Club Jade

Fans who won’t be spending Wednesday on the road or in airports may appreciate that Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison #4 will be in stores that day.

As expected, it’s a slow week for Star Wars releases. Comic-reading Clone Wars fans can look forward to something on Wednesday with the release of a new Clone Wars digest, The Sith Hunters.

Looking forward, our next few book releases are both paperback reprints: Aaron Allston’s Fate of the Jedi: Conviction (Aug. 28) and Drew Karpyshyn’s The Old Republic: Revan (Sept. 25.) The next actual new release will be The Essential Reader’s Companion by Pablo Hidalgo – which Del Rey kindly gave us a peek at last week – on October 2.

Tomorrow is the day… Aaron Allston’s X-Wing: Mercy Kill will finally be in stores. Entertainment Weekly has yet another excerpt.

We linked several of the early reviews on Friday, but the weekend brought one more by Big Shiny Robot’s Bryan Young. “The book kept my heart pounding and a smile on my face, which is the best I could ask for from a Star Wars book,” he writes… So far, so good!

Meanwhile, Wednesday will be good to comics fans, with both Knight Errant: Escape #3 and Lost Tribe Of The Sith: Spiral #1 due in the shops.

It’s another light release week for Star Wars fans, with Darth Vader And The Ghost Prison #3 on Wednesday being the only release

At least we know there’ll be something next week: John Jackson Miller’s Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories.

Live, from the con floor, thanks to a few enterprising fans, under the cut! Note, if you’d just like the news, head here: Post-Fate of the Jedi novel from Denning, Dawn of the Jedi novel from new author coming.

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Coming to your local comic shop on Wednesday is Knight Errant: Escape #1, the beginning of a new storyline for Kerra Holt and crew. There are two versions of the cover – one by Benjamin Carré (above left) and the variant by Mike Hawthorne.

It’s also time to be on the lookout for Star Wars Insider #134, notable to EU fans for the short story ‘Getaway’ by Christie Golden, starring Jaina Solo and Jag Fel.

Lo, there is a comic coming out on Wednesday. Keep an eye out for Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison #1 in your local comic shop.

We’re in a dry period for Star Wars books, with nothing but reprints for the next couple months, but certain Jaders may be interested to hear that the third and final book of Mira Grant’s Newsflesh trilogy, Blackout, is out today. Despite being fairly adverse to zombies, I recommended the first book, Feed, way back in 2010.

It’s another week of slim pickings. Comic fans, at least, can head out on Wednesday to find Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm #4.

We’re still two weeks to our next book release, the paperback reprint of Paul Kemp’s The Old Republic: Deceived.

The blogside. There are, so, so many great responses out to EUC’s gender post now. (Why ours is the only one with 100+ comments and some hella tangents, I remain perplexed. Or maybe that’s just my headache speaking.) Synlah and Skuldren at Roqoo Depot were first out the gate with cluelessness in Star Wars. Emily at Tosche Station wrote Why Star Wars needs women – now more than ever. Rachael of The Galactic Drift says that asking for equality in Star Wars isn’t sexist, and, later (inspired by our comment section, I believe) how turning women into sex objects removes their humanity. And Tricia and Lex at FangirlBlog addressed how the original post missed the point of Star Wars and fandom, and Tricia came back last night with a look at the silver linings of the whole thing.

And, finally, Pete Morrison at Lightsaber Rattling took a look at the dramatis personae of Star Wars novels from the last few years and did a gender breakdown that showed male characters outnumber females almost 2 to 1.

Say what you will about EUC’s post, but it certainly got fandom talking!

Get your X-Wings in bulk. Knights Archive found a listing on Random Houses’ Smart Archive for an eBook bundle of the X-Wing novels. There’s no price yet, but it does include all the classic Stackpole and Allston books and goes on sale July 30th. That’s cutting it a little close for those who want to catch up or reread: Allston’s X-Wing: Mercy Kill will be out the very next week.

The most magnificent motivation of all. Peter David has republished the first draft of Skippy the Jedi Droid, his classic Star Wars story from the much-missed Star Wars Tales comic. (via)

Celebration VI. The first Celebration Show Store exclusive to be announced is a 12″ figure of Clone Commander Ganch from Sideshow. Why is he here? Because he was created by Pablo Hidalgo and Tom Hodges for the The Clone Wars webcomics.

Background. Even more endnotes for The Essential Guide to Warfare..

Reviews. James reads Dark Times: Out of the Wilderness #5 and Boba Fett is Dead #1.

May the Fifth be with you! May the Thors be with you? Or something.. But get out to your local comics book shop to get your free comics for this annual celebration of sequential art. As previously mentioned, Dark Horse has a few different offerings, including a Han Solo and Chewbacca Star Wars story, ‘The Art of the Bad Deal’, in a flip-cover comic that also has a Zack Whedon-penned Serenity comic. Both stories have a common theme – a man and his ship. Dark Horse’s second freebie is a flip cover for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Guild. Combine both free comics together, and you will also have a two part story of Caitlin R. Kiernan’s Alabaster.

From other publishers for Free Comic Book Day: The Avengers, The New 52, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Simpsons, Mouse Guard, Transformers, Peanuts, and a whole lot more!

To find a comic shop near you, call 1-888-comicbook or visit ComicShopLocator.com.