Dark Horse sent along several press releases on upcoming comics and collections:

Meet new bounty hunting femme fatale in Star Wars: Zam Wesell!

Fast on the heels of the explosive one-shot Star Wars: Jango Fett comes the follow-up tale featuring femme fatale and super deadly bounty hunter Zam Wesell! The release of both Star Wars: Jango Fett and Zam Wesell also marks the first graphic novel appearances of characters from the long-awaited Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones!

Zam Wesell is facing an unusual situation most bounty hunters are not familiar with: a moral dilemma. After she and fellow bounty hunter Jango Fett acquire a powerful ancient artifact for a mysterious employer, she learns that the artifact has the power to destroy a planet! Zam confronts Jango with this information and lets him know of the artifact owner's intended target: the heavily populated planet Coruscant! After some tense moments she is able to convince Jango to help her hunt down the owner of the artifact and stop the planet's destruction.

In a commando style raid, Zam and Jango manage to steal back the artifact, but Zam begins to show a change of heart and wants to sell it to the highest bidder! Jango would rather kill her than see that happen and the two once again are in a heated face off. Even worse, the artifact's owner has hired every other bounty hunter in the galaxy to hunt the pair down!

"Zam Wesell plays an important role in Episode II, but like a lot of intriguing Star Wars characters, doesn't get a great deal of screen time," said writer Ron Marz. "This is a chance to see her in action, teamed up with Jango Fett in a story involving the Jedi Council, a truly evil villain, and a threat of literally planet-shaking proportions."

The Star Wars: Zam Wesell trade paperback features exciting writing by Ron Marz and beautiful art by Ted Naifeh. It arrives in stores February 27 and retails for $5.95.

High seas pirate adventure in Star Wars: Starfighter - Crossbones!

Following on the heels of LucasArts' Starfighter video game comes Crossbones, a limited series featuring the intimidating pirate captain Nym in his own solo adventure! Crossbones is more than just a good rip- roaring action. The characters and events in the mini-series tie directly into the upcoming Starfighter 2 video game!

Nym is a pirate with a hatred for the Trade Federation. In the past they attacked his people, and now he will do anything to destroy them. Enter Ambassador Loreli Ro from the water planet Maramere, who approaches the broke and crewless Nym and offers him a job. It turns out another ruthless pirate, Sol Sixxa, is plaguing her people and she wants Nym to help stop him. Loreli tells Nym she will aid in his battle against the Trade Federation if he will in turn help her, and he agrees. It is not long before Nym tracks down Sol Sixxa, but the explosive confrontation becomes more complex when Trade Federation forces arrive to attack both pirates!

"Crossbones is an attempt to explore a new side to Star Wars. In this case a high-seas adventure," said writer Haden Blackman. " I wanted to explore things like ship-to-ship battles and actual pirate activity on a water world. And I really wanted to take Nym and put him into new situations, against new types of threats."

The Star Wars: Starfighter - Crossbones mini series features the dynamic writing of Haden Blackman and the fantastic art of Ramon F. Bachs. It arrives in stores January 9 and retails for $2.99.

Star Wars Infinities- A New Hope miniseries now collected as a trade paperback!

"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away?" All you've come to expect following those classic words has been blown wide open. In life, the tiniest change of events can send fate spiraling into a million different directions with an equal amount of possible outcomes. How might a small change in the Star Wars galaxy many know so well send the story in a whole new direction? Dark Horse dared to answer that question in the miniseries Star Wars: Infinities-A New Hope, now collected as a trade paperback!

In a scene familiar to all Star Wars fans, Infinities opens with Luke Skywalker racing his X-Wing fighter towards the exhaust port of the ominous Death Star with the hope of firing a fatal torpedo into its belly. Luke blazes a path towards his goal, fires a torpedo at its mark? and misses! Flying away from the Death Star, Luke and his cohorts Han Solo and Chewbacca quickly realize the menacing machine is not going to blow up. To their horror the Death Star has just fired on and destroyed the moon where the rebel base was located! Fearing all is lost Luke, Han, and Chewbacca travel to Dagobah to meet Yoda and decide what to do next. Unbeknownst to them, Princess Leia and C-3PO, who barely escaped the destruction, are now prisoners of Darth Vader. Worse still, Vader intends to make the young princess his apprentice!

"The real challenge was to try to dig deep and figure out who the characters really are and keep them true to their natures while reflecting those natures in vastly different circumstances," said series writer Chris Warner. "While I was pretty certain that a lot of Star Wars fans would get a kick out of the 'What if...?' speculation, I was just as certain that nobody would buy into what I was doing if the characters didn't ring true."

The Star Wars: Infinities- A New Hope trade paperback features exciting writing by ChrisWarner and the fantastic art of Drew Johnson. It arrives in stores February 6 and retails for $12.95.

Smash hit Star Wars Tales anthology series now a trade paperback collection!

The first four issues of the highly acclaimed series Star Wars Tales are now available collected as a trade paperback collection. Star Wars Tales contains thrilling stories featuring Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo, Emperor Palpatine, C-3PO, R2-D2, Lando Calrissian and many more.

Star Wars Tales is an exciting anthology series featuring short stories from the Star Wars galaxy utilizing a variety of the comic industry's top talent. An essential part of the appeal of the Star Wars Tales series is that the stories take place outside the grand Star Wars continuity, allowing a much broader scope and variety of storytelling than might be found in a conventional series. The stories vary greatly in length and tone with some satirical and only a few pages long, and others serious, spanning several issues. Additionally, the Star Wars Tales writers and artists take full advantage of the series format to explore every nook and cranny of the Star Wars galaxy and often spotlight many of the much loved secondary characters such as well as the popular favorites.

Stories included in this diverse collection include: Peter David's "Skippy the Jedi Droid", in which we follow the hapless and delusional droid R2-Q5's noble quest; Ron Marz's dramatic and exciting "Darth Vader: Extinction" featuring an epic battle between Darth Vader and the Dark Woman; and fan favorite Kevin Rubio's "A Death Star is Born" with a hilarious inside look at the debate sessions regarding the naming of the Death Star. Don't miss out on the fun!

"Star Wars Tales is my favorite title to work on," said Star Wars editor Dave Land. " I just love to see what we can do with these characters outside the regular Star Wars continuity. It's always a pleasant surprise seeing what the creators come up with."

The Star Wars Tales trade paperback arrives in comic book shops January 2, and retails for $19.95.