Out this week: Lost Tribe, Knight Errant and two Crimson Empire collections

There’s nothing new in the bookstores this week (unless you haven’t picked up the new Insider yet) but there’s plenty coming to your local comic shop on Wednesday.

For ongoing fans, there’s Knight Errant: Escape #4 and Lost Tribe of the Sith: Spiral #2. Or, pick your collected poison with Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost in trade paperback, or The Crimson Empire Saga – all three installments – in hardcover.

Beyond that, you can look forward to the paperback of Drew Karpyshyn’s The Old Republic: Revan on the 24th, and Pablo Hidalgo’s Essential Reader’s Companion on October 2.

Out this week: Scourge and a heap of comics

Have you heard about Jeff Grubb’s Scourge yet? Because it comes out Tuesday and I swear I have an entire EUbits worth of links for it. At least someone is excited… Roqoo Depot even has a reader’s guide.

Last week, Grubb chatted about the book on Facebook. (For the impatient, TFN has a recap.) He also chatted with the Fictional Frontiers podcast, EUCantina, Rooqoo Depot and Suvudu.

The reviews have been pretty positive, at least so far: Read up at EU Cantina, Lightsaber Rattling, Knights Archive, NJOE and Roqoo Depot. Or you can try a 50-page excerpt to see if it’s to your tastes.

Meanwhile, it’s a good week for comic fans, with three comics and a trade collection coming to stores on Wednesday. Two of the books – Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost #6 and Dark Times: Out of the Wilderness #5 – close out their storylines, while another begins with Blood Ties: Boba Fett is Dead #1. And for the final offering, the third volume of Invasion, Revelations, is collected.

Out this week: Crimson Empire III, The Enemy Within

Once again, we have a week without a book release, but Wednesday does bring a few things to your local comic shop. First up is Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost #5, as the series winds up to next month’s conclusion. Then, for the The Clone Wars fans, there’s The Enemy Within trade, which Dark Horse is describing as “Dirty Dozen in space.”

Of course, next week, we’ll finally get the last Fate of the Jedi book, Troy Denning’s Apocalypse. Which means now is the time for those of us who’ve been slacking (ahem, yours truly) to finally get around to reading finishing Ascension. For those who are hanging on every word, Lightsaber Rattling has the first review. He hints at some spoilers, but nothing major.

Out this week: Some 3D movie, Book of Sith, comics

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.

Out this week: New Shadow Hunter, CEIII #3

You ought to be seeing the new edition of Michael Reaves’ Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter in stores today. It has a new cover and contains a new short story by James Luceno, ‘Restraint,’ as well as an older short, ‘Saboteur.’ I’d recommend caution – and buying the book in a real live bookstore – to make sure you have the right edition, since it doesn’t seem to have a fresh ISBN. The new cover, along with our comic release this week, is at the right.

There should be no issues with Wednesday’s lone comic release, Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost #3. It’s brand new.

And with that we official close out the 2011 releases. Up in two weeks, on January 10, we’ll get the first novel of the new year with Luceno’s Darth Plagueis.

Best of Star Wars in 2011: Comics

2011 brought us a plethora of Star Wars comics from Dark Horse. With 44 individual comic issues and 17 books (digests, trade paperbacks and omnibus collections), there was a lot for everyone, with nearly every era getting some stories. As part of Dark Horse’s 25th anniversary, the Star Wars lineup added some new titles (Jedi – The Dark Side, Darth Vader and the Lost Command, and Agent of the Empire), brought back some old favorites (Crimson Empire III) and finished up the Cade Skywalker storyline with the end of Legacy: War. Darth Vader and the Lost Command was Dark Horse’s bestselling Star Wars title of the year, which earned it a special hard-cover trade edition. While Haden Blackman’s tale of Vader on a mission filled with betrayal is a great story, I think there was another story that topped it to be the year’s best.

Continue reading “Best of Star Wars in 2011: Comics”

EUbits: Tom Dupree revisits his Star Wars years

Blast from the past. Tom Dupree, who was an editor at Bantam, writes about his time editing Star Wars novels on his blog as part of a larger series on his career. Old-timers like yours truly will remember him dropping little hints of book news on the AOL Fan Forum, or perhaps such hints being reported in a so-called ‘fan fiction’ newsletter.

Interview. Michael Reaves talks Shadow Games over at Suvudu. Iffy on the book? Take a test drive with a 50-page excerpt.

Excerpts. A little bit of Luceno’s Darth Plagueis.

Comic reviews. Over at Big Shiny Robot, James reviews Knight Errant: Deluge #4, Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost #2, and Dark Times: Out of the Wilderness #3.

Pretties. Flickr user Sith_fire30 creates custom figures based on Star Wars games and comics. Be sure to check out his Jedi Master Luke Skywalker (based on an issue of Invasion, Cade Skywalker, Savage Opress and more.

Out this week: Shadow Games, CEIII #2

Tuesday brings our final Star Wars novel of the year, Shadow Games by Michael Reaves and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff. Here’s a mini-excerpt for the Dash Rendar fans.

Comic fans will have two books to look for on WednesdayCrimson Empire III: Empire Lost #2 and Dark Times: Out Of The Wilderness #3.

Our next major release will be James Luceno’s Darth Plagueis on January 10. This one also has a recent mini-excerpt.

EUbits: Richardson on CEIII, inside The Complete Vader

Crimson Empire III. With Empire Lost #1 in stores, Dark Horse founder and co-writer Mike Richardson talks to Comic Book Resources about getting the Star Wars license and getting re-acquainted with Kir Kanos and crew.

The Complete Vader. Undecided on whether to get the book or not? Take a peek at some of the contents courtesy of Wired. For those who already have it, the Star Wars Books Facebook page is hosting a chat with authors Ryder Windham and Pete Vilmur on Tuesday.

Nonfiction. Also coming on Tuesday is the release of Industrial Light & Magic: The Art of Innovation, a nice coffee-table book for the effect nerds.

Video. Author J.W. Rinzler & Art Director Leslie Dilley talk about the massive Blueprints book at NYCC.

Excerpts. A tiny bit of The Old Republic: Revan, and a bigger one for Shadow Games.

Poll At Suvudu, Eric Geller asks which Star Wars books you’d like to see adapted for the screen. Alas, there’s not option for ‘none of them.’

Out this week: Riptide, The People vs. George Lucas and Crimson Empire III

We’ve got quite the variety of things coming out this week. First up, on Tuesday, is the latest from Paul S. Kemp, Riptide. He regards it as his best Star Wars novel, and shares a bit more with Suvudu.

Also being released tomorrow is the DVD of the fan documentary The People vs. George Lucas, which should be an interesting watch.

And finally, Wednesday brings the long-awaited Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost #1. Have at it, fanboys.