Comic-Con News: At the San Diego Comic-Con Marvel announced a big addition to its potent lineup of Star Wars comic.  In spite of his limited vocabulary, a hirsute 8-foot tall warrior from the planet Kashyyyk known to one and all as “Chewbacca” will get his own comic book series from Marvel starting in October.  Gerry Duggan (Deadpool) is writing the new Chewbacca series, which is set right after the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and Phil Noto (Black Widow) is providing the art.

Duggan explained the basic plot of the first Chewbacca story arc to MTV, “Chewy is on an important mission when we first meet him…He’s obviously been marooned on this planet at least temporarily, with a loaner ship he got from the Rebellion—and their roadside service is not great, so he’s got a bit of work to do to get the ship up and running.”  Chewy also finds that the planet is beset with its own conflicts that mirror the struggle against the Empire, with a fascistic party in control and determined to lay waste to the planet in order to mine it resources.

Marvel Star Wars comics, which have benefited from the growing interest in the franchise leading up to the December debut of the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens film, have been one of the surprises of 2015 so far.  It is not that anyone expected the Marvel Star Wars comics to flop, but the scale of their success has been impressive, particularly the continuing strength of the top two titles, the flagship Star Wars book and the Darth Vader comic (see “Secret Wars Helps Marvel Dominate Again in June” for an analysis of the most recent month of Star Wars comic book sales).  Will the Chewbacca comic rise to the top tier of Star Wars comics?