Club Jade

Earlier we announced that Dark Horse Comics had unveiled several new Star Wars titles for 2012 at New York Comic-Con. Now that the official press releases have gone out, here’s some more info about each new story.

• Knights of the Old Republic: War – Zayne Carrick has been drafted in war between Revan and the Republic against the Mandalorians. Starting in January, this story written by John Jackson Miller will continue the adventures from his Knights of the Old Republic series, but Dark Horse assures us that it is also a great entry point into Star Wars comics. Rebelscum.com has a sample page.
• Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison – Haden Blackman returns to write this five issue story about Darth Vader, starting in May. As Vader gets used to his role in serving the Emperor, there’s an assassination plot afoot! Blackman talked with Newsarama about the story involving the Dark Lord of the Sith and Moff Trachta, as well as getting into Vader’s head.
• Blood Ties: Boba Fett is Dead – Tom Taylor describes this new Blood Ties story (coming in April) with: “Boba Fett is dead. The most infamous hunter in the galaxy has been hunted. He’s lying, broken, on the desert floor. He’s more blaster-holes than man. It’s the ultimate ending. However, this is just the start of our story. With the fall of Fett broadcast across the galaxy, someone rises to avenge him. But who would care about the death of a man like Fett? Bounty hunters aren’t exactly known for their enduring, close friendships but even a man like Boba Fett has family… and now a Blood Tie demands blood.”
• Dawn of the Jedi – John Ostrander and Jan Duursema delve into the origins of the Jedi in this brand new series, set 25,000 years before the movies. We’ve already heard a bit about it from interviews, but here’s the official blurb. Issue #0 and Issue #1 (Starting the Force Storm arc) both come out in February.
• Knight Errant: Escape – The next story arc in the adventures of Kerra Holt, one-woman Jedi wrecking crew in Sith space starts up in June for a five-issue run. Although with a title like Escape, I wonder if John Jackson Miller will have Kerra fighting for her life more than fighting to liberate worlds from the Sith warlords.

Looks like we are going to have a very cool 2012 for Star Wars comics!

• Fate of the Jedi: The second book, Christie Golden’s Omen, has appeared on the Random House online catalog with a release date of June 23, 2009. (Please remember the page count is probably a placeholder number.)

• Imperial Commando: Karen Traviss talks about the fate of Sev on her blog.
• The Force Unleashed: Kotaku interviews Haden Blackman. (via)
• Comics: Preview Knights of the Old Republic #34.

The big news is The Force Unleashed demo shattering Xbox Live records with more than a million downloads. Count in the Playstation Network and it comes out to 2.3 million. Not too shabby…

• In the news: Star Wars lives on through games. Among other things… But certainly the games are where the interest is, at least online: The Secret Apprentice (under his spoilerific real name) has been among the most-visited pages on the Wookieepedia for a while now. (He’s currently #4, behind the main page, Anakin Skywalker, and lightsaber.) And those numbers don’t require a console.

• Interview: GalacticBinder talks to Haden Blackman.
• Wishful thinking: The game isn’t even out yet, and IGN is obsessing over a sequel. If that’s a bit far-fetched for you, they also have a look back at the history of Star Wars games.
• Concept art: The Death Star laser tube by Chin Ko, above.

With most of The Force Unleashed tie-ins out today, the official site has posted a bonanza of extras:

• A brief excerpt from Sean Williams’ novel adaption of the game.

• Q&A with the game’s project lead, Haden Blackman, on the book vs. the game.
• Several pages from the comic adaption. (The same one we saw on DarkHorse.com)
• A quick look at The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Also of interest may be io9′s gallery of TFU concept art.

The TIE fighter model in the Profiles in History auction is expected to fetch up to £100,000, the highest-priced (or, well, estimated) item in the collection. That’s about about $200,000 American. Gotta love the exchange rate… The Crusade Grail is only expected to go for about £12,500, or $25,000.

• Exhibits: The St. Paul run of ‘Where Science Meets Imagination’ draws in 100,000 visitors within 32 days.

• Gaming: The Guardian’s Greg Howson interviews The Force Unleashed project lead Haden Blackman. In other TFU news, an IGN preview.
• Science: Laser beam technology… For real.
• People: Warwick Davis in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Makeup Actor Hall of Fame.

Dark Horse is the latest website of note to redesign… And now there’s a new letter from Randy Stradley at the Star Wars Zone as well, detailing their plans for The Force Unleashed adaption by Haden Blackman, Brian Ching, Bong Dazo and Wayne Nichols. (Including a quick peek!)