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Free Comic Book Day (Marvel FCBD) 2025: STAR WARS #1
Celebrating the new era of Star Wars comics! Luke Skywalker finds himself in a wretched hive of scum and villainy facing off against pirates! Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn & Tensu Run are on the hunt for the villainous Corlis Rath! Who is the mysterious Vanee and what is his connection to Darth Vader & Kylo Ren?
20 pages, Comic
Published May 7, 2025
127 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
Alex Segura
271 books572 followersAlex Segura is the bestselling and award-winning author of Secret Identity, which The New York Times called “wittily original” and named an Editor’s Choice. NPR described the novel as “masterful” and The L.A. Times called it “a magnetic read.”
Secret Identity received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist, was listed as one of the Best Mysteries of the Year by NPR, Kirkus, Booklist, LitReactor, Gizmodo, BOLO Books, and the South Florida Sun Sentinel, was nominated for the Anthony Award for Best Hardcover, the Lefty and Barry Awards for Best Novel, the Macavity Award for Best Mystery Novel, and won the LA Times Book Prize in the Mystery/Thriller category.
His upcoming work includes the YA superhero adventure Araña/Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow, the follow-up to Secret Identity, Alter Ego, and the sci-fi/espionage thriller, Dark Space (with Rob Hart). Alex is also the author of Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall, the Anthony Award-nominated Pete Fernandez Miami Mystery series, and a number of comic books – including The Mysterious Micro-Face (in partnership with NPR), The Black Ghost, The Archies, The Dusk, The Awakened, Mara Llave – Keeper of Time, Blood Oath, stories featuring Marvel heroes the Avengers, Sunspot, White Tiger, Spider-Man and DC’s Superman, Sinestro, and The Question, to name a few.
His short story, “90 Miles” was included in The Best American Mystery and Suspense Stories for 2021 and won the Anthony Award for Best Short Story. Another short story,“Red Zone,” won the 2020 Anthony Award for Best Short Story.
Alex is also the co-creator of the Lethal Lit podcast, named one of the best fiction podcasts of 2018 by The New York Times.
A Miami native, he lives in New York with his wife and children.
Secret Identity received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist, was listed as one of the Best Mysteries of the Year by NPR, Kirkus, Booklist, LitReactor, Gizmodo, BOLO Books, and the South Florida Sun Sentinel, was nominated for the Anthony Award for Best Hardcover, the Lefty and Barry Awards for Best Novel, the Macavity Award for Best Mystery Novel, and won the LA Times Book Prize in the Mystery/Thriller category.
His upcoming work includes the YA superhero adventure Araña/Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow, the follow-up to Secret Identity, Alter Ego, and the sci-fi/espionage thriller, Dark Space (with Rob Hart). Alex is also the author of Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall, the Anthony Award-nominated Pete Fernandez Miami Mystery series, and a number of comic books – including The Mysterious Micro-Face (in partnership with NPR), The Black Ghost, The Archies, The Dusk, The Awakened, Mara Llave – Keeper of Time, Blood Oath, stories featuring Marvel heroes the Avengers, Sunspot, White Tiger, Spider-Man and DC’s Superman, Sinestro, and The Question, to name a few.
His short story, “90 Miles” was included in The Best American Mystery and Suspense Stories for 2021 and won the Anthony Award for Best Short Story. Another short story,“Red Zone,” won the 2020 Anthony Award for Best Short Story.
Alex is also the co-creator of the Lethal Lit podcast, named one of the best fiction podcasts of 2018 by The New York Times.
A Miami native, he lives in New York with his wife and children.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 2, 2025
The book is a great preview into the new post ROTJ Star Wars comics, from ROTJ to probobly just pre Force Awakens and then a pre Episode One to Revenge of the Sith era's. I also appreciate the biographies on the new characters.
May 29, 2025
3 stories here giving a small taste of what’s coming down the pipeline in the Star Wars world at Marvel. One about one of Vader’s old servants, one about pirates raiding ships and one about a mysterious person where Kenobi had a vision that this person kills Qui-Gon Jinn. That one was my favorite. I may end up checking these out.
July 22, 2025
A neat sneakpeak into some cool star wars comics, legacy of vader has my most interest!
May 21, 2025
”Past is Prologue” starts with a deal being made between two merchants.
Luke Skywalker interrupts but is stopped by Pyke Syndicate goons. He starts slashing away, claiming the hardware being discussed was stolen from New Republic trading vessels and many ships were destroyed.
Luke is clobbered but before he is killed a Rynn Zenat appears to save him.
Luke interrogates one of the merchants and convinces him to give up the stolen hardware.
Next Luke and Rynn are in X-Wings on their way to prevent another deadly raid.
Meh. Too brief and honestly not very intriguing. Good art though. 2 stars.
”Legacy of Vanee” starts off telling the story of a servant of Darth Vader hearing about his and Emperor Palpatine’s demise. He tells about his life serving Vader.
”Every time I suffered his displeasure… I learned something new.
It’s a cool idea and a good story, but in the end he figures that Kylo Ren can become a new Darth Vader. The same stupid mistake made in the movies.
I’ll give it 4 stars for a great idea.
”The Moon of Death” has Qui-Gon Jinn talking to a padawan named Tensu Run about a Corlis Rath who is fated to kill Qui-Gon.
They are going to meet with someone who may know who this Corlis is. On they way, they run into three aliens pointing blasters at them to rob them. They easily dispatch them but it makes them just late enough to meet their contact that…
Well, it was an interesting teaser so I’ll give it 2 stars.
The last pages are taken up with text biographies of new Star Wars characters.
Rynn Zenat. New Republic pilot.
Vanee: Caretaker of Fortress Vader.
Tensu Run: Jedi Knight.
Corlis Rath: Unknown.
All told this was 2 stars. It was an interesting teaser and definitely indicated there’s some interesting Star Wars stories yet to be told.
I’m glad to see it.
Luke Skywalker interrupts but is stopped by Pyke Syndicate goons. He starts slashing away, claiming the hardware being discussed was stolen from New Republic trading vessels and many ships were destroyed.
Luke is clobbered but before he is killed a Rynn Zenat appears to save him.
Luke interrogates one of the merchants and convinces him to give up the stolen hardware.
Next Luke and Rynn are in X-Wings on their way to prevent another deadly raid.
Meh. Too brief and honestly not very intriguing. Good art though. 2 stars.
”Legacy of Vanee” starts off telling the story of a servant of Darth Vader hearing about his and Emperor Palpatine’s demise. He tells about his life serving Vader.
”Every time I suffered his displeasure… I learned something new.
It’s a cool idea and a good story, but in the end he figures that Kylo Ren can become a new Darth Vader. The same stupid mistake made in the movies.
I’ll give it 4 stars for a great idea.
”The Moon of Death” has Qui-Gon Jinn talking to a padawan named Tensu Run about a Corlis Rath who is fated to kill Qui-Gon.
They are going to meet with someone who may know who this Corlis is. On they way, they run into three aliens pointing blasters at them to rob them. They easily dispatch them but it makes them just late enough to meet their contact that…
Well, it was an interesting teaser so I’ll give it 2 stars.
The last pages are taken up with text biographies of new Star Wars characters.
Rynn Zenat. New Republic pilot.
Vanee: Caretaker of Fortress Vader.
Tensu Run: Jedi Knight.
Corlis Rath: Unknown.
All told this was 2 stars. It was an interesting teaser and definitely indicated there’s some interesting Star Wars stories yet to be told.
I’m glad to see it.
December 3, 2025
The free comic book issues that I've read recently have just been short snippets designed to get you hooked on a big upcoming title. The first story did nothing for me, which might just be because I'm not familiar with any of the characters, but it certainly didn't make me want to start reading the new flagship series run.
I did find the second story very interesting, based on Vaneé, one of Vader's castle guards. That was a neat concept, and a good place to have a story about a minor character, and it did make me want to look into the Vader Legacy story. I do have the first issue, so I think I'll give that a look.
The third story with Qui Gon was decent, though I think I'll wait to read the Jedi Knights series until it's more collected. I did, however, remember that Tensu Run was a character mentioned in The Inquisitors mini series that I got the trade for a little while back, so I'll give that a read next.
I haven't read or watched anything from Star Wars in quite some time, so I'm going to take a few cautious steps back into that universe. I guess that was ultimately the point of reading this one.
I did find the second story very interesting, based on Vaneé, one of Vader's castle guards. That was a neat concept, and a good place to have a story about a minor character, and it did make me want to look into the Vader Legacy story. I do have the first issue, so I think I'll give that a look.
The third story with Qui Gon was decent, though I think I'll wait to read the Jedi Knights series until it's more collected. I did, however, remember that Tensu Run was a character mentioned in The Inquisitors mini series that I got the trade for a little while back, so I'll give that a read next.
I haven't read or watched anything from Star Wars in quite some time, so I'm going to take a few cautious steps back into that universe. I guess that was ultimately the point of reading this one.
September 4, 2025
Three different Star Wars stories. These are set after the Death Star’s destruction, but prior to the Empire’s complete demise.
“Past is Prologue”
Shady dealings at the space station.
Luke Skywalker investigates the goons involved with the Pyke Syndicate.
Some good light saber scenes.
Rynn Zenat rescues Luke.
Good color work. The close-ups are nicely done, but the pan-outs are basic and low-effort.
“Legacy of Vaneé”
It’s after the Battle of Endor. Vaneé is one of Lord Vader’s henchmen back on Mustafar.
Strong artwork. The colors are gorgeous. Detail is stellar.
Emperor Palpatine looks awesome here.
Excellent story. 1000% would continue.
“The Moon of Death” (4 ⭐️)
On the moon of K’shar.
Tensu Run, a Padawan learner, and Qui-Gon Jinn, the rogue Jedi Knight, discuss Corlis Rath, the mysterious assassin.
Hits the midpoint of illustration. Not as strong a story as two, but not as weak as story 1.
“Past is Prologue” (3.5 ⭐️)
“Legacy of Vaneé” (5 ⭐️)
“The Moon of Death” (4 ⭐️)
“Past is Prologue”
Shady dealings at the space station.
Luke Skywalker investigates the goons involved with the Pyke Syndicate.
Some good light saber scenes.
Rynn Zenat rescues Luke.
Good color work. The close-ups are nicely done, but the pan-outs are basic and low-effort.
“Legacy of Vaneé”
It’s after the Battle of Endor. Vaneé is one of Lord Vader’s henchmen back on Mustafar.
Strong artwork. The colors are gorgeous. Detail is stellar.
Emperor Palpatine looks awesome here.
Excellent story. 1000% would continue.
“The Moon of Death” (4 ⭐️)
On the moon of K’shar.
Tensu Run, a Padawan learner, and Qui-Gon Jinn, the rogue Jedi Knight, discuss Corlis Rath, the mysterious assassin.
Hits the midpoint of illustration. Not as strong a story as two, but not as weak as story 1.
“Past is Prologue” (3.5 ⭐️)
“Legacy of Vaneé” (5 ⭐️)
“The Moon of Death” (4 ⭐️)
May 9, 2025
Compared to last year's Star Wars Free Comic Book Day issue, this issue seemed more teaser-focused, less inclined to include complete stories that to some extent stand on their own—which I suppose you can't really reasonably expect from a free product. The first story was nothing, just set-up for an arc about Luke and some lady which doesn't itself seem that interesting. The sole highlight would be Luke getting bonked on the back of the head with a large hammer. The second story, about Vader's butler, was the most interesting one, casting the butler in a Hachiko-like role after Vader's death, loyally awaiting his departed master's return. It was an appropriately macabre glimpse at a character who I think was only in a couple of shots in the background of one movie. The third story, about Qui-Gon, introduced me to a very handsome Padawan who is hanging out with Qui-Gon in place of Obi-Wan for some reason, and plays with the idea of Qui-Gon's fated death, which we know doesn't turn out the way predicted by Obi-Wan in this story. Though not much happens in the story itself, whatever is going on here seems very intriguing, and is the thread I'd most want to see followed up. Qui-Gon's always seemed like he knows more than he says, and that and the fact we spend just one movie with him before he's killed makes him in my view a very compelling subject for more stories.
I found the art for all three stories to be very high-quality, full of attractive colours and handsome likenesses. Seems like the folks doing the Star Wars comics are still on their A-game. I should really try to read more comics.
I found the art for all three stories to be very high-quality, full of attractive colours and handsome likenesses. Seems like the folks doing the Star Wars comics are still on their A-game. I should really try to read more comics.
June 21, 2025
4.25
I haven't been particularly impressed with Star Wars comics the last few years or so. The whole Empire era was a bit of a dud. But I enjoyed these stories. There was a...vitality there that made it feel exciting.
I haven't been particularly impressed with Star Wars comics the last few years or so. The whole Empire era was a bit of a dud. But I enjoyed these stories. There was a...vitality there that made it feel exciting.
May 12, 2025
A decent set of stories for a Comic Book Day issue, if unremarkable (they are all intros to a series or miniseries). I am not thrilled to see Tensu Run again.
May 12, 2025
Didn’t expect the Japanese dog waiting for its master retelling in a servant at Castle Vader.
May 24, 2025
GREAT COMIC.
May 26, 2025
Han Solo and Beilert Valance team-up? Heck yes.
June 10, 2025
This is the usual teaser for other issues. The teasers are tantalizing, and I may have to look up the following issues. My favorite part was the character synopses at the end
June 19, 2025
Todo lo que tiene que ser un FCBD, inicios de historias para presentarlas.
May 7, 2025
Three stories teasing what's going on in the new Star Wars books that just relaunched this year. The main Star Wars title now takes place after Return of the Jedi. Legacy of Vader is a Kylo Ren title taking place before The Force Awakens. Jedi Knights takes place long before The Phantom Menace. These are a little more promising because it doesn't seem like Marvel can make these nonstop crossovers like the Empire era comics tended to be.
Good thing FCBD is right before May the Fourth so I could read it then.
Good thing FCBD is right before May the Fourth so I could read it then.
May 27, 2025
Very interesting stories.
May 6, 2025
A nice peek into the upcoming and currently ongoing Star Wars titles. I think the New Republic story was the strongest and am interested in what route they take for post-ROTJ stories.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews