Out this week: Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin, new The Clone Wars digest, Lost Tribe collected

The Clone Wars: The Smuggler's CodeLots of stuff coming to the comic stores this week – well, three, which is ‘lots’ for our purposes. First off there’s Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin #3 and a new Clone Wars digest, The Smuggler’s Code, starring Obi-wan. And for the trade paperback aficionados, there’s the collected Lost Tribe of the Sith: Spiral.

And finally, book fans, next week brings Aaron Allston’s X-Wing: Mercy Kill in paperback to match up with the rest of the series.

Out this week: The Old Republic slogs on with Annihilation

It’s yet another Sith-heavy week for new releases. Out Tuesday is the latest Old Republic novel, Drew Karpyshyn’s Annihilation. And on Wednesday, Lost Tribe of the Sith: Spiral #4.

And after these, we’re down to just one more book release through the end of the year – Fate of the Jedi: Ascension in paperback on November 27th. Of course, there’s always Timothy Zahn’s Scoundrels on January 1st…

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: Lost Tribe collection, new Insider

Of course this week brings a glut of Star Wars stuff. Of course. First up, on Tuesday, is Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories… All John Jackson Miller’s Fate of the Jedi tie-ins stories that you may have read for free over the course of the series, plus a new one and, I hear, some maps.

It’s also the time to start keeping an eye out for Star Wars Insider #135, which includes Karen Miller’s Myri Antilles story, a tie in to next month’s Mercy Kill.

On Wednesday, get your fill of mostly-silent fanboy-favorite grunters with Blood Ties: Boba Fett Is Dead #4 and Darth Maul: Death Sentence #1.

Lost Tribe of the Sith now coming to comics

John Jackson Miller’s Lost Tribe is expanding it’s reach. In addition to the upcoming paperback collection of (mostly) previously-published stories, there’s a five-issue comic series on the horizon, USA Today has revealed.

Dark Horse will launch The Lost Tribe of the Sith comic on August 8. Written by Miller with art by Andrea Mutti, the series will focus on the Lost Tribe “in an age of discovery and optimism.”

EUbits: What a long, hard Fate it’s been

The blogside. Over at Tosche Station, Brian has a two-part retrospective of Fate of the Jedi. The series has garnered some mixed reviews, but overall I have to agree with some of Brian on this one, particularly regarding Luke/the Jedi, the arc-welding in Abeloth’s backstory, and the overall issues with Denning. Brian’s also revised his review of Apocalypse.

Warfare fallout. Jason Fry has posted his endnotes for The Essential Guide to Warfare in three parts, while his co-author Paul Urquhart writes (naturally) about the wackier side of the book at Suvudu.

Interviews. EU Cantina talks to comic writer Tom Taylor about his upcoming Darth Maul mini-series, Invasion, and Boba Fett is Dead. Meanwhile, Newsarama has John Ostrander to discuss Dawn of the Jedi in some detail.

Whoops! I caught the release date change for Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories last week, but not that it had changed formats from paperback to trade paperback. Guess someone likes the Sith…

WTF of the week. Kevin J. Anderson invented the Killiks. Of course he did.

Reviews. James enjoys the unexpected trickery in Knights of the Old Republic – War #4 and is satisfied (sort of) by the big ending of Agent of the Empire – Iron Eclipse #5.

EUbits: Maul and Savage and the open road

Of course. There’s a Darth Maul comic coming. Darth Maul: Death Sentence #1 will launch July 25 and feature Maul and his brother Savage Opress roaming the galaxy in a beat-up light freighter and solving mysteries. Well, I made up the bit about the freighter. And the mysteries. Everything else is true! Sort of.

Confirmation, non-fiction. It’s not available yet, but Rancho Obi-wan has added the new Steve Sansweet book, Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection: 35 Years of Characters. It’s co-authored by Anne Neumann and noted fan photographer Dan Curto.

Confirmation, fiction. Looks like they’re moving ahead with a third character guide. Expect a totally new different-looking Ben Skywalker!

Street date shuffle. Feel like some super minor schedule news? Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories has moved up a week, from July 31 to the 24th. Exciting!

Pretty. Knights Archive spotted the cover for Star Wars Art: Illustration on Amazon. There’s a Yoda on it: Bitches love Yoda.

Kids. Snark aside, Darth Vader and Son looks kind of cute. Sadly, we will never see a ‘Mommy and Me’ version of this, unless you count The Phantom Menace, and I wouldn’t. It’ll be out any minute now.

Eighth Lost Tribe of the Sith story is live

The final free installment of John Jackson Miller’s Lost Tribe of the Sith, Secrets is avaliable now. It also contains an excerpt from Fate of the Jedi: Apocalpse, which will be out on March 13.

A ninth Lost Tribe of the Sith tale will be avaliable in June, when the whole series is published as a paperback. For now, Miller has posed his notes to several past installments.

EUbits: New covers for Phantom Menace, Lost Tribe

Covers. Knight’s Archive found the new cover to The Phantom Menace novelization earlier this week. Shockingly, it looks just like the poster. Like the last TPM-centric rerelease, Shadow Hunter, this one contains a new James Luceno short story and may be a bit difficult to find because both editions share the same ISBN. It’s due out on the 31st.

In other cover reveals, StarWars.com has the covers for eighth Lost Tribe of the Sith installment and the paperback compilation. They look pretty much the same as all the Lost Tribe of the Sith stuff.

Fate of the Jedi. The mini-excerpts for Denning’s Apocalypse begin with – who else? – Saba.

Interviews. In a two-parter, James Luceno talks Darth Plagueis at TFN and Suvudu, while John Jackson Miller chats with CBR’s Tim O’Shea.