Dark Horse president Mike Richardson, whose company was the Star Wars comic licensee until January 1, when Marvel took over (see “ICv2 Interview: Mike Richardson, Part 1”), had his tongue firmly planted in cheek as he described the promotion. “We have been and remain huge Star Wars fans and as such we wanted to do our best to help promote Marvel’s new series,” he said. “No retailer who is a true Star Wars fan would destroy his or her own first issue, so what better way to pump sales than by offering a reward for ordering extra copies? Of course, we’re hoping that Marvel returns the favor by offering an exclusive Star Wars cover for every 20 Barb Wire covers it receives."
The promotion is being handled by Dark Horse directly; Diamond will not be processing the exchanges.
The Barb Wire revival, written by Chris Warner with art by Pat Oliffe, will launch in July (see “Dark Horse ECCC Announcements”).
The other half of Dark Horse’s gag press release for April 1, announcing that a fan of the upcoming King Tiger miniseries would be presented with a fully grown Bengal tiger, was disavowed.
