Category: books and comics

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Star Wars out this week: So many Rogue One tie-ins

Tuesday is a big Rogue One day for releases, with two brand-new novels for younger readers. Beth Revis’ Rebel Rising is about Jyn Erso, while Greg Rucka’s Guardians of the Whills gives us some backstory on Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus. There’s also the paperback edition of James Luceno’s Catalyst, which gives us some background on Galen Erso and Orson Krennic, and first came out before the movie.

On the comic front, Wednesday brings Rogue One #2 and Poe Dameron #14.

It also happens to be the first week of May, which means May 4 is Thursday. We expect plenty of puns, some sales, and a movie marathon on TBS. Fair warning: Traditionally this has not been a huge day for news, so don’t get your hopes too high.

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Star Wars out this week: Darth Maul #3

In the comics shops this week is Darth Maul #3. And while you’re there, you might want to pick up Poe Dameron #13, since I forgot to do a release post last Monday. Celebration!

Coming up next week are three things for the Rogue One fans – Beth Revis’ Rebel Rising, Greg Rucka’s Guardians of the Whills and the paperback edition of James Luceno’s Catalyst.

Meanwhile, our book release schedule has been updated to reflect some of the Celebration announcements.

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SWCO sets new Celebration attendance record

Another Celebration is in the books, and that means another attendance record. Celebration Orlando attendance was more than 70,000 people, StarWars.com says. That’s up from Anaheim’s 65K in 2015, and double our last Orlando outing in 2012. No wonder things got a bit… Messy. Attendees, look out for the surveys and be sure to fill them out.


We learned before the con that the next Celebration won’t be until 2019 – probably skipping the overseas outings that we had in 2014 and 2016. The leading speculation seems to be that we’ll be headed back to Anaheim, but since we didn’t get a location on Sunday we’ll be left hanging for a while longer. On the plus side, Pablo made a cannon canon.

In the meantime, here are a few other things we learned that I never got around to writing up, because cons are crazy.

→ Here’s a bit more from the Forces of Destiny panel.

→ Hasbro’s panel included looks at the new 6″ Thrawn and Jaina Solo figures, both of which will be available in the fall. Thrawn is also the SDCC exclusive, in a special box resembling his Rebels office. Also: The new Hallmark ornaments.

→ A few details on how the Star Wars lands will work. They’ll be “set” on a brand-new planet and be super interactive, which sounds like… Something. Something very new. Meanwhile, there’s a survey going around that seems to indicate that Disney is considering a Star Wars-themed resort hotel/experience in Florida that ties in with a lot of what they announced.

→ Doug Chiang talks Rogue One concepts and designs.

→ A bit of The Clone Wars and Rebels from Dave Filoni and Pablo. Filoni also told /Film that we won’t see the battle of Scariff on Rebels. (Though note that doesn’t count out other mediums.)

→ Meet the costume contest winners.

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Captain Phasma to star in Journey to The Last Jedi; Claudia Gray is back with a young Leia book

…Or so it seems, anyway. We’re getting a novel from Deliah S. Dawson and Del Rey, Phasma, as well as a Marvel mini-series about the character. From Disney Lucasfilm Press, a young Leia novel from Claudia Gray, and The Legends of Luke Skywalker by Ken Liu. He wrote a bit about his experience with the franchise.

Del Rey’s Saturday panel was not much for news, but we did learn that the Phasma book is a backstory of some sort. Meanwhile, Christie Golden’s Inferno Squadron is a Battlefront II prequel novel.

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Del Rey’s 40th Anniversary offering is a new anthology

Del Rey will be celebrating the 40th Anniversary of A New Hope with From a Certain Point of View, a new anthology that will feature 40 stories from the viewpoints of the movie’s minor characters.

Coming in October in an oversized hardcover, the anthology will feature more than 40 authors, including both established Star Wars writers (Chuck Wendig, John Jackson Miller, Gary Whitta) and those new to the franchise (Meg Cabot, Ken Liu, Nnedi Okorafor.) All the authors are donating their proceeds to the charity First Book.

The book will be out in October and is available for preorder now.

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Star Wars out this week: Rogue One on Blu-ray

If you’ve been holding out for a physical copy of Rogue One, Tuesday is your day for the Blu-ray/DVD/Digital combo pack and DVD. In the book aisle, there’s the latest Star Wars Visual Encyclopedia by Adam Bray, Cole Horton and Tricia Barr. You can get a preview (via our own James) at StarWars.com.

It’s a no-slouch week for comics as well, with Star Wars #30 and Marvel’s Rogue One #1 dropping on Wednesday. In reprints, there’s the A New Hope: Special Edition and a gigantic box set.

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Win the new Jeffrey Brown Star Wars Coloring Book!

Want to get your hands on a copy of the newest Star Wars coloring book, Darth Vader and Family, featuring the art of Jeffrey Brown? Thanks to our friends at Chronicle Books, we’re giving away one copy to a random winner. This adult coloring book has carefully translated the artwork from Jeffrey Brown’s bestselling Darth Vader and Son series, as well as nine new images featuring Darth Vader interacting with young Luke and Leia. Now coloring enthusiasts of all ages can enjoy their favorite moments from the series on larger format pages. The Darth Vader and Family Coloring Book goes on sale March 28, 2017.

Want to win? Simply leave a message in the comments of this post by the deadline of 11:59 pm EDT on March 31, 2017, and we’ll announce a random winner on April 1. We can ship the book to a winner in the US or deliver it to you in person at Star Wars Celebration Orlando (April 13-16).

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Del Rey’s Celebration Orlando schedule, exclusives

Del Rey has announced their Celebration Orlando activities, and they’ll have three panels. The biggest, which will feature what’s “in the works for 2017 and beyond” is Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and will have authors Chuck Wendig, Christie Golden, Timothy Zahn, and Delilah S. Dawson, plus Del Rey’s Elizabeth Schaefer. There’s also five University talks with various authors and a whole boatload of signings.

Their exclusives are a Thrawn pin – which you get when you buy the Celebration edition of Zahn’s new book – and a tote bag which is free with #25 in purchases from any of the Penguin Random House booths. (AKA Del Rey, Random House Audio and DK.)