Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi

"In an era before lightsabers, before adherents of the Force were divided into light and dark, what does it mean to be a Jedi? And how did the Order first come to be?"

- Comic Book Resources preview of Dawn of the Jedi

Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi is an ongoing comic book series from Dark Horse Comics, written by John Ostrander and pencilled by Jan Duursema. It is set in the earliest days of the Jedi Order, beginning in 36,453 BBY, in a time before the polarization of the light and dark sides of the Force. A preview Issue 0 was released on February 1, 2012, and it was followed by the series' first issue on February 15. Dawn of the Jedi will be an ongoing, but not monthly, series. It is notably the first series to be set in the Pre-Republic era.

Plot summary
In 36,453 BBY, Force-sensitive sentients are brought to the planet Tython on eight Tho Yor Pyramid Ships. The Tython system is colonized over the next ten thousand years. When a mysterious and powerful Force Hound named Xesh arrives on Tython, a series of events is set in motion. Meanwhile, the stretch of the Rakatan Infinite Empire is felt across the galaxy. Dark and light begin to be polarized within the developing Jedi Order.

Development
Randy Stradley, Vice President of Publishing at Dark Horse Comics, began lobbying for a comic story regarding the origins of the Jedi as early as 2003. In that year, a painting was commissioned of two characters&mdash;male and female Humans&mdash;by artist Rodolfo Migliari.

In May 2011, Dark Horse's miniseries Star Wars: Legacy&mdash;War concluded, which itself was a followup to the fifty-issue Star Wars: Legacy. John Ostrander and Jan Duursema, longtime collaborators and the author-artist pair behind Legacy, announced that they were working on a new comic that was different from anything they had written for Star Wars before.

Dawn of the Jedi was first announced to the public at the 2011 New York Comic Con on October 13. According to Ostrander, the series is epic in scope and personal in storytelling. He and Duursema are working closely with established Expanded Universe continuity yet attempting to make Dawn of the Jedi accessible to even the most casual of Star Wars fans. Like Legacy, the series will feature a large cast of species-diverse characters; however, the series will focus primarily on the Tython system rather than the wider galaxy.

An Issue 0 of Dawn of the Jedi, serving as an official guide to readers, was released on February 1, 2012. The series' first issue, Force Storm, Part 1, followed on February 15 and kicks off a five-issue miniseries. Dawn of the Jedi will be an ongoing series but will not be published monthly, in the same vein as Star Wars: Dark Times and Star Wars: Invasion.