Announced on April Fools’ Day, it was hard to tell if Dark Horse was serious about their promotion for stores to get an Adam Hughes Barb Wire #1 ultravariant cover. In the initial release, they did joke about giving away a live tiger, so it was hard to tell if any of it was true. Today they’ve sent a new release saying at least part of the release was true, the part about stores trading in covers of Star Wars #1 for a variant.

That’s right: for every twenty covers of Marvel’s standard Star Wars #1 first printing that retailers send to Dark Horse, they’ll get one rare Barb Wire #1 ultravariant by Adam Hughes for FREE with a clear message: Don’t f*** with Barb Wire. This variant cover will only be available through this promotion.

In the new release Dark Horse President and Publisher Mike Richardson said:

We have been and remain huge Star Wars fans and as such we wanted to do our best to help promote Marvel’s new series. No retailer who is a true Star Wars fan would destroy his or her own first issue, so what better way to pump sales than by offering a reward for ordering extra copies? Of course, we’re hoping that Marvel returns the favor by offering an exclusive Star Wars cover for every 20 Barb Wire covers it receives. Seems fair and what better combination exists in this or any galaxy than Star Wars and Barb Wire?

All submissions must be received by June 5, 2015, at the address below in order to qualify.

Please note: no subsequent printings or variants are accepted as part of this promotion.

Dark Horse Comics
ATTN: Barb Wire
10956 SE Main Street
Milwaukie, OR 97222

Please include the following information with submissions:

• Store Name
• Name of Primary Contact
• Store Address
• E-mail Address
• Phone Number
• Number of Covers Included

Retailers will be contacted by Dark Horse once submissions are received. Retailers with further questions should contact Dark Horse directly since this promotion is not affiliated with Diamond Comic Distributors.

Check out the cover below.