MARCH 5, MILWAUKIE, OR—Retailers around the country are sold out of the first two issues of Dark Horse’s recently launched Star Wars series, the highly anticipated Dawn of the Jedi!

It was announced today, following an outcry from retailers and fans alike, that the company will reprint both of these landmark issues in limited quantities, to be shipped from Diamond on March 7, with an on-sale date of March 21.

Reuniting the powerhouse creative team of John Ostrander and Jan Duursema, Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi offers fans their first look at the Star Wars of 25,000 years ago—before there were lightsabers, when the ties to the Force were new, and before the Jedi spread out into the galaxy. It began with the mysterious pyramid ships—the Tho Yor—scattered to the eight corners of the galaxy, and ended with the establishment of an Order that would change the universe forever.

Praise for Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi #0:

“This issue is jam-packed for an issue 0. A great deal of back-story is presented in this starting point for the very early days of the Jedi.”—Technorati

“If you’re planning on picking up the Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi series, I highly recommend you pick up Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi #0. The amount of information that you get, coupled by the amazing artwork is worth it alone, but add on the fact that it was very enjoyable to read, makes it a must buy.”—Comic Book Critic

Praise for Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi #1:

“This is just the start of a new chapter of the Star Wars saga, and the journey of the Jedi (or in this case the JE’DAII). John Ostrander’s story is both engaging and interesting and by the time you reach the final panel of the book, you will be ready for issue #2. If you are new to the ‘Star Wars Expanded Universe’ or have a budding Star Wars fan you want to read more, put this Dark Horse book in their hands.”—ScienceFiction.com

“Expanded Universe fans are going to LOVE this series, and will find this introduction issue to be their highlight of comic book reading for the month—no doubts. General Star Wars fans will also find it enjoyable; and other comic fans may find it worth a glance. This may be clearly aimed at Star Wars nerds, but it may just be one of the best comic book series set in the galaxy far, far away ever to have been published.”—Geeks of Doom

Retailers: Order codes can be found below and are also featured in today’s edition of Diamond Daily!

Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi #0

7 61568 20342 4 00012

Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi #1

7 61568 20342 4 00112

Agent Burgos, STAR WARS™: DAWN OF THE JEDI #0 AND #1 TO BE REPRINTED FOLLOWING RETAIL SELLOUT!

As I waited in line I checked out the crowd and felt really happy to be around fellow Star Wars fans. There were young boys ( and girls) running around with lightsabers and in Jedi cloaks. There was a large range of ages , ethnicity’s and lots of fellow fangirls. I have had a few issues with Episode One. Its the only Star Wars movie I don’t own. Perhaps I’ve mellowed with age or maybe it’s just the nature of time passing but I’m happy to say I really enjoyed the whole movie this time around.

To be honest the 3-D effects don’t make a huge impact in the movie overall but it’s always a joy to watch Star Wars on the big screen. As a veteran fan I feel like I owe Lucas a bit of an apology. As I watched the kids in line,  who were moments before tapping away on their I- Phones,  transform into enraptured fans, I realise that a great deal of the prequels were meant for a new generation of padawans Where I  cringed at Jar Jar Binks ,they laughed and snickered.

While I’ll admit to the occasional eye roll with young Anakin’s acting, they saw a kid their age having the adventure of his life.  My favorite part of Episode One of course was Darth Maul! The audience went wild when he had his first scene and even more cheering during his epic battle. The movie ended with thunderous applause all around. A great day! Though I didn’t get the Darth Maul glasses I did get a cute little Jango Fett toy. So give the film a second chance.

My Star Wars weekend continued when I picked up my weekly comic pulls. 3 new Dark Horse issues hit stands today, here are my thoughts:

I struggled a little with this issue . I love Kir Kanos but this issue was a little slow and the entire series hasn’t really matched up to the previous two mini series.

Oh! This series just keeps getting better and better. I loved the cameo with Han Solo as well as the intense action and story progression. I really want Dark Horse to do a series of mini- series with Jahan Cross. So much awesome!

What a gorgeous cover! Note to potential buyers this is not a traditional comic. I didn’t really read the previews solicitation closely, its actually a guide to the characters and locations for the upcoming series. I wish it had been a little cheaper of at least had a prequel story for the $3.50 price tag. I have a feeling though it will become invaluable once the series starts. Kudos to the creative team for adding so many new female characters to this story, their are 5 characters introduced in this issue. Really looking forward to issue one of the series.

SITH POPS !

Valentine’s Day is Tuesday and yes chocolate and flowers are lovely, but if your lucky enough to have a Star Wars fan as a Valentine, this gorgeous heart shaped tin will definitely thrill your valentine. These tins are available at CVS pharmacy and retail for $4.99. Inside each container are ten heart shaped cherry lollipops . They also have Darth Vader, and Yoda tins, but take it from me even ladies with Rebel Scum tendencies are going to want one of the Darth’s

Happy Sunday, and of course:

May The Force Be With You!

Yogikai, Star Wars Sunday: Episode 1, Dark Horse Mini Reviews & Sith Pops!

Comic Book Therapy: You’ve been writing Star Wars fiction for over half a decade now and your work is still as interesting as ever.  Where do you continually draw your Star Wars creative mojo in continually fleshing out new character development aspects for fan favorite Zayne Carrick?

John Jackson Miller: I read a lot and watch a lot of movies and classic TV, as followers of my Facebook page updates will tell you. The first KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC series, which ran 50 issues and is available in nine trade paperbacks from Dark Horse, sought to capture the feel from STAR WARS, of course, but also drew upon other things as well. Some would say KOTOR started out as STAR WARS meets THE FUGITIVE — and thereafter visited THE STING and MAVERICK, with lots of stops along the way.

KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC – WAR brings Zayne into a new military setting as a draftee into the Republic’s war against the armored Mandalorians, so you might expect it to tromp through some familiar military tropes. But, in fact, I think readers will be surprised at the direction it goes in. This isn’t just a war story, it’s a Zayne Carrick war story — so it’s going to be uniquely his.

CBT: The new “War” series seems to be aimed towards new readers to the series with its minimized references to past events in the first issue.  Was this done intentionally to attract new readers or more so to branch away from older story elements?

JJM: “War” is absolutely the KOTOR story I intended to tell following the events of “Demon”, which concluded the previous run of comics. I took a break for two years to get the STAR WARS: KNIGHT ERRANT comics and novel and STAR WARS: LOST TRIBE OF THE SITH fiction going, but that turns out to work very well with the storyline. At the opening, several weeks have passed since the end of the previous series, and the reader is only sure where Zayne Carrick is. I think that makes it work well as a jumping-on point.

If you think about it, we did the same thing with the first issue of “Vector,” which fell right in the middle of the previous series. A month had passed and we had no idea where Zayne and Gryph’s friends were. It makes it possible to set the scene and characters up for the new readers and veteran readers at the same time.

CBT: By the way, where Zayne’s babe, Jarael?

JJM: Okay, I’m going to duck under the table now, in case she heard that description! Heh. Seriously, we will find out what’s going on with other characters as the story goes along, Jarael included.

CBT: The Knights of the Old Republic is still a fresh idea in comparison to the original 70’s Star Wars timeframe.  If you were to introduce a new reader to the KOTOR storyline, where would you feel most comfortable having him or her start? Game, comic or novel?

JJM: There have actually been a lot of starting points, going all the way back to the TALES OF THE JEDI comics thate stablished the “Knights of the Old Republic” name — but people have tended to find their way around. I think WAR is a good starting place on its own, and that it’ll inspire readers to check out the previous comics and look ahead to the games — but I think that all the pieces in the puzzle are probably designed with that in mind as well.

My aim has always been to tell a good story first, and figure out how it fits into the timeline later.

CBT: Even though you have been writing for Knights, you’re no stranger to for writing for the Sith. Do you have a particular favorite side to write for?

JJM: You know, it’s been fun to swing-shift. I’ve written the multiple Sith Lords of the STAR WARS: KNIGHT ERRANT comics and novel, and their very different takes to Sith philosophy — and then the LOST TRIBE OF THE SITH stories, which are collected with my new novella in a print book in July and which is really sort of a Sith sociological experiment, with a bunch of them stranded on a planet for generations.

That uses completely different mental muscles than writing the Republic or the Mandalorians, but I enjoy that, too. I wrote the Republic and Mandalorian sections of the KOTOR Campaign Guide for the old role-playing game a few years ago, and some of what happens in WAR draws upon some of the thinking I did for those. Unfortunately, that book is out of print and selling for triple digits on Amazon — but those who’ve read it will see that WAR was always a story I intended to tell. I’m glad we got to it.

CBT: As we all know, Mass Effect 3 is releasing in March and Star Wars The Old Republic just launched, while writing for both KOTOR and Mass Effect are you going to be able to find anytime in your busy schedule to play Star Wars The Old Republic and Mass Effect 3?  If so, Republic or Empire and which Mass Effect character class are you most fond of?

JJM: Heh! To tell you the truth, I just got the kids a Wii for Christmas and so my very next game will be playing Augusta National on TIGER WOODS 2012 — that is, if I ever get time to take the wrapping off the box. But in general, I find the industrious characters — scoundrels and such — to be the most interesting to play in games. It’s just a matter of finding time to play!

Readers can find out more about the series at the official Dark Horse site (http://www.darkhorse.com) and also my own website (http://www.farawaypress.com), where I maintain a behind-the-scenes page for every comic book I’ve ever done. There’s a lot of fun background there. Readers can also follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jjmfaraway — or catch my oddball Hollywood trivia on http://www.facebook.com/johnjacksonmiller.

Ryan Rodriguez, Jedi Or Sith? An Interview With John J. Miller

The upcoming 5-issue series is slated to be released next May and will be written by Haden Blackman, with artwork by Agustin Alessio.

Ghost Prison also marks the return of Star Wars character Moff Trachta who will be vital to how the series unfolds.

Star Wars: Darth Vader and The Ghost Prison is in stores May 2012.

wolverinept, Dark Horse Announces Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison!