Club Jade

Finally, a feast! For comic fans, anyway. In the shops on Wednesday is Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin #1 and the fourth printing of Star Wars #1.

And there are two collections as well: Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison in hardcover and the trade paperback of Knight Errant: Escape – the series’ final (for now, anyway) storyline.

No books this week, but you’re probably still making your way through The Essential Reader’s Companion, right? Still, John Jackson Miller fans can head to their shops Wednesday for Lost Tribe of the Sith: Spiral #3 and Knight Errant: Escape #5, which sadly brings the series to an end.

Our next book release is the paperback reprint of James Luceno’s Darth Plagueis on October 30th.

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.

Come Wednesday, there will be one Star Wars comic waiting in the shops: Knight Errant: Escape #2.

John Jackson Miller fans have more coming as well. Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories, a trade paperback collection of his Fate of the Jedi tie-in shorts, will be out on the 24th, our sole book release of the month.

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.

Fate of the Jedi. Apocalypse is only days away, and so there is a book trailer. (Naturally.) And a mini-excerpt. And a 50-page excerpt. And Troy Denning on a podcast. And, of course, another spoiler-free review at Star Wars Report. Will it ever end? (Well, yes. Presumably, Tuesday. And then, the arguing. Yay!)

Comics. John Jackson Miller talks about Knight Errant’s next arc, ‘Escape,’ with io9′s Cyriaque Lamar.

Upcoming. DK will be releasing The Old Republic Encyclopedia this fall, Roqoo Depot discovered.

The blogside. Roqoo Depot’s Skuldren speaks out against super-powered characters in video games and the EU. In my book, that’s a very big reason why certain streams should no be crossing… Meanwhile, io9 makes a valiant effort to connect the Star Wars timeline to Earth’s timeline – pity that the comic tale they’re using as a cornerstone is kind of, a little bit, well, actually entirely Infinities, aka a non-canon AU. Which they admit. But still.

Okay, fine. If it’s an actual EU timeline you’re looking for (sorry, no Earth,) here’s an official one from Del Rey.

Review. James gives the latest Clone Wars digest, The Enemy Within, a thumbs-up for its Dirty Dozen meets L.A. Confidential in space storyline.

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.

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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 Knight Errant: Deluge #5 to comic shops, the final issue of the arc. The series will be back with Escape in June.

We’ve one release coming up before the end of the year – a new paperback edition of Michael Reaves’ Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, which contains a new short story by James Luceno. We’re not sure if the street dating is strict on this, but Del Rey says it’ll be out on the 27th.

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.