Lakes Festival guest on board for Marvel’s Star Wars

By John Freeman on March 18, 2015

Stuart Immonen

US publisher Marvel has announced that artist Stuart Immonen, one of the guests at this year’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival, will replace John Cassaday on Marvel’s flagship Star Wars title starting with #8, which ships in July.

Stuart began his comics career in 1988, having worked for most of the industry’s major publishers including Marvel, DC and Image in the quarter-century since.

During his decade-long tenure at DC, in addition to writing and pencilling Adventures of Superman, Stuart illustrated the critically acclaimed miniseries Superman: Secret Identity. For Marvel, in addition to 2011’s Fear Itself event, he has drawn such high-profile series as Ultimate Spider-Man, The Mighty Thor, The Incredible Hulk, The Avengers and the cult favourite Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.

After joining forces with Mark Waid to inaugurate Marvel’s digital Infinite Comics line, in the Marvel NOW! era, Immonen launched All-New X-Men and All-New Captain America.

His creator-owned credits include collaborations with Kurt Busiek on Shockrockets and Superstar, and with Kathryn Immonen on Never As Bad As You Think, Moving Pictures and the recently-completed Russian Olive To Red King.

John Cassaday announced that he was leaving Star Wars after the completion of the first story arc with #6 on Sunday on his Facebook page. A soon-to-be-announced “very special guest artist” will handle the art chores on Star Wars #7.

In conjunction with the announcement, Marvel released a “not-final” look at Immonen’s pencils for the cover of Star Wars #8.

Writer Jason Aaron will remain on the title. “I am on Star Wars for the long haul,” he tweeted. ” There are so many stories I want to tell with these characters.”

Both Stuart and his partner Kathryn will be guests at this year’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival. Tickets for the Festival are on sale in June.

• Marvel – Star Wars: Official Page

• Stuart and Kathryn Immonen: http://immonen.ca

• For the latest news on the 2015 Lakes International Comic Art Festival visit: www.comicartfestival.com

• Sign up for the Festival’s newsletter here

• John Cassaday – Official Site: www.johncassaday.com

Work in progress cover for Star Wars #8

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.