Category: books and comics

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Star Wars out this week: Ahsoka, Darth Vader #25

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Tuesday is a big day for Ahsoka Tano fans, as E.K. Johnston’s Ahsoka hits the shelves. The book fills in at least some of the gaps between her last appearance in The Clone Wars and her first in Rebels. The audiobook version, also out Tuesday, is read by Ashley Eckstein. You can check out a sample on Soundcloud.

Comic fans have a big Wednesday ahead as well, with Darth Vader #25, the final issue of the ongoing series. In true Marvel fashion, it has several variant covers. And StarWars.com has a two-part interview with writer Kieron Gillen for the occasion.

If that doesn’t do it for you, there’s also Han Solo #4 and The Force Awakens #5.

Also coming up in October we have Pablo Hidalgo’s Star Wars Propaganda on the 25th. Our next novel is Catalyst by James Luceno, which will give us some background on Rogue One, out on November 15. Check out our book release schedule for the rest of 2016.

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NYCC: Timothy Zahn says not to fear that Rebels is going to misuse Thrawn

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We’ve already covered the news out of Friday’s Star Wars writers roundtable at NYCC, but there was a decent lineup of current writers: Novelists Timothy Zahn, Chuck Wendig, James Luceno, E.K. Johnston, comic writers Kieron Gillen, Charles Soule, plus Lucasfilm editor Jennifer Heddle. Tor.com has a nice roundup of their comments.

Zahn reassured fans that the Thrawn on Rebels is not too far removed from the Thrawn of Legends. Johnston revealed that Ahsoka begins “about ten minutes—slight exaggeration—after Order 66 comes down.” And Wendig had some wise words about what makes Star Wars so appealing. (He also joked about Jar Jar being in Empire’s End, of course. But is it really that far-fetched? Really?)

Here’s the panel video:

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NYCC: More Rogue One books revealed; 40th Anniversary publishing program coming

Details on the Rogue One book tie-ins and 40th Anniversary publishing program for 2017 were revealed at New York Comic Con Friday morning.

In addition to James Luceno’s Catalyst, the Rogue One fiction lineup will include a young adult novel about Jyn Erso from Star Wars newcomer Beth Revis (Across the Universe.) Greg Rucka (Before the Awakening) will return for a middle grade novel featuring Baze Malbus and Chirrut Îmwe. The preliminary versions of the covers above were spotted earlier by Jedi Bibliotek. They’ll both be out on May 2.

catalyst700Catalyst will be the first of the Rogue One books to hit the shelves, on November 15th. The second wave will drop with the film on December 16, and includes The Art of Rogue One, Pablo Hidalgo’s Rogue One Ultimate Visual Guide and ebook versions of the two novelizations: Alexander Freed’s from Del Rey and the junior version by Matt Forbeck from Disney-Lucasfilm Press. Freed’s will be in hardcover on January 3, while it looks like Forbeck’s won’t be in print until March 28.

We’ll learn more about the 40th Anniversary publishing plans in the coming months, although the official site says “legendary Star Wars talent such as Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson, and Tom Palmer would be reuniting” for an anniversary book from Disney-Lucasfilm Press. One component of the program would seem to be a new collection of the newspaper strips, also spotted by – you guessed it – Jedi Bibliotek.

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Star Wars Story Talk: Unboxing Star Wars Art: Ralph McQuarrie

Star Wars Story Talk: SW Art: Ralph McQuarrie

Since this couldn’t wait for the next regular episode of Star Wars Story Talk, we have a special bonus Unboxing Video as I open up the really awesome, and really hefty Star Wars Art: Ralph McQuarrie two-volume collection from Abrams Books. This mammoth set is written by the trio of Brandon Alinger, author of Star Wars Costumes: The Original Trilogy; Wade Lageose, graphic designer/artist; and David Mandel, art collector, author of Star Wars Artifact Edition and showrunner of HBO’s Veep. You can get the inside look over at StarWars.com, where the three authors were kind enough to answer some questions for me.
No Baby Jawa fun time this time around – just straight unboxing and page skimming madness! Continue reading “Star Wars Story Talk: Unboxing Star Wars Art: Ralph McQuarrie”

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Star Wars out this week: Ralph McQuarrie art, new Complete Locations, new Thrawn trilogy covers

Star Wars Art: Ralph McQuarrie

It’s a big week for releases, with two large-scale hardcovers, a novelization paperback, one comic and a trade.

Tuesday brings a big ticket item for the collectors and concept art aficionados, the slipcased set Star Wars Art: Ralph McQuarrie. James talked to the set’s three authors for StarWars.com. For those looking for things that are a little less strain on the wallet, there’s also a new Complete Locations from DK, and the paperback version of Alan Dean Foster’s The Force Awakens novelization from Del Rey, with reprints of two short stories.

This is also the week that the new covers for the Thrawn trilogy paperbacks are officially launching. Note that the new editions use the same ISBN as the old, so some stores may have older stock to sell out before these become available. If you want them for the new art, I recommend buying them in-person.

On Wednesday there’s Star Wars #23 and volume 1 of the Marvel collection of Dark Horse’s Legacy series.

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Another look at Rebels’ Thrawn in new clip

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Entertainment Weekly has a new clip featuring Grand Admiral Thrawn from an upcoming episode of Rebels, plus an interview with Dave Filoni about bringing him into the show, and the appeal of the character:

He really stuck out because he was through and through an Imperial officer. He was not facing doubt, he didn’t have these abilities that make all the big arch villains up to that point arch. He wasn’t inept so much like Piett, he wasn’t playing politics like the rest of the Imperial officers, he was purely a military strategist.


‘Hera’s Heroes’ will be the season’s fifth episode. Rebels S3 premieres with with ‘Steps into Shadow’ on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET.

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EUbits: Post-Vader, Kieron Gillen sticking with Star Wars for new ongoing comic

sw-classifiedKieron Gillen’s Darth Vader ongoing may be ending with #25, but he’s on board for the replacement – which has been solicited as simply Star Wars: Classified. He’ll be joined by artist Kev Walker, who’s not quite new to Star Wars – he did a cover for Dark Horse’s Republic #55 back in 2003. The new comic, which will also be an ongoing title, will be launched with a number of variant covers in December.

Meanwhile, the flagship Star Wars comic will feature a Yoda story (via Obi-Wan’s journal) in issue #26. Writer Jason Aaron discusses it with StarWars.com’s Dan Brooks.

→ Ashley Eckstein is narrating the audiobook for E.K. Johnston’s Ahsoka, which is out next month. (via)

→ The Force Awakens novelization in paperback will contain two short stories: Alan Dean Foster’s ‘Bait’ (from Star Wars Insider #162) and Delilah Dawson’s ‘The Perfect Weapon,’ which was released as an eBook.

→ Tosche Station’s Thrawncast has officially begun with the discussion of Heir to the Empire’s first four chapters.

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Star Wars Story Talk: Salt Lake Comic Con, Aliens of the Galaxy, & Year by Year

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Time for a new colossal-sized episode of Star Wars Story Talk as Yowie the Skunk, Baby Jawa, and I cover the latest in Star Wars stories, and we have a lot to talk about: a few recent Star Wars events and check out not one, not two, but three Star Wars books! I give a recap of all the Star Wars goings-on at Salt Lake Comic Con, held at the beginning of September, plus talk a bit on Star Wars Day at the San Diego Padres, and dive into three books: the newest Star Wars Little Golden Book: I Am a Princess, and Star Wars: Aliens of the Galaxy by Jason Fry and the newly released Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual History, Updated and Expanded Edition by Pablo Hidalgo. Plus an update on Wear Star Wars Every Day and a triple dose of Baby Jawa fun time! Continue reading “Star Wars Story Talk: Salt Lake Comic Con, Aliens of the Galaxy, & Year by Year”