Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Out tomorrow is the second season of Rebels on Blu-Ray. io9 has a review of the set, noting that there are only about 10 minutes of extras worth the trouble.
Meanwhile, Wednesday brings Han Solo #3 and a hardcover collected edition of last year’s Shattered Empire (which also includes the one-off where we learn about C-3PO’s red arm) to the comic shops.
Oscar Isaac talks to io9 about the Resistance, Poe’s Shattered Empire backstory (though it’s worth noting he was already old enough to be talking – he’s mentioned in #2 – before his parents settled on Yavin) and how the X-wings have evolved.
→ You can listen to both yesterday’s press conference(s) thanks to Full of Sith. Or watch the videos (1, 2.)
→ Captain Phasma was originally a man, Vulture reports, and the backlash to the initial casting may have played a part in the gender swap. That said, anything that saved us from Benedict Cumberbatch is fine by me.
→ Clutch your pearls, because J.J. Abrams talked midi-chlorians with /Film.
→ Droid tales: Anthony Daniels get profiled by Vulture, while CNN talks to the BB-8 designers about the droid and his adventures on set.
→ On Twitter, Greg Grunberg confirms his action figure and his character name.
→ Everyone wants their trailer on Star Wars! We know X-Men: Apocalypse will be there, but now The Hollywood Reporter says Star Trek Beyond will be attached as well.
With so much going on in the world of Star Wars, I recap some of the latest releases with a new Unboxing Star Wars video, with Yowie and Baby Jawa. We review ‘Brothers of the Broken Horn’ from Star Wars Rebels (yay for the return of our beloved pirate captain, Hondo Ohnaka!), the new Battlefront: Twilight Company novel, Shattered Empire comics, and even talk about LEGO Star Wars: Droid Tales and the new Insider issue. Brought to you by the letters S and W!
Several months ago, Oscar Isaac talked about what planet he hoped was his character’s homeworld. Now, there was nothing wrong with his preference, but given that he was talking so openly about it, I doubt it was any form of canon at the time.
But it is now. Shattered Empire spoilers ahead!
Continue reading “Did Oscar Isaac get his wish for Poe Dameron’s homeworld?”
It’s trailer day! But there’ll be a few things waiting for comic fans later in the week, too. Wednesday brings Shattered Empire #4, the last issue of the miniseries. (Luke fans, you definitely want to check out the preview.) There’s also Darth Vader #11.
And finally, a trade, Legends Epic Collection: The Empire, collecting several issues of Dark Times.
It’s hard to believe that after last week’s glut of comic releases that we’re still getting new comics on Wednesday, but so it is. Fans don’t have to wait long for Shattered Empire #3, and there’s also Chewbacca #1, which launches a new mini-series.
Don’t forget, we learned of several upcoming books, short stories and the next comic mini-series at NYCC this weekend. Our next novel, however, is Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed on November 3.
A new novel, the next two Aftermath titles and a handful of short stories were announced at NYCC this afternoon.
Aftermath: Life Debt (Summer 2016) and Aftermath: Empire’s End (2017) will be the next two from Chuck Wendig, while Claudia Gray has New Republic: Bloodlines set for a spring 2016 release. It’ll be set six years before The Force Awakens, and it doesn’t seem to be a Lost Stars sequel. (The Life Debt and Bloodline covers were spotted earlier today by Jedi Bibliothek.) UPDATE: Chuck Wendig on the upcoming books.
We also have short stories coming based around the aliens in Maz Kanata’s castle (as seen in Vanity Fair.) The first, ‘Bait,’ from Alan Dean Foster, stars a character called Grumgarr and will appear in the Star Wars Insider. Another, ‘The Perfect Weapon’ from Delilah Dawson, will be released electronically and feature Bazine, the woman in black. It’ll be released electronically in November, and there’s a temporary cover over at StarWars.com.
There’ll be four more stories from Landry Walker called ‘High Noon on Jakku,’ ‘All Creatures Great and Small,’ ‘The Face of Evil,’ ‘The Crimson Corsair and the Treasure of Count Dooku.’ They will also be released electronically, not as a Tales of book as we reported before. (Whoops.) All the e-novellas will come out on December 1, and the Landry ones will released in print, along with two more stories, in April.
At the panel, Pablo Hidalgo said that the Story Group took into account worldbuilding from George Lucas, the early Micheal Arnt script, and things Rian Johnson wanted to explore in VIII when building Journey to The Force Awakens. They’ve closely mapped out what happens after Return of the Jedi – revolving around Jakku – and the lead-in to The Force Awakens, but things between those two points are looser for creative freedom. He said to reread the Journey books in a year, and see what you catch.
As for Shattered Empire, Greg Rucka revealed that he hadn’t actually pitched the book to include movie characters like Luke, Leia and Han when the first cover was revealed. But he also promises that #4 will be a love letter to Luke, comparing him to Qui-gon Jinn.
You can listen to the panel audio over at The Wookiee Gunner, who also has helped me fill in a few gaps here.
This week’s new releases gives us a pair of links to characters from The Force Awakens. One is in Shattered Empire #2, doubling down on what we learned from #1, while the other is in Jason Fry’s Servants of the Empire #4: The Secret Academy.
Neither has been out very long, so the relevant info is below the cut. I can’t see either of these things staying quiet for long, though, so consider yourself warned and be sure to grab these books ASAP if you’re spoilerphobic.
Continue reading “Reveals and hints for The Force Awakens characters in this week’s releases”
Between comics and comic reprints, there is a lot of Star Wars coming up this week. But first, on Tuesday, is The Rise of the Empire, a trade paperback that collects John Jackson Miller’s A New Dawn and James Luceno’s Tarkin, plus three brand-new short stories from Miller, Jason Fry and Melissa Scott.
But Wednesday is definitely the motherlode. If you’re keeping up with the comics in real time we have Shattered Empire #2, Star Wars #10, Darth Vader #10 and Lando #5, which finishes up the miniseries.
If it’s collections you’re after, we have the first set of stories from the new Star Wars and Darth Vader titles, plus the third hardcover omnibus of classic Marvel titles and a collection of covers from the new line.
Marvel’s Shattered Empire #1 came out today, and just in case you have managed to miss/evade the big spoiler… It’s actually a pretty good one! (Well, IMHO.) Under the cut, kids.
Continue reading “One big way Marvel’s Shattered Empire may connect to The Force Awakens”