As we reported back in October when the deal was announced, the geek culture company with the most at stake in the Disney-Lucasfilm deal may be Dark Horse, which has published Star Wars comics for over 20 years (see "Will 'Star Wars' Comics Stay at Dark Horse?").  We may now have the answer to Disney’s intentions, as Disney-watching blog Blue Sky Disney has reported that the Dark Horse license is up after 2013, and will not be renewed.  The report indicates that Marvel will begin publishing Star Wars comics (again) in 2015, when Star Wars Episode 7 premieres.  If accurate, that would give some time for Dark Horse to sell down its inventory and to clear the channel of Dark Horse Star Wars products before Marvel’s start shipping. 

While the blog is not an official source, it would fit what Dark Horse CEO Mike Richardson said when the Disney-Lucasfilm deal was announced, which was that "Star Wars will be with us for the near future."

Dark Horse does have some positive prospects from one of its other cash cows, as two films based on Frank Miller comics are scheduled to release in 2013: Sin City 2 is shooting for a release in August (see "New Manute in 'Sin City 2'"), and the sequel to 300 is scheduled to release in October (see "New Title for '300' Sequel").