Lucasfilm
Under the deal, Disney acquired ownership of "Star Wars", "Indiana Jones", and Lucasfilm's operating businesses in live-action film production, consumer products, video games, animation, visual effects, and audio post-production. Disney also acquired Lucasfilm's portfolio of entertainment technologies. The intent was for Lucasfilm employees to remain in their current locations. "Star Wars" merchandising would begin under Disney in the fiscal year 2014. Starting with "Star Wars Rebels", certain products will be co-branded with the Disney name, akin to what Disney has done with Pixar. On December 4, 2012, the Disney-Lucasfilm merger was approved by the Federal Trade Commission, allowing the acquisition to be finalized without dealing with antitrust problems. On December 18, 2012, Lucasfilm Ltd. converted from a corporation to a limited liability company, changing its name to Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC in the process. On December 21, 2012, Disney completed the acquisition and Lucasfilm became a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney.
Star Wars comics
Formerly branded as part of the " Star Wars Expanded Universe" or the "Expanded Universe", which was used to brand everything besides the films, the "Star Wars" comics have been produced by various comic book publishers since the debut of the 1977 film Star Wars. An eponymous series by Marvel Comics began in 1977 with a six-issue comic adaptation of the original film and ran for 107 issues and three "Annual"s until 1986, featuring stories happening between the original trilogy films, adapting "The Empire Strikes Back" before going back to original stories and ending with an adaptation of "Return of the Jedi"; despite good sales, the series ended due to George Lucas not wanting to explore the events set after his films. Then Marvel, from 1985 to 1987, published two short-lived series based on the "Star Wars" animated series "" and "". Briefly, the publishing rights were to Blackthorne Publishing, whom released a three-issue run of 3-D comics from 1987 to 1988. Then, three years later, the rights to publish "Star Wars" comics were acquired by Dark Horse, who published the limited series "Star Wars: Dark Empire" in 1991 which explored the time after "Return of the Jedi", with Dark Horse ultimately produced over 100 "Star Wars" titles until 2014, including manga adaptations of the original trilogy of films and the 1999 prequel "The Phantom Menace". The comics happening before, between, and after the films and produced before April 2014 were branded as the "Star Wars Expanded Universe" until April 2014, when they were all branded as "Legends", ceased further publications and were declared non-canonical to the franchise.