Brian Truitt

USA TODAY

Other than being the greatest pilot in the galaxy, you don’t really know Poe yet. But that's going to change this spring.

Oscar Isaac’s Resistance flyboy from Star Wars: The Force Awakens gets his own Marvel Comics series in April with the ongoing Star Wars: Poe Dameron title, written by Charles Soule (Star Wars: Lando) and drawn by Phil Noto (Star Wars: Chewbacca).

Poe is one of the breakout characters of the biggest movie of all time, “so to see people reacting to him so strongly now just feels like we’re hopefully in a great position,” Soule says.

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Adds Noto: “I’ve seen people on Twitter and Instagram looking for Poe Dameron in the comics. Now the pressure’s on us to deliver.”

While the Internet has embraced Poe’s bromance with John Boyega’s Finn in the movie, the new comic will focus on the lead-up to the opening scene of The Force Awakens, which saw Poe seeking out mysterious traveler Lor San Tekka (Max von Sydow) on the planet Jakku for a key to finding the missing Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).

The series will dig into Poe's status as the top X-wing fighter jockey for General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) and leader of a squadron with an important mission. But the evil First Order also has a goal of finding Luke, and a new villain from the organization is introduced as Poe’s chief nemesis.

“Sometimes it can feel like the Star Wars universe is so well trodden and so many stories have already been told,” says Soule. “But the way the Episode VII galaxy is set up, there are opportunities for new archetypes almost, and the bad guy we’re working with is going to feel fresh and cool.”

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He and Noto promise to flesh out more of Poe’s personality, explore locations new and old in the Star Wars galaxy, showcase legacy characters and other rookies — Poe’s lovable droid BB-8 is one of the comic’s co-stars, and Soule teases appearances from other new X-wing pilots — while also bringing depth and expanding the world of The Force Awakens.

"It’s not as instinctive in some ways as writing a story about, say, Lando Calrissian was for me — I’ve been thinking about Lando Calrissian for 30 years, whereas Poe Dameron I’ve been thinking about for six months,” says Soule, who likens the upcoming comic to a Mission: Impossible movie with Poe in the lead.

Noto is working with a lot of visual X-wing reference material for space battles, but for Poe’s look, he’s studying Isaac’s filmography. “Seeing so much of him on screen, it’s easier in a way to act that part out in my head while I’m drawing: How would Oscar Isaac act in this situation as Poe Dameron?” Noto says.

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Comic fans actually got a lesson in Poe’s backstory before The Force Awakens hit theaters. The Shattered Empire miniseries starred his Rebel Alliance parents, A-wing pilot Shara Bey and soldier Kes Dameron, in the aftermath of Return of the Jedi, plus hinted at Poe's childhood on the Rebel base on Yavin IV with a Force tree in his yard.

Soule doesn’t envision writing a bunch of flashback scenes. Instead, he wants to reveal Poe’s persona through the way the confident pilot approaches situations and his relationships to other characters and the Force itself.

“It’s silly not to explore the idea of a guy who grew up steeped in the Rebellion and the older Republic and all of those myths and legends,” Soule says. “If you think about it, he grew up the way we did, hearing all of these stories.”