Today in grain of salt news, there are rumors circulating that Agent Alexsandr Kallus, ISB agent for the Galactic Empire, will appear in the Disney+ live-action show, Kenobi. Of course, I always take these sorts of unsubstantiated “industry insider” rumors with between a grain and a boulder of salt.
However, given that I operate a Star Wars comic book news website, speculation blog, and a key issue and first appearance database (WookyWiki.com), it would behoove me to lay out Kallus’ first appearance and key comic book issues for those interested in getting a little invested in the character. You can find all of these entries and so, so, so much more on WookyWiki.com, our sister site and Star Wars first appearance and key issue database!
Rebels Magazine #4 (UK-Egmont)
Agent Kallus makes his first debut in a comic inside the pages of Star Wars Rebels Magazine #4 (UK, Egmont). The story “Kallus’ Hunt” written by Martin Fisher and illustrated by Bob Molesworth was printed April 22, 2015 in the UK. These issues are admittedly damned near impossible to find in the normal online avenues. There are currently zero copies of this issue listed on ebay (many of the Titan issue #3 listed below).
Kallus hunts down a defector and fellow Imperial Academy graduate in the tale. Now, this comic appears in a magazine. Depending on a collector’s inclination, many people dismiss magazines when considering “first appearances. On Wookywiki.com, we consider any sequential art as a comic and count it toward a first appearance, so magazines count. WookyWiki’s own internal definition for a Comic purposes of its database is “ a Newspaper Comic, a Comic Book, Trade Paperback, Hardcover, Omnibus, Web Comic, Magazine Format Comic containing at least one page with Sequential Art, or other format containing Sequential Art.”
Rebels Magazine #3 (US-Titan)
If you absolutely need a copy of “Kallus’ Hunt”, it was reprinted in the shorter Titan run of Star Wars Rebels Magazine #3. Titan didn’t simply re-print the magazine from the foreign market, but seemed to have reshuffled the contents between issues, complicating things when tracking the comics contained inside. These are slightly easier to come by from Titan, but still demand a premium. After all, even if the character appearances are not as early as the foreign editions, they still beat out many of the traditional Marvel and IDW comic book appearances. Now, Star Wars Adventures #14 (below) was released September 26, 2018, so the US edition of Rebels Magazine #3 still precedes THAT.
Star Wars Adventures #14 (IDW Vol. 1 2017)
Now, if you disregard magazine comics, Star Wars Adventures #14 released September 26, 2018 from IDW’s first volume beginning in 2017 would be Agent Kallus’ first appearance in a Comic Book. WookyWiki.com defines Comic Book as:
This is a magazine with Sequential Art that usually has around 20-24 pages bound together with two staples on the spine. This category also includes what are commonly referred to as “prestige format” comics containing conventionally between 48-64 pages with either a stapled spine binding or a perfect binding using glue or string. Modern comic books are usually 6-7?x 10-11?, or slightly larger for golden and silver age comics (which will not usually be an issue with Star Wars Comics which came about on the cusp of the Bronze Age of Comics).
In it, IG-88 retells his time with Agent Kallus in his earlier “life”.
As an added bonus, Star Wars Adventures #14 is also the first full appearance of Bazine Netal (previous cameo in Force Awakens 3). Her first cover appearance is Cover B.
