Club Jade

Here’s another Her Universe first look from Ashley Eckstein – a “Rogue Squadron hooded racer-back tank top.” She’s already revealed that it’ll be one of the new products coming in May.

Ashley Eckstein posted this photo today of “a new design” that Her Universe is working on.

It seems there’s been quite an outcry for Rogue Squadron items lately… But bear in mind this is only a sketch, so it’s hard to say when, or even if, it ever becomes available.

The addition of ribbing also hints this could be an all-new style. (Maybe a dress?) Her Universe’s tanks currently cost $25, while their only dress (so far) is $28.50.

In our fifth peek at the annotations from the 20th anniversary edition of Heir to the Empire, Timothy Zahn talks about Wedge and the Rogues.

Rogue Squadron was half convenience and half a throwaway line — a unit I could move around wherever I needed it, with Wedge in command because anyone who can survive three Star Wars movies is welcome in my book any day. I would never in my wildest dreams have guessed how well and how far Mike Stackpole and, later, Aaron Allston would run with the whole idea.

The new edition’s release date was pushed back to June 28 earlier this week.

UPDATE 4/12: …And not so much.

Mike Stackpole learned today that Bantam has allowed his X-Wing novels to go out of print. This is a puzzling turn of events to be sure: Though the Star Wars backlist is lengthy, the X-Wing novels have generally been good bets for folks just starting in the EU and are special favorites of many fans.

This does raise questions about the status of Bantam’s other classic EU novels. Are the X-Wing novels alone? (I can think of a few that deserve the ‘honor’ a hell of a lot more.) Is this just a temporary burp? Will they be repackaged as eBooks or in new editions (trade compilations would be nice) to support Aaron Allston’s 2012 Wraith Squadron novel? Let’s hope so.

Buck up, kids: For once it’s not about KOTOR! No, a gaming magazine is claiming that LucasArts has licensed out the old Rogue Squadron games to be recombobulated (“visuals and control schemes”) and released as a three-pack for the Wii. Yay?

Trivia masters rejoice: Jeopardy! added a Star Wars category today. It’s already aired here (curses!) so I have to ask: just how obsessed does one have to be to make the $1000 question laughable?

In the News

• Add David Cronenberg to the list of directors who could have made Return of the Jedi. (via)

• TFN reports that Christine Hewett, who played one of the Tonnika sisters in ANH, has past away.
• Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker tops New York Magazine’s list of ten annoying child actors they’d love to send to Kid Nation. I must object – one film, no matter how disapointing, simply isn’t enough to justify putting Lloyd above any prepubescent cast member of Full House. That show terrorized American airwaves for eight years, not counting syndication.
• AFI is sponsering 11 screenings in Hollywood to celebrate its 40th anniversary, including George Lucas presenting A New Hope. Alas, tickets “sold out faster than the Falcon made the Kessel Run,” as Stooge pointed out on Wednesday.
• IGN’s featured Dead Ewok (colloquially known to fandom as Corpsey) as their Obscure Character of the Day for (again) Wednesday.
• The Jedi Assembly celebrates fifth anniversary.

On the TOS

• The runup to Family Guy: Blue Harvest continues with an interview with writer/producer Alec Sulkin and giclée prints on Star Wars Shop.

• Pete Vilmur takes a look at the ‘pointy W’ logo.
• Hyperspace: Bantha Tracks covers Dragon*Con, while the Source Archive explored the insignia of Rogue Squadron and The New Republic as well as two more NewsNet articles: Ralltiir Uprising Quelled and Imperial Senate Suspended.

Wednesday is a big day for comics – your local shop should be getting Legacy #13, Rebellion #7 (according to the DH website, this is early,) Volume 8 of Clone Wars Adventures and the third Rogue Squadron omnibus.

Speaking of Dark Horse, check out their CIV press release.

Rebelscum has Dark Horse’s April solicitations, including Legacy #11 and KOTOR #16. Trade paperbacks include Clone Wars Adventures Vol. 8, 30th Anniversary Collection Vol. 4 and Vol. 3 of Stackpole’s X-Wing Rogue Squadron.

The latest Legacy of the Force novel is an alternate selection of the Science Fiction Book Club in their Winter catalog. This is, as far as I know, the only place fans can get the book in hardcover. SFBC also offers Bloodlines, the Dark Nest Trilogy, and several other Star Wars books.

The recent X-Wing comic omnibus is also offered for winter, though not in hardcover.

TFN has Dark Horse’s June solicitations, including a Rogue Squadron omnibus and Legacy #1.

For Hyperspace-enabled webstrip fans, Evasive Action: Prey has started.