Club Jade

Wednesday is a big day for comics – your local shop should be getting Legacy #13, Rebellion #7 (according to the DH website, this is early,) Volume 8 of Clone Wars Adventures and the third Rogue Squadron omnibus.

Speaking of Dark Horse, check out their CIV press release.

TFN’s podcast team recorded their efforts on C4′s Kessel Run, talking to several Club Jade folks in the process. (Thanks, James!)

Gabri Jade’s account of TFN fanfic writers discussion with Karen Traviss at Celebration. Contains spoilers for Sacrifice! Huge honking Sacrifice spoilers. Fo’ real.

Say it ain’t so!

Dov Kelemer, organizer of The Vader Project, thinks that Star Wars is becoming nerdy: “Because you stay Star Trek and there’s just such a stigma, and I don’t want that to happen to Star Wars, so I’m doing my best to keep it relevant and keep it fun.”

Um. Okay. Either way, a brilliant show.

First things first: all the EU fans were scrambling for the early copies of Sacrifice, which promptly sold out before noon on Thursday morning. I was working all morning and thus missed out, but enough CJers grabbed copies that I was able to borrow one and check on a few spoilers. The second shipment came in Saturday morning, and I was finally able to grab a copy of my own. I only hope that next time the hotly anticipated book can come out a few weeks before the con, if for no other reason than…

Friday’s Legacy of the Force panel was the major EU event, at least for those of us with a focus on the books. All three series authors, both editors, and Pablo moderating. No Sacrifice spoilers allowed, which is a shame. I can understand the reasoning, but how long will it be before fans have access to that entire lineup again, with the pivotal book of the series hot on everyone’s mind? Hrrm. We did learn that the final LOTF book is titled Invincible. There were the usual allotment of questions regarding Jaina’s harem and the oh-so-hot topic of traditional Mandalorian dance. Quite a few Mando questions, actually – enough to warrant a dedicated panel next time, I’d say. (Please.) There was also some sort of recording going on during the panel, so it may be that audio will go up on the TOS in time.

Saturday was the Publishing/Continuity and Dark Horse panels. Continuity was sparsely attended, but whether that was due to it being the first panel on a day where folks were having trouble getting in or a general lack of interest I’ve no idea. The folks who did show up were quite enthusiastic, and the Wookieepedians were excited to get a look at the mighty and mysterious Holocron. And we learned that Plagueis is still a Muun, even with his book canceled. (Curses!) They also may reprint the Making of books for ESB and ROTJ, adding new photos and material.

The Dark Horse panel, later in the day, was packed, but they’re holding back any big announcements until later in the year. Something big is planned for 2008 and 2009… Let’s hope it’s not just TFU tie-ins. They did, however, talk about reviving the Tales concept as an annual… And there were a lot of Legacy questions, but nothing particularly groundbreaking.

Other EU news

• Hasbro is coming out with a Baron Fel and Hobbie two-pack. I guess Wes and Hobbie’s love is just not pure enough for plastic immortality.

• Karen Traviss and Tom Hodges had a meeting at the con with the new Star Wars Insider folks about original fiction.
• Short fiction on Hyperspace will return.
• Two original web strips, available to all, will start on StarWars.com this summer.
• What’s the Story is being retired, but the concept of letting fans contribute to the EU isn’t.

And of course, the Clone Wars footage…

I admit to being throughly sick of the Star Wars main theme by the end of the con, but “A convention that almost killed Star Wars?” Okay! (Thanks, Bonnie!)

I am more than willing to believe that the cake was that bad. We just wrangled it, dude.

Never again.

The biggest thing to come out of this Celebration was, of course, the much-anticipated and yet totally unexpected (well, unannounced) Clone Wars footage. As disappointed as I was to first hear that the animated series would be yet another dose of the Clone Wars, I must admit it looks pretty cool. There’s a report from the C4 panel at the StarWars.com Celebration blog. Alas, due to my schedule I never made the actual panels, although I did manage to catch the footage itself on screen, and it’s fantastic in high-def. I hope everyone who could caught it that way.

The fan-produced “3-D animated stills” mentioned is probably the ‘Tales from the New Republic’ project. While impressive for a fan production (and more in line with what I hoped for the animated series, sigh) the image quality suffers in comparison to the CW footage. Still, it’s a great idea and a lot of work, and I hope they can pull it off!

Even if… umm… no comment.

Coming at you from the fifth floor of the Westin Bonaventure in Los Angeles… Jaders. There are currently ten of us, four laptops, and our first internet access in days. It has been, full stop, In. Sane. We’re all crazy busy and there’s so much to do!

Yesterday? We served six thousand pieces of cake. Yes, I have pictures.

Today? It’s a blur. Tomorrow? Who knows? For now? Check out the Celebration blog and Flickr from StarWars.com, because this is the only internet I’m likely to get.

For now, I only have one suggestion for Celebration V: Free wifi in the Fan Club Lounge.

Breaking radio silence for a major EU development – TFN has word that the Barnes and Noble booth at Celebration will be selling Sacrifice early. This pretty much guarantees that Saturday’s Legacy of the Force panel is going to be spoilerific, among other things.