If The Force Awakens announced Disney’s Star Wars globally as a new era of more content from a galaxy far far away, then Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was the exclamation point. No one quite knew what to expect from a film that had gone through many script changes and, quietly, a director change in the last stretch of production but the story idea was a smart and safe choice: telling the story of the group of people who stole the plans for the Death Star, setting the stage for events in A New Hope. You get to introduce new characters yet make them available for familiar faces to appear. The first “A Star Wars Story” film was an incredible success, grossing 1B+ globally and added a one-two punch of box office power for the new Star Wars film canon.  

On the action figure front, Black Series was just finding its footing and had not yet mastered photo real technology, and most of the characters were not released in The Vintage Collection, just a separate 5POA line The Rogue One Collection. And children’s toys that donned Rogue One characters were a little limited outside of the Forces of Destiny doll line (I guess the fact that all the main characters die is not a great motivating factor for play). Basically, Rogue One was an adult Star Wars film. And now, Rogue One seems to be getting a more adult (as much as Disney+ can make) streaming show, an untitled Cassian Andor series. Very little is known about the plot but it is a spy thriller that follows Cassian Andor and K-2SO before the events of Rogue One, so a prequel to a prequel. The talent behind the scenes is impressive: Tony Gilroy, the writer of the Bourne Identity franchise and a big part in the final product of Rogue One is the writer/showrunner.

It is because of this top-level talent that I submit, to you, my recommend November Star Wars item to invest in…Star Wars: Rogue One- Cassian & K-2SO Special 1! 

Yes, worth your investment in time but also an investment potential as a valuable issue once this series gets up and running. While Rogue One #1 is the first comic appearance of Cassian Andor and K-2SO, they are film characters that were not first introduced in the comics and it is a comic adaptation of the film. Cassian & K-2SO is a one-shot that takes place at some point before Rogue One. We don’t know yet whether this is before the start of the Cassian Andor series but we know that K-2SO will be in the show, which makes the one-shot comic of the first meeting between these two characters important canon. If it is depicted in the show, it will certainly be discussed among canon junkies and, if it is not depicted, it could be an instant popular book to pick up.  

Even though Cassian Andor might not have been the obvious choice for a series lead character to further explore in the Star Wars universe, his droid companion K-2SO certainly is one of the most popular characters to come out of the new films (including merchandising sales). A poll on Starwars.com of 46K+ votes has K-2SO as the second favorite character from Rogue One at 23%, barely behind Chirrut Îmwe (where is Donny Yen’s series? And yes, I did vote for him). Cassian Andor is in the middle at 8% behind lead Jyn Erso and a random character, Edrio Two Tubes (respect to Two Tubes fans), but this series can and should be a turning point for Andor. The talent is just too good not to create a compelling, rich narrative for these two characters. So, if you are a Star Wars canon junkie and want additional context this one-shot issue is worth an investment. If it is just for reading, you can get a digital copy on the Marvel App or ComiXology. If it is for your collection, I’d recommend a variant cover.

Happy reading!