‘”I wanted HEIR’s villain to be a military leader, as opposed to a governor, Moff, or Sith. But a normal admiral seemed too commonplace. Hence, the Grand Admirals. I first ran across the title, by the way, in connection with the German navy in William L. Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.”
The novel is due out September 6th. While the slipcover is the new silver cover, the actual bound cover will be a reprint of the classic Heir to the Empire cover artwork.
Star Wars Insider: Issue #127 hits the shelves this week, with Titan Magazines putting an overview online of its 100 pages. The cover article explains why Han Solo is still the man, and other features include a look at the new Star Tours attraction, an interview with Timothy Zahn, a look back at the radio dramas, and an extract from Drew Karpyshyn’s forthcoming The Old Republic: Revan novel.
Meanwhile, Del Rey announced on Facebook that a Darth Vader short story (not written by Haden Blackman) will be coming to an upcoming issue of the Insider.
Riptide: Just as Comic-con was getting going, Del Rey released a third mini excerpt from the upcoming novel Riptide by Paul S. Kemp.
LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace: After being broadcast over this past weekend on Cartoon Network, the animated LEGO Star Wars special will be coming to DVD and Blu-ray on September 16, coinciding with the Star Wars saga Blu-ray release. Also, Scholastic is putting out an adaptation for the kids of the show, sayeth Amazon. Stay tuned for our review of the hilarious adventure.
Joe Schreiber, author of Death Troopers and Red Harvest, was kind enough to sit with me for an interview about his two Star Wars novels and more at Comic-Con.
Friday is traditionally Star Wars day at Comic-Con, and we had a full slate of Star Wars-related panels, and Seth Green returned to crash another one of them. While there was no Star Wars Spectacular, attendees in San Diego got their fill from different Star Wars licensees.
Del Rey’s Star Wars book panel was minimally staffed this year – only editor Shelly Shapiro and Choices of One author Timothy Zahn were up on stage. Shapiro gave a quick overview of upcoming titles (both novels and reference guides) and release dates from Del Rey, with no new title announcements. She did mention that in X-Wing: Mercy Kill there will be two Wraith Squadrons, and neither knows about the other. The original novella being written for Lost Tribe of the Sith print edition was described as a “big chunk” by John Jackson Miller, lurking in the audience.
Tim answered questions about Thrawn’s characteristics. Shelly responded that the canceled Blood Oath is essentially erased and overwritten in the timeline, while Imperial Commando 2 isn’t being pursued for the near future, though they do want to finish the series. Tim talked about having his bits of his EU works overwritten by George Lucas by using Bill Slavicsek’s analogy of working in Star Wars: playing on George Lucas’ driveway when he could back up the truck at any moment. He also gave his views of how the Force works: for power or guidance, with Yoda focusing more on listening to the Force for guidance over using it for power. More questions focused on Tim’s response to Mara Jade’s death (and how Tim would have written Serenity), Shelley’s views on character death and the anecdotal revelation that George Lucas gave the approval to kill off Han Solo when they were developing Vector Prime for NJO (only Luke and Leia were declared no-kill). And, of course, some of the usual questions about continuity and such.
You can check out the Del Rey panel for yourself: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Randy Stradley, in his Imperial officer uniform, started off Dark Horse’s Star Wars panel with some minor announcements (apparently New York Comic Con will get the official announcements): Star Wars comics being finally available digitally (some even for free), a new John Ostrander and Jan Duursema project, a new John Jackson Miller project, and a new Tom Taylor project. He then got all the panelists to reveal their favorite Star Wars comics moments, which led to hoojibs. Some further announcements include the opportunity for The Clone Wars comic story between seasons 4 and 5, and that one The Clone Wars comic story will be adapted an story arc for the show, and a new Vader project by Haden Blackman. Most of the Q&A was directed at Holocron keeper, Leland Chee, but then later went to hoojib zombies, constantly making the galaxy bigger, and another new series – Agent of the Empire, with a focus away from the Jedi or Sith. And Seth Green took the podium in this panel to relate his favorite Star Wars comics: Tag and Bink, and mentioned that his upcoming animated Star Wars comedy series may “smell like Robot Chicken”.
The LEGO Star Wars panel started off Friday morning as a one-stop shop for all things LEGO Star Wars: a little look at the most recent LEGO Star Wars video games, some of the upcoming LEGO Star Wars building sets, including a new TIE Fighter set, and the new Queen Amidala figure, and ending with a few clips of the LEGO Star Wars animated special, The Padawan Menace, which aired last night on Cartoon Network (and will be running a few more times over the weekend). My recommendation: watch this hilarious animated special. While it takes place in the Clone Wars and focuses on C-3PO (voiced by Anthony Daniels) as he manages a group of unruly padawans, while Yoda and a youngling named Ian (or is it really someone else we know that’s just one letter off?) try to keep Asajj Ventress from stealing some plans. Written by Michael Price (from The Simpsons), there is a lot of fun and comedy here for all Star Wars fans. It was revealed after the panel that The Padawan Menace will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 16, to coincide with Blu-ray release of the Star Wars saga.
Licensee Kotobukiya will be releasing a Jaina Solo Bishoujo statue, it seems. (More proof? Heard about it from @StarWars.) While I’m happy see an Expanded Universe character get some non-Hasbro love (and George knows that’s sparing enough,) I’m not really sure what to think of the whole Bishoujo thing, other than to be grateful she’s not flashing her panties.
Speaking of non-Hasbro EU love, did anyone hear anything about that Mara figure Sideshow has said is in the pipeline? Anything? Bueller?
Fate of the Jedi. The seventh of John Jackson Miller’s Lost Tribe of the Sith ebooks, Pantheon, was released today. It features an except of the next Fate of the Jedi book, Golden’s Ascension, which was also the subject of the last mini-except on Facebook. Ascension will be out August 9.
Upcoming. Announced last week, The Millennium Falcon Owners’ Workshop Manual by Ryder Windham with Chris Trevas and Chris Reiff on art. Currently scheduled for a February 2012 release.
SDCC. Del Rey will be giving out Revan masks in San Diego this weekend. (Revan masks? Really?) I seem to recall them promising that the book’s cover would revealed at the con, so there’s that, too.
The title for Aaron Allston’s new Wraith Squadron novel will be X-Wing: Mercy Kill, Del Rey revealed on Facebook. It will be, Leland Chee points out on Twitter, the first X-Wing novel since 1999.
The book is currently scheduled to be released next July.
It’s been a while since we’ve had any releases at all, but this week thankfully bring a few! First off, on Tuesday, you pick up the Robot Chicken: Star Wars III DVD or Blu-Ray. Hilarity we haven’t seen since Robot Chicken: Star Wars II! io9 catches up with creator Matt Senreich on why there’s no Robot Chicken Star Trek and gets an exclusive deleted scene about Princess Leia.
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.
For the lucky thirteenth annotation from the upcoming Heir to the Empire: 20th Anniversary Edition, Timothy Zahn decides to make things grander than normal.
Star Wars Insider: Issue #127 hits the shelves this week, with Titan Magazines putting an 
It’s time! Timothy Zahn’s 
Fate of the Jedi. The seventh of John Jackson Miller’s Lost Tribe of the Sith ebooks, 