49 Years Later, Disney Is Finally Resurrecting The Original Star Wars Universe

Published Aug 17, 2026, 12:38 PM EDT

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Few Star Wars stories have traveled a stranger path than the franchise's first Marvel Comics adaptation. Debuting in 1977 alongside George Lucas' groundbreaking movie, the series expanded the galaxy before The Empire Strikes Back had even reached theaters. Nearly five decades later, those early adventures are returning for fans to buy in a massive hardcover collection from Marvel, now under Disney's ownership.

Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol. 1 is scheduled for March 16, 2027, via Penguin Random House, giving fans a chance to revisit a version of the galaxy that existed before modern continuity reshaped the franchise. The 880-page hardcover costs $125 USD and gathers the first 44 issues of Marvel's original run, plus the 1979 Star Wars Annual #1.

Marvel's Original Star Wars Stories Are Back

The new omnibus collects Star Wars #1-44, originally published beginning in 1977, along with Star Wars Annual #1. Roy Thomas and Archie Goodwin are among the writers featured, while Howard Chaykin and Carmine Infantino are two of the comics' major artists. The collection still preserves a remarkably broad creative snapshot of Marvel's earliest interpretation of Lucas' universe and it will be well worth the money for diehard fans.

These comics did more than retell A New Hope. As the run continued toward The Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo and Chewbacca encountered characters and threats that existed specifically within Marvel's version of the galaxy. Crimson Jack, bounty hunter Beilert Valance and the green rabbit Jaxxon are among the memorable character creations waiting inside the collection that movie-only Star Wars fans may never have heard of.

The stories also offer an interesting glimpse at how little was established about Star Wars in the franchise's earliest years. Jabba the Hutt appears with a notably different design and spelling, while characters occasionally behave or look unlike their later cinematic counterparts. Rather than being a flaw, those differences make the material an unusual historical record of Star Wars before decades of lore.

A $125 Star Wars Time Capsule Arrives in 2027

Marvel's decision to package the material in an 880-page Omnibus gives the original run a big new look. The hardcover is priced at $125 USD in the United States and is available for preorder ahead of its March 16, 2027, release. For longtime readers, the size and format make the book as much a collector's item as a reading experience.

The timing is especially notable because 2027 marks 50 years since Marvel first brought Star Wars to comic shelves. What began as a licensed adaptation has since become an important piece of franchise history, especially for readers interested in the stories that existed before the Expanded Universe and today's official canon divided Star Wars continuity.

This collection also proves just how dramatically the franchise has changed since 1977. Modern Star Wars has an enormous continuity spanning movies, television, novels, comics and games, while these early Marvel issues were being created with far fewer established rules. For fans curious about the original comic-book universe, the 2027 omnibus provides an unusually complete way to experience that forgotten era of Star Wars.