EUbits: Deathtroopers, comics, new short story

The hype continues. Joe Schreiber reports that that the first look at Deathtroopers got over 50,000 page views. It’s officially big on the internet! (Plus he’ll be at NYCC this weekend with some extremely unofficial swag – the book’s soundtrack.)

Meanwhile, we have another sighting: Literary agent Colleen Lindsay, with nothing but praise.

Going to New York Comic Con this weekend?

Photo from NYCC '08 by elorgwhee @ Flickr.This weekend is the first major con of the year, New York Comic Con. Steve Sansweet and “some famous—maybe infamous—guests” will be there to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Phantom Menace, along with folks from Del Rey, Dark Horse and Robot Chicken. And for The Clone Wars fans, the official site promises “an exclusive sneak peek of something very special.”

The Beat has the schedule of Dark Horse events, including a Star Wars panel and several signings on Saturday. And Star Wars is certain to come up at the Random House panel later (?) that day.

In other event news, dates were announced for Disney’s Star Wars Weekends last week.

Photo from NYCC ’08 by elorgwhee on Flickr. All hail Creative Commons!

Fate of the Jedi blurb from the Random House

Random House has posted their spring catalog as a PDF, and it includes a blurb (though no cover) for Fate of the Jedi!

Fate of the Jedi launches a huge story arc, with heroic roles for the galaxy’s most beloved characters — Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa Solo, and their surviving children, Ben Skywalker and Jaina Solo. While Luke and Ben set off on the journey of a lifetime — of discovery and hardship, of obstacles and victories—the others remain in more familiar territory, dealing with the aftermath of the civil war that rocked the galaxy in the Legacy of the Force.

Some of that is familiar from early rumors but it’s good to have some sort of official confirmation. (When are the print catalogs sent out, exactly? Could it be the source of the early leak? Plus there are a few recently-revealed things missing, like the title of book 1, Outcast.) We can also expect a seven-city author tour, a “free PDF sampler giveaway,” an “original prequel short story” and a live chat (that’s been a while) on StarWars.com. (No, FateOfTheJedi.com isn’t live yet!)

Millennium Falcon also gets a page, which touts that it will have an excerpt from Outcast. Excerpts in hardcovers? That’s new…

NYCC ’08: Sansweet talks live-action with MTV

The new show will reveal the greasy, seamy underbelly of Star Wars,” Steve Sansweet told MTV at New York Comic Con yesterday. That lends a little more weight to the “Deadwood meets The Sopranos” rumors… Also, a bit on the production schedule:

Sansweet said the initial writers of the show have been selected and “they’ve had their first couple sessions working with George and [producer] Rick [McCallum].” So when can we expect all of this? “We’ll see it in production probably sometime in 2009. Hopefully the series will be on by 2010,” said Sansweet.

I’m just on my way out the door, but I’ll be updating our live-action roundup post later tonight.

NYCC ’08: Robot Chicken: Star Wars DVD details

IGN reports a few Star Wars tidbits from the Robot Chicken panel:

IMAGE: Robot Chicken: Star Wars DVD

  • The Robot Chicken: Star Wars DVD will contain two hours of bonus materials.
  • And seven commentary tracks!
  • The Star Wars special took them fourteen weeks to prepare – an entire season (20 episodes) generally takes eleven months.

The DVD comes out May 20th.

Saturday @ NYCC ’08: And all the rest

So it seems that Seth Green had the biggest Star Wars news today… But Cinematical has pictures from the New York Comic Con, including one from Steve’s panel and several out-and-about troopers. Keep an eye on the nycc and newyorkcomiccon tags on Flickr for more shots.