Covenant's sworn enemies!
I'm writing this column approximately one week after we made the formal announcement about "Vector," the first multi-era Star Wars crossover adventure. While a crossover is nothing new in the world of comics, it is a new idea in the Star Wars galaxy-especially when it spans forty centuries! Since our announcement, fans have been vocal, frantic, and generally beside themselves trying to figure out how something can happen to wayward Jedi Padawan Zayne Carrick in the Knights of the Old Republic series that could affect Darth Vader four thousand years later in Dark Times, then cause problems for Luke Skywalker twenty years after that in the Rebellion series, and ultimately come to a head with Luke's descendant Cade Skywalker another one hundred thirty-eight years on in Legacy. Speculation has run the gamut from time travel, to main characters who are droids or mysterious alien species with five-thousand-year life spans. Not that it really matters, but all of those guesses are wrong.
What's important is that our writers, led by the calculating John Jackson Miller (Ironman) and the deviously sneaky John Ostrander (GrimJack, Batman, The Specter, etc.), and abetted by Rob Williams (Cla$$ War), Mick Harrison (Star Wars: Dark Times), and artist Jan Duursema (Star Wars: Legacy) have come up with a story line that will involve, embroil, and ensnare major characters from one end of the Star Wars timeline to the other. Sure, the vast temporal span of the story is a "gimmick"-every crossover needs one. But it is also part and parcel of the story we're telling. And, while each chapter moves the events of the crossover toward its next stop along the timeline, the events within each chapter are important to each series' future, too. Characters' destinies will be changed, lives will be cut short, and new alliances will be forged.
The event begins in January in Knights of the Old Republic #25-28, then jumps to Dark Times #11-12, then to Rebellion #15-16, and finally to Legacy #29-32 at the end of 2008.
For long-time fans, "Vector" promises a Star Wars story unlike any other they've ever read. For comics fans who have not previously ventured into that galaxy far, far away, "Vector" offers an ideal jumping-on point not only for the crossover event, but for the entire Star Wars line. Heck, they might even discover that Dark Horse's Star Wars comics aren't just good Star Wars, but good comics, as well . . .
Randy Stradley
editor