The complete life & final days of Obi-Wan Kenobi coming as Marvel Comics series

Obi-Wan #1 cover (Image credit: Phil Noto (Marvel Comics))

Obi-Wan Kenobi once again has the high ground, as he'll be starring in a comic book limited series from Marvel written by Christopher Cantwell (Halt & Catch Fire, Iron Man) and drawn by veteran Star Wars artist Ario Anindito. Announced on StarWars.com, the five-issue Obi-Wan series is scheduled to debut this May.

Obi-Wan #1 variant cover (Image credit: E.M. Gist (Marvel Comics))

Set in the "final days" before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope, Marvel's Obi-Wan series will have the trusted Jedi master recounting and contextualizing his life, and his career as a member of the Jedi War.

"What I love about Obi-Wan is that he is so much a character of patience and fortitude. He holds out hope and keeps that flame going even in the darkest times," says Cantwell. "He lost his Master, his best friend…he’s experienced a lot of grief. But he pushes forward. He waits on Tatooine for decades. He is the Buddhist concept of kshanti — patience — personified. He is able to hold onto the glimmers of light amidst the cloak of darkness. Every issue thematically deals with his ability to do that as a person."

Cantwell remembers seeing Return of the Jedi as a precocious three-year old, and admits he "wore out" a VHS tape of A New Hope his parents recorded upon its television debut in 1984. But the TV/comics writer is approaching writing Obi-Wan from childhood to the final days before his death not as a young Star Wars fan, but as the real-life father to an eight-year-old son of his home.

"I love seeing the world through his eyes because it reminds me of what it was like when I was his age. I very much tried to tap into that," Cantwell says. "There's this idea in the first issue of being small in a massive universe. Every kid feels that way. I also wanted to make sure I got all the details right…and there are LOT of details to get right when it comes to Star Wars."

Obi-Wan #1 main cover (Image credit: Phil Noto (Marvel Comics))

Cantwell confirms that Obi-Wan will include appearances from Yoda, Qui-Gon Jinn, Anakin Skywalker, and more.

Of course, Lucasfilm's Obi-Wan Kenobi streaming series is expected to debut on Disney Plus sometime this year as well.

Neither Lucasfilm nor Marvel has said when exactly in May Obi-Wan #1 will debut, but given May 4 (as in May the Fourth be With You) falls on Marvel's usual comic book shipping day of Wednesday, that sounds like a perfect time for us.

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Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)