Category: books and comics

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Video: Unboxing Star Wars: TFA Incredible Cross-Sections, new OT Graphic Novel, & Rebels

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This time on Unboxing Star Wars, Baby Jawa, Yowie, and I check out one recent book and one brand new book, and two recent episodes of Star Wars Rebels. First we review The Force Awakens: Incredible Cross-Sections, illustrated by Kemp Remillard and written by Jason Fry from DK Publishing. Then we check out the new original trilogy comic adaptation for kids, Star Wars: The Original Trilogy – A Graphic Novel, scripted by Alessandro Ferrari, out today from Disney Lucasfilm Press. Finally we chat Rebels with a look at the past two episodes, Hera’s family reunion in ‘Homecoming’ and unlikely allies Zeb and Kallus in ‘The Honorable Ones.’ Plus we get a new Wookiee to play with!


Quick reviews
→ The Force Awakens: Incredible Cross-Sections – Thumbs-up! Great look at the vessels and vehicles of the new movie.
→ The Original Trilogy – A Graphic Novel – Okay for intended audience (ages 9-12), but cuts out a bit too much of the story for my tastes – keeps the plot, but loses flavor.
→ ‘Homecoming’ – Thumbs-up! Great to return to Ryloth, connecting Hera to her father, a Clone Wars legend.
→ ‘The Honorable Ones’ – Thumbs-up! Putting Zeb and Kallus into a survival situation shows them both off in new lights

Get more info on Wear Star Wars Every Day or make a donation at GoFundMe.

Note: Books provided for review by their respective publishers.

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Soule, Noto on their upcoming Poe Dameron comic

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Writer Charles Soule and artist Phil Noto talked about their upcoming Poe Dameron comic with CBR. Soule reveals that Poe’s squadron is “ike a special missions crew,” and the new First Order villain is an intelligence officer who’s almost “an evil Lando.”

The comic’s first arc will deal with “a sort of cult,” and lead into (as we’ve heard previously) the mission that takes him to Lor San Tekka in The Force Awakens.

CBR also debuted a new, BB-8-centric variant cover by Joe Quinones for issue #1. The series is due to begin in late March.

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Might-have-beens: A Ben Skywalker video game?

Ben Skywalker (Legends)Here’s a bullet I’m glad we dodged back in the day: Jordan Maison at Cinelinx reports of an Episode VII game idea that was floating around Lucasfilm in late 2004.

Episode VII: Shadows of the Sith would have put you in the role of an adult Ben Skywalker,” Haden explained, “who was walking the line between the light and dark sides of the Force, unleashing new Force powers never-before-seen in games or movies as he investigated a new threat to the galaxy (a Solo…).

The now decanonized Ben Skywalker was born close to the middle of the New Jedi Order series, in 2001’s Edge of Victory: Rebirth. At the time the idea was in play, The New Jedi Order series had ended with The Unifying Force almost a year before, with Ben still a toddler. His next appearance was the Dark Nest trilogy, which began with The Joiner King in July 2005.

The Solo could have been either Jacen and Jaina Solo, or the offspring of either. (Jacen did have a daughter, Allana, who was born during the Dark Nest trilogy.) It’s possible this idea fed into Legacy of the Force, which did turn Jacen into a Sith, but given the state of Lucasfilm collaboration at the time and the broadness of the idea, I wouldn’t bet on it.

Note again: This was just a pitch/concept, which makes it an interesting might-have-been, nothing more.

The idea of Episode VII being a game just doesn’t sit right at all… But if the game had made it to production I doubt that would have remained the title. Still, it’s interesting to imagine what we might have gotten if this had been in play for the increasingly disappointing final years of the Legends novels.

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Today in The Force Awakens: Marvel announces Chuck Wendig-penned adaptation

tfa-comic-reyMarvel today announced (via Comic Book Resources) that they’re doing a 5-issue adaptation of The Force Awakens for June. Aftermath author Chuck Wendig is writing, with Luke Ross on art.

The first The Force Awakens comic, an ongoing featuring Poe Dameron, will launch in April.

→ Jedi News noticed that The Force Awakens Blu-ray is now listed as a three-disc set – two Blu-rays and one DVD – on Blu-ray.com. Everyone is still playing coy on the release date, but it’s probably April 5.

→ Co-producer Ben Rosenblatt talks to The Hollywood Reporter about the film’s final shot.

→ Jason Fry explains how General Hux’s father became part of his Rebels tie-in series, Servants of the Empire.

→ Variety looks into how ILM made Starkiller Base crumble. Spoiler: Computers.

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Video: Unboxing Star Wars: Lost Stars, Rebels: Legends of the Lasat & The Call

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In today’s episode of Unboxing Star Wars, Baby Jawa, Yowie, and I celebrate both Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day, while reviewing Lost Stars by Claudia Gray, and two recent episodes of Star Wars Rebels: the Zeb-focused ‘Legends of the Lasat’ and spacewhale tale, ‘The Call.’

Check out the Rebels episode guide for ‘Legends of the Lasat’ and ‘The Call’. Also, parts one and two of my series on power couples of the Star Wars fan community, just in time for Valentine’s Day. Get more info on Wear Star Wars Every Day or make a donation at GoFundMe.

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Star Wars out this week: Darth Vader #16

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A new story arc begins in this week’s only new release, Darth Vader #16, out Wednesday.

On the book front, February is a bust, and March brings only the paperbacks of Christie Golden’s Dark Disciple and Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath.

Our next new novel is out May 3, and we just got a cover and excerpt for it last week: Claudia Gray’s Bloodline. It’s the first post-Return of the Jedi novel to focus on one of the big 3 in the new canon.

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The Force Awakens, Boyega, Ridley, and DK Star Wars book up for Kids’ Choice Awards

Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know (JTFA)It may be no surprise that The Force Awakens is nabbing a bunch of key nominations for the Nickelodeon 2016 Kids’ Choice Awards, but a Star Wars book has also earned a nomination, competing against both Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. DK’s Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, by Adam Bray, Cole Horton, Michael Kogge, and Kerrie Dougherty, is one of six choices to be voted on in the Favorite Book category. Will it stand up to the likes of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Maze Runner? Anyone can vote as much as they want for the Kids’ Choice Awards at nick.com/KCA. Sadly, you can’t skip a category, like Favorite (Music) Collaboration.

In other categories, The Force Awakens has earned nominations for Favorite Movie, Favorite Actor (John Boyega) & Favorite Actress (Daisy Ridley). In the video games category, Disney Infinity 3.0 (which added Star Wars content) is a nominee. The Kids’ Choice Awards will air live on March 12, hosted by Blake Shelton.

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Cover, excerpt from Claudia Gray’s Bloodline

bloodlineUSA Today has our first look at Bloodline, the novel by Claudia Gray that we learn will focus on Leia Organa “some years” before The Force Awakens. (We heard 6 years when the book was first announced.)

Read between the lines:

Leia is professionally at a good place, as a senator and leader in a peaceful New Republic decades after the fall of Vader and the Emperor’s stranglehold on the galaxy. However, Gray says that a new generation doesn’t remember the lessons of the Rebellion or recognize the wrongs of the Empire, and Leia begins to see the cracks in the foundation that could lead to a dangerous future for the galaxy.

Family is a major theme overall in the Star Wars films and it plays a key role in one of the book’s most significant events, “one that has pretty far-reaching repercussions for several characters,” Gray says. “However, this novel isn’t fundamentally about Leia as a wife, sister or mom; this is about the role she’s created for herself since the fall of the Empire, and the one she takes up by the time of (The Force Awakens).”

Some The Force Awakens characters will appear in the book – Korr Sella gets a mention in the excerpt – but there will be some new ones as well, including Ransolm Casterfo, a young senator who “collects artifacts from the Empire.”

It’s nice to see a Leia-centric book set in a pivotal point in the new era – and it looks like this may clear up a few questions left about the timeline and political situation leading up to The Force Awakens. Gray’s Lost Stars got a lot of praise – let’s hope she has similar success with movie characters.

Bloodline is due out in hardcover and eBook May 3.