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!

First look. Suvudu revealed the cover for Jeff Grubb’s Scourge today. Yet another generic musclebound dude with a lightsaber, ho-hum. But given it’s a book featuring an all-new character and Hutts, I’m clearly not the target market here. Still, let’s hope it looks better on the actual book.

Staffing. Editor Betsy Mitchell, who’s been with the Star Wars novels since their rebirth in the early 90′s at Bantam, is leaving Del Rey. New hire Frank Parisi is taking over Star Wars and other tie-ins.

Hey! We know that guy! Dan Wallace in the St. Petersburg Times.

Casting games. Suvudu has the ‘winners’ of their attempts to cast Heir to the Empire. The less I say the better.

Excerpts. A new one for Riptide.

Reviews. James reviews Jedi: The Dark Side #5 and Knight Errant: Deluge #2 at Big Shiny Robot.

Namesake corner. Still no Mara Jade tee from Her Universe, but at least you can grab a fan-made one.

Nothing coming this week but a small pile of comics for Wednesday. Jedi: The Dark Side #5 wraps up the take of Qui-Gon and his apprentice Xanatos on Telos. John Jackson Miller continues Kerra Holt’s latest storyline with Knight Errant: Deluge #2. And the latest Omnibus — The Complete Saga — collects all six movie adaptions.

Namesake corner. The Mara fan site Jade Crusades folded a few years back, but creator Mazzic has resurrected the site’s interviews with several authors and artists who shaped Mara, including Tim Zahn, Mike Stackpole and Drew Struzan.

The Jedi Path. With the standalone edition out now, Daniel Wallace reveals five steps to becoming a Jedi Knight. Meanwhile, here’s a review.

Knight Errant. Dave Marshall gives fans a glimpse of the series’ ships. I like how the giant hyperspace rings are an obvious precursor to to the smaller versions we saw in the prequels.

History. This is old news for many of us, but io9 has a nice post on how Star Wars saved comics.

Reviews. James is at it again over at Big Shiny Robot, giving his take on Invasion: Revelations #3, and The Old Republic: The Lost Suns #4.

While a lot of talk this week has been focusing on the changes coming in the Star Wars Blu-ray release, there’s also been some news and chatter in the world of the Expanded Universe:

Shadow Games: Del Rey has posted two mini-excerpts from Shadow Games on the Star Wars Books account on Facebook. The novel, by Michael Reaves and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, comes out at the end of November.

Mini-excerpt #1 (from last week):

“Confidence,” Dash retorted, annoyed at being pulled out of his pleasant reverie. “The Outrider is twice the ship the Falcon is.” As far as he was concerned Solo’s boat was a scow compared with Dash’s heavily modified YT-2400.

Mini-excerpt #2:

“Then where am I supposed to come by these steely-eyed, laser-toting…characters?”

A smile curved Kendara Farlion’s lips and her teeth showed, white and even in her face. “I never thought I’d say this, but there are advantages to being from Mos Eisley. I know exactly where to look for that kind of character.”

Comics:

• John Jackson Miller provides production notes and trivia to accompany the first issue of Knight Errant: Deluge, tossing in references to Steinbeck and Saving Private Ryan. Also, check out the review on ComicBookResources.com.
• My review of last week’s comic release: Jedi: The Dark Side #4 over at BigShinyRobot.com. In short, Qui-Gon pulls his face off, and Xanatos does very little but be angry.
• Geekweek takes a tour inside Dark Horse Comics in Milwaukee, Oregon and chats with managing editor Scott Allie and founder and CEO Mike Richardson.

Favorite Scenes: Del Rey asked fans on Facebook to identify favorite scenes from the novels. A lot of deaths pop in: Anakin Solo, Ganner, Chewbacca (I guess fans have mellowed a bit on that) and Thrawn, as well as scenes from the X-Wing (both comedic and action scenes), Republic Commando, and Darth Bane series. Did not see any mentions of Waru or the Black Fleet Crisis, and that makes me sad.

Fact mirrors Star Wars fiction: Discovered: A real life “Crystal Star” (well, a crystallizing former star) – Formerly a white dwarf star, this planet is believed to be turning into one giant diamond. At 4,000 light-years away, it’ll take a while for this rock to be a girl’s best friend. Also, did not see any mentions of Waru, and that makes me sad again.

John Jackson Miller’s Knight Errant: Deluge #1, which follows up January’s Knight Errant novel, will be in the comic shops on Wednesday.

And don’t forget to check out Aaron Allston’s new short story/ebook, An Occurrence at Bifrost Bridge.

Del Rey, via suvudu.com, is hosting a contest for a chance to win lunch with Timothy Zahn and editor Shelly Shapiro on July 23 in San Diego. What’s better than some ysalamiri tacos? Contest deadline is this Thursday, and is open to anyone who is going to be in San Diego during Comic-Con.

Also, Del Rey released their schedule of author signings (and related panels) via Star Wars Books on facebook – RSVP for each event:

Signings (and free book giveaways) at the Del Rey booth 2913-D in Star Wars Pavilion:

• John Jackson Miller (Knight Errant): Thursday, 2:00pm – 3:00pm
• Timothy Zahn (Choices of One, Heir to the Empire – 20th Anniversary Edition): Friday, 2:30pm – 4:00pm and Saturday, 3:00pm – 4:30pm
• Joe Schreiber (Death Troopers, Red Harvest): Saturday, 11:00 am to noon
• Drew Karpyshyn (Darth Bane trilogy, The Old Republic: Revan) Saturday, 12:00pm to 1:00pm (with artist Chris Trevas) – Revan mask giveaway.
• Bonnie Burton (Star Wars Craft Book): Saturday, 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Del Rey has also posted events for their related Comic-Con panels:
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Why was the Riptide cover changed? Sue Rostoni answered a reader question on this the other day, saying “The sales folks at Random House weren’t sure it was strong enough — not as dynamic as they’d like.” Not sure I see it, but okay. (Personally, I’d rather they change up the Choices of One cover.) Compare them for yourself by clicking on the thumbnails at right.

In the future… J.W. Rinzler tweeted and then deleted about prepping for “a sequel of sorts” to The Jedi Path. Not a huge surprise in any case, though we all eagerly await details.

Canon, continuity, and The Clone Wars. A certain controversial event happened on last week’s Clone Wars. Leland Chee explains. (Spoilers for ‘Citadel Rescue.’)

Atlasery. Behold the sectors of the Mid Rim in the latest Essential Atlas extra.

Statistics 101. EU Cantina has a new staffer, Andrew, and for his first column he’s taken a look at the complaints that we’re getting less EU product lately.

Comics. Dark Horse’s solicitations for June include Lost Suns #1, Jedi: The Dark Side #2 and trades for Knight Errant: Aflame and the fourth A Long Time Ago omnibus.

On that note… John Jackson Miller’s Knight Errant novel answers, part the second.

Looks like Lost Suns wasn’t the last of the Insider’s comic news: Today, we’ve got Knight Errant: Deluge, Dark Times: Out of the Wilderness and Invasion: Revelations. And here I remain perplexed that, with all this bounty, The Old Republic one leaked first. Gamers.

Another Old Republic comic is coming. The new Insider contain news of a mini-series called The Lost Suns. Game writer Alexander Freed will be doing the writing honors, with the team from Blood of the Empire on art. Head on over to NJOE and/or Star Wars Universe for the full image and details.

This is the same issue that features Paul S. Kemp’s ‘The Third Lesson,‘ a Darth Malgus short story, so if you’re a fan of the era it’ll no doubt be worth picking up. On that note, Kemp is giving away a Deceived audiobook or two.

Also upcoming… Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff reveals a new tentative title for her and Reaves’ Coruscant Knights followup: The Last Jedi.

More on the Dark Side: Scott Allie talks more with MTV Geek about Qui-Gon Jinn’s adventures in the upcoming comic Star Wars: Jedi – The Dark Side. Without revealing whether Qui-Gon is the one to cross over to the dark side, Allie talks about developing a story about the Jedi’s imperfect judgment, with a plot that is flashbacked to in the YA books, and describes Qui-Gon’s role here as a “powerful Jedi out on the rim of the galaxy, angry and alone, like a hero from the Clint Eastwood western.”

Recent releases. John Jackson Miller has notes for Knight Errant.

Nonfiction. J. W. Rinzler tweets about a new Star Wars Art installment.

Learn something. In his latest blog entry, Drew Karpyshyn writes about how a book makes it from outline to novel.

Coming in the back way. A prequel fan’s review of Heir to the Empire. He liked it!