Club Jade

This week is strong with the dark side: Not only are we seeing Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D arrive in theaters Friday, but that’s also the release date for Dan Wallace’s Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side, the latest fancy whatsit you can use to frighten impress your friends with your supreme geekery. (A book coming out on a Friday? Unusual, but it’s no ordinary book… Though I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to get it at midnight.)

Appropriately, there will be a mighty bounty of new Star Wars comics in stores Wednesday: Knights of the Old Republic: War #2, Agent of the Empire: Iron Eclipse #3 and Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost #4. There’s even a little something for the Omnibus fans, A Long Time Ago: Volume 5.

Cover art. Revealed on the official blog today is the finished cover for Pablo Hidalgo’s Essential Reader’s Companion. Clearly inspired by the Micheal Whelan piece used for the preliminary cover, the art was painted by Paul Youll.

Celebration VI. Del Rey has confirmed Aaron Allston, Troy Denning, Drew Karpyshyn, and John Jackson Miller will be at the con in August. And of course we already knew about Timothy Zahn.

Dawn of the Jedi. i09 has some interior pages and an interview on the upcoming series from John Ostrander and Jan Duursema, while Dark Horse gives us a look at some sketches.

The hype continues. On the off chance you haven’t heard of that Darth Plagueis book, there’s a trailer. Of course.

Chats. Author Paul S. Kemp did a Q&A with Reddit’s fantasy group the other day. There are a few questions about Star Wars scattered throughout.

Reviews. James takes a look at Knights of the Old Republic: War #1 and Agent of the Empire: Iron Eclipse #2.

Well nerds, it’s time: James Luceno’s Darth Plagueis will be in bookstores today. If you’re not convinced yet, there’s yet another excerpt at StarWars.com, or reviews at Big Shiny Robot, EU Cantina, Fangirlblog, Knights Archive, Lightsaber Rattling, Roqoo Depot and The Star Wars Report.

Wednesday will be big for comic fans as well: Both Knights of the Old Republic: War #1 and Agent of the Empire: Iron Eclipse #2. Or, you can round out your collection with the trade of Legacy: War.

If Knights of the Old Republic: War is on your radar, James has an interview with John Jackson Miller.

Short stories. David Pomerico revealed that Jeff Grubb and Jason Fry will both have short stories in upcoming issues of the Star Wars Insider, tying into Scourge and The Essential Guide to Warfare, respectively. Both books will be out in April, so expect to see the stories soon.

Authors. Troy Denning wrote a post on climactic scenes for Amazon’s Omnivoracious blog today.

Interviews. Sohaib Awan talks to Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, while Jedi Journals has James Luceno.

Excerpts. Plagueis is nigh, with excerpts upon excerpts.

Reviews. Over at Big Shiny Robot, James reviews the Phantom Menace comic reprints, Agent of the Empire #1, and Knight Errant: Deluge #5.

Wednesday brings the debut issue of John Ostrander’s Agent of the Empire, featuring the James Bondesque Imperial agent Jahan Cross. The series spans a few years before A New Hope, or so I hear.

Also gracing the comic shelves will be a pair of digest reprint collections: Episode I Adventures collects some TPM side adventures, while Episode I: The Phantom Menace is the official movie adaption.

You might also want to be on the lookout for the latest issue of the Star Wars Insider, #130, for the new short story by Matthew Stover, ‘The Tenebrous Way,’ though in some places I’m seeing it dated for the 21st.

Listage. Lane over at Roqoo Depot gives the regular folks of the GFFA their due with his list of the top ten non-Force sensitive Expanded Universe characters.

Fate of the Jedi. Lightsaber Rattling reports on Troy Denning’s comments about the likely Apocalypse page count.

Short stories. Get a peek – though not a particularly readable one – at Matthew Stover’s Insider short story, ‘The Tenebrous Way.’

Interview. Writer John Ostrander talks Agent of the Empire with Nerd World News.

Artists. Five contributers to Star Wars Art: Comics share their thoughts on the franchise and comics at CBR.

Excerpts. Two more from Darth Plagueis – a mini on Facebook, and a larger one at Random House’s online catalog.

Pretties.Concept art from Genndy Tartakovsky’s traditionally animated Clone Wars cartoon. It graced Cartoon Network in the gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, and I’m sad to hear that the DVDs have apparently gone out of print, because it was an amazing series of shorts.