Out of the nine upcoming Star Wars television series announced by Disney+, the most buzz surrounds The Acolyte.   The show is set during the High Republic era, a time period a few 100 years before the timeframe of Star Wars Episode 1-The Phantom Menace.  This show is potentially the future of Star Wars.  Since this is a time period for the first time unrelated to the Skywalker era, the possibilities are unlimited.  So, there are wide-open opportunities for new characters to be developed in this earliest part of the Star Wars timeline.

The Acolyte

We don't know much about the show right now.  So, we are going to chase some very early bleeding edge rumors.  Most rumors are about the possibility of Sith culture and lore being the focus of the show.  We do know from the studio the show will be centered on those following the dark side.

What about the title: The Acolyte?   We know that Sith apprentices begin as Acolytes.  We also know, it will be female-centric with a strong female lead (that information was released even before the title of the series).  The Acolyte is a martial arts mystery-thriller set at the end of the High Republic.  The show is not yet in production so the earliest release date would be in 2022.

The High Republic

What spec options are there with this series?

Let's start with the hint that the focal point of the show will be the emergence of dark side powers during the latter part of the High Republic era.  There could be Jedi, Sith, Darth Plagueis, a young Yoda (he does live 900 years), any of which could be the focus.  One thing we do know--The High Republic comics are a strong spec possibility as they pave the way for the Star Wars: Prequel Trilogy.

Let's start there.

Star Wars The High Republic #1 has several first appearances: Keeve Trennis--a Jedi Padawan, Avar Kriss--a Jedi Master, Sskeer--a Jedi Master, and part of the Grand Masters of the Jedi Order.  The High Republic #1 has an A cover and a B cover, as well as a 1 for 25 Retailer Incentive Variant, a 1 for 10 Retailer Incentive Variant, and an Artist Variant (my favorite cover).

Star Wars: Tag and Bink II #2

There is an abundance of Reddit theories about Darth Plagueis being in The Acolyte as the one who trains a new apprentice, who could be the female lead.  The first (cameo) appearance of Darth Plagueis is in Star Wars: Tag and Bink II #2.

Star Wars: Tag and Bink II #2 has an FMV of $210 for a 9.8 on 8 sales, with a 158% increase in value.  And a 9.4 has an FMV of $60 on 3 sales, with a 184% increase in value.

Copies will be hard to come by.  This series was not a big seller as issue #1 only had sales of around 2.000 copies.

Star Wars Adventures: Shadow of Vader's Castle

A long-shot possibility is the canonical one-shot Star Wars Adventures: Shadow of Vader's Castle.   It contains the first appearance of the Acolytes of the Beyond.  There are not a lot of Acolyte-related issues around.  This is one of them.  This issue has no established FMV.

Looking Ahead

The Acolyte show coming on Disney+ has enough buzz for it to be on your spec radar.  Now is the time to be up to speed on The Acolyte, even without clear-cut spec possibilities.  The reason?  The potential.  There will be lots of new characters and lots of dark side goodness (and who doesn't like dark side goodness?)

Have you looked at GoCollect's Concert Poster price guide yet?