This Wednesday brings two new comics, the end of one miniseries and the beginning of a second: Chewbacca #5 and Obi-Wan and Anakin #1. It’s also time to start looking for Star Wars Insider #162, which makes up for lost time with end-to-end The Force Awakens interviews.
Out last week was Darth Vader #14, the fourth part of the ‘Vader Down’ crossover event.
Episode VII could have had a title that echoed one of the dregs of the early Expanded Universe. “It was Shadow (singular) of the Empire for a while,” Pablo Hidalgo tweeted Friday. “With so many books, it’s inevitable,” he said earlier. And that’s true enough: The Force Awakens itself is a title reminiscent of the 2008 video game The Force Unleashed.
But unlike TFU, Shadows of the Empire hails from the mid-90s, when all the franchise’s new content was in the form of books, comics and games. In fact, the 1996 Shadows storyline was used as a marketing test-run for The Phantom Menace – it had a novel, video game, comic, toys and even a soundtrack. As such, it has lingered on in fan memories to the point where it’s not unusual for some to think it’s still canon.
Having Episode VII reuse a form of that title would have muddied the well considerably, even if the two had nothing in common other than a handful of characters. The key fact: Shadows was set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. It’s not an Expanded Universe entry anyone could ever actually mistake for an Episode VII contender.
(Shadows certainly has a following, but it has never been a personal or CJ favorite – I recommend listening to this relevant episode of Full of Sith if you need a primer on why. It’s oh so very ’90s.)
Will we see Shadow of the Empire as a title again? We might! It could certainly fit the new era, but I’m very glad Episode VII became The Force Awakens instead.
Yesterday, we first heard of threats from some members of the so-called ‘Bring Back Legends’ movement to spoil The Force Awakens on public Facebook pages. Apparently some of them made good on their threats, because the folks at Del Rey have deactivated their Star Wars Books page. They explain their decision – no, it’s not gone for good – on their Tumblr:
We don’t want to give people who wish to spoil the movie for others a platform to do that and we are under no obligation to do so.
The ‘Bring Back Legends’ (or ‘Give Us Legends’) movement is a rather scattered gathering of fans of older Star Wars novels and comics – almost everything published before September 2014, including several decades of storylines that continue past Return of the Jedi. Last year, Lucasfilm announced that the older fiction would stay in print as ‘Legends’ – but as an alternate universe that doesn’t count towards the new films. Most Bring Back Legends fans want the older storylines to be continued, but there is a rather wide spectrum of opinions and attitudes on how and why.
My policy has been – and remains – to not cover them, for the most part. Most of them seem rather harmless – bitter, sometimes annoying, but harmless. But this is not the first incident where they’ve crossed a very distinct line, and that I will not ignore.
This is not going to change anyone’s minds about Legends, and spoiling people for a hotly-anticipated movie may be skeevy, but this is not a matter of life and death. Still, no one should have to invoke the nuclear option because of what is and isn’t canon in tie-in fiction.
Meanwhile, look for Del Rey to publish Alan Dean Foster’s The Force Awakens novelization as an eBook on Friday – Facebook or no Facebook.
First and foremost, yes, we’re getting the first Star Wars movie in a decade this week – a lucky few (hundred? thousand?) tonight in Hollywood, and the rest of the world a few days later, depending on your location.
With less than a week to go before The Force Awakens, Yowie, Baby Jawa, and Jawajames host a jumbo-sized episode of Unboxing Star Wars. This time, we talk about our visit to Season of the Force at Disneyland California, and even get an interview with two guests, Bryan Young and Dartanian Richards, outside Path of the Jedi. We also check out the Star Wars Epic Yarns books from Jack and Holman Wang, review the most recent Rebels episode, ‘Legacy’, and try some of Captain Phasma’s Crazy Hot popchips. Watch out, Baby Jawa – they’re hot!
Head to our Tumblr to see more new stills.J.J. Abrams on why Leia hasn’t become a Jedi. “It’s never too late,” he said, but “it was simply a choice that she made” to lead the Resistance. We will see her Force sensitivity in play again; it’s “an intrinsic piece of her character.”
→ “It’s like we’re collaborating over this vast public field,” Oscar Isaac says of his imagined backstory for Poe becoming canon.
→ Vulture runs through the Journey to The Force Awakens books and stories. Some minor errors (Poe is namedropped in Shattered Empire #2) but overall a decent roundup.
→ Spoiler corner, Hasbro edition: A Rey action figure featuring her second outfit (which we first saw yesterday) has a pretty hefty spoiler on the packaging. (It’s not her last name.)
With less than two weeks to go before The Force Awakens hits theaters, Yowie, Baby Jawa, and I recount the latest in Star Wars for this week’s Unboxing Star Wars show. First we give a shout out for Wear Star Wars Share Star Wars 2015, then we salute our favorite Wookiee with a look at the Chewbacca comic mini-series. Finally, we review this week’s episode of Star Wars Rebels, ‘The Future of the Force.’ Plus lots of love for tookas and counting down to a new Star Wars movie!
Head over to the comic store Wednesday for Marvel’s first Star Wars Annual of the modern era.
How long has it been since we’ve had a week with only one release? (A while.) But with The Force Awakens bearing down, it won’t be long until we have a veritable flood of titles. Keep your dollars safe…
Del Rey and StarWars.com introduced the final cover for Chuck Wendig’s second Aftermath novel, Life Debt, today.
The book is the first of two sequels to November’s Aftermath, the first post-Return of the Jedi novel in the new canon. It proved to be somewhat controversial due to a delightful variety of factors. Wendig has particularly come under fire for his willingness to address people angry about the book having gay characters.
Still, for that that, Aftermath debuted at #4 on the New York Times bestseller list, and I dug it.
Having the Millennium Falcon on the cover doubles down on the assumption that this book will expand on and continue the Han Solo and Chewbacca interlude from Aftermath. Wendig has confirmed that trilogy will continue to follow the first book’s main characters.
Life Debt is due out May 31, 2016. The third novel in the trilogy, Empire’s End, is expected to drop in 2017.
But unlike TFU, 
Yesterday, we first heard of threats from some members of the so-called ‘Bring Back Legends’ movement to 
Head over to the comic store Wednesday for Marvel’s first 
Del Rey and