When it was announced that Marvel would be taking over the publication of the Star Wars comic books, you had to assume they were going to put some of their top talents on the book. And if you didn’t assume that, you assumed wrong, because Marvel has announced their plans for the first set of Star Wars books, and it includes some of their top writers and artists.

Starting in January 2015, Marvel will launch three new comic books, all taking place just after the end of Star Wars: A New Hope. The line of comics starts in January with Star Wars by writer Jason Aaron (Thor, Original Sin) with art by John Cassaday (Uncanny Avengers). This series will follow all of the main characters in an all-new series of adventures set just after the Battle of Yavin.

Check out the covers for the first three issues below and let us know if you’re excited for this new era of Star Wars comics.

Anyone who reads comic books is familiar with the name Mark Waid, not only as a writer of one of the best series on the market, Daredevil, but also as a writer of many celebrated series such as Kingdom Come, The Flash, Fantastic Four, and many, many more. He is also an innovator in the world of comics, having worked as Editor-in-Chief of BOOM! Studios for a time before starting his own digital comics platform, Thrillbent.

Thrillbent recently made a change to their business model allowing readers to subscribe to every book Thrillbent releases for $3.99 a month, or readers can continue to buy issues individually. To celebrate this change, Thrillbent is offering new readers a free copy of Waid and penciller Barry Kitson’s series Empire, originally released in 2000. Empire tells the story of Golgoth, a classic megalomaniacal super-villain who has conquered the world before the first issue even starts. The series is an examination of the character and the world he has created for himself.

Thrillbent will also be home to the all-new second volume of Empire, which reunites Waid and Kitson to tell the continuing story of Golgoth and where he goes after the events of volume one. Chapter two of the new series is available now, and the series is just as intriguing and thought-provoking as it was the first time. You can also read the first chapter of Empire Vol. 2 for free right now.

I was able to talk to Waid about not just Empire, but also the future of Thrillbent, as well as what goes into writing Daredevil. You can see what he had to say and also some preview images below.

Summer is upon us! And if you’re like me, you’re no doubt spending time in the great outdoors, enjoying some fun in the sun: picnics, lemonade, playing beach volleyball while listening to Kenny Loggins and giving your shirtless friends elaborate high-fives…

Oh, who are we kidding? I’m inside, next to an air conditioner, waiting for my next trip to the comic book store. And later today when I arrive at my (hopefully air conditioned) destination, here are the top three comic books I plan on purchasing:

Doctor Spektor #1
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Neil Edwards
Colors by Jordan Boyd
Letters by Marshall Dillon
Edits by Nate Cosby of Cosby & Sons Productions
Covers by Christian Ward, Francesco Francavilla, Phil Hester, Jae Lee, and Ken Haeser
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: May 28, 2014
Cover Price: $3.99

Doctor Spektor #1 is a whole lotta crazy. I mean a WHOLE LOT of crazy. Now, was it crazy good or crazy bad? Let’s take a look.

Going into this, I have to admit, I’ve never read a Doctor Spektor comic before in my life. But, I heard Mark Waid was writing it, so I wanted to at least check it out. Lemme tell you, I’m really glad I did. You don’t have to know anything about the character to enjoy this comic. In fact, I think if you followed the character before, that might hurt your enjoyment of this book. Waid gives us a Doctor Spektor that’s basically a reality TV star, but unlike the reality shows on TV now, this one’s actually a REAL reality show. If that makes sense. On camera, he’s a strong, fearless master of the occult, but behind closed doors, he’s a hot mess. I won’t go into any spoilers, but this is a REALLY interesting character, and if you removed all the monster fighting, I would still read this book, as Waid makes him an incredibly interesting and compelling character.

The Green Hornet #10
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Ronilson Freire
Colors by Marcio Menyz
Letters by Troy Peteri
Covers by Paolo Rivera and Jonathan Lau
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: March 5, 2014
Cover Price: $3.99

The Green Hornet #10, while a really good comic, made me feel a little bad inside. A little broken-hearted. Why? Because it feels like things are wrapping up for this series (it ends with issue #13). But, that aside, this issue is pretty intense.

Mark Waid loves writing The Green Hornet. But, I think, this issue he loved writing the villains just a little bit more. This issue is VERY heavy on the battle between the bad guy “families” while the Hornet and Kato wait at the sidelines for them each to take out each other, then swoop in for the kill. Now, the story is MUCH more complex than that, obviously; there’s some great twists and turns and a FANTASTIC shock ending. All classic Mark Waid. And all VERY entertaining.