Category: books and comics

Posted on

The Force Awakens concept art book on sale in November?

rumors-swirl-romance Florian of Jedi Bibliothek (translated) found a listing for The Art of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens on Amazon.de with a release date of November 2 – well ahead of the film’s release on December 18. Will that date hold? Well, it is Amazon, so: A not-at-all-firm maybe.

He also notes that the entries for most of the Journey to Episode VII series for young readers have been deleted, though the one that seems to feature new/original characters remains.

→ Spoiler corner: We also have two new rumors from Making Star Wars. There’s a rundown of the opening sequences, plus furthur details on some potential (or not?) offspring. On that note, Donna Dickens at Hitfix defends “Luke Skywalker’s right to get laid,” and I am totally jealous I did not think of that headline.

Posted on

Canon novels will be premium paperbacks

swb-premiumsRemember way back in 2009, when LucasBooks announced that the Fate of the Jedi paperbacks reprints would be in the slightly taller premium paperback format – and then changed their minds? Well, it seems like it’s just as well, because now it gives Del Rey a quick, easy way to make the canon novels stand out among the piles of Legends when they come out in paperback. The A New Dawn paperback, due out late next month, will be the first, but Tarkin and Heir to the Jedi have all been listed with the new format.

Props to Florian of Jedi Bibliothek for bringing it to my attention – though the Star Wars Books header photo in question has been up since January.

The premium paperback issue was rather controversial back in the day, but it seems that EU fans have bigger fish to fry these days. Below, a picture I took in 2009 to show the differences between trade paperback (The Clone Wars: Wild Space,) premium paperback (Stephen King’s Just After Sunset) and mass market paperback (Dark Force Rising.)

premiums

I miss Borders.

Posted on

Rancho Obi-Wan’s first book to highlight fan art and artifacts

Rancho Obi-Wan: Inspired by the Force: Star Wars Fan Artifacts & ArtSteve Sansweet’s Rancho Obi-Wan will highlight fan contributions to Star Wars fandom in their first book, Inspired by the Force: Star Wars Fan Artifacts & Art, which will debut at Celebration Anaheim in April. It’s intended to act as “an exhibit guide,” so the Rancho Celebration exhibit will also be fan-heavy this time:

The Rancho Obi-Wan Experience exhibit will feature fan objects and art starting in the late 1970s through today, from an airbrushed van tire cover and hand-tooled leather backgammon board to a Chewbacca tissue box cover and bird house, from amazing art mash-ups based on a print by Goya and a painting by Picasso to bizarre limited edition figurines made by urban artists.

The Rancho Obi-Wan exhibit at Celebration VI featured several fan creations – including one by a Jader – but this will no doubt be an even greater variety. I just hope they have more floor space this time!

In any case, the book will be $25 and pre-orders for pickup at the con will begin in March.

Posted on

Out this week: Star Wars #2

It feels like Marvel’s Star Wars #1 just came out (this may because I only read it last week) but here we are again, with Star Wars #2 in the shops (and online) on Wednesday. Like #1, this one does have a number of variant covers… Although not quite as many. Props to everyone who can actually keep track of them.

If you’re collecting the Star Wars #1 reprints, the second printing will also be in shops this week. It has a black background in place of white, and we learned today that the third printing will be red.

Also due later this month is Darth Vader #1 and #2, or so the solicitation leads me to believe. Presumably in different weeks, but we’ll see when the distribution lists come in!