Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
There’ll be a couple of thing waiting for Star Wars fans at the comic book store Wednesday: Agent of the Empire: Hard Targets #3 and Dawn of the Jedi: The Prisoner of Bogan #2. If you’re not a subscriber, you might also want to keep an eye out for Star Wars Insider #138.
Meanwhile, on the book front, Timothy Zahn’s Scoundrels is creeping nearer, with only two weeks left until the release date of January 1st.
And here’s the ‘full’ trailer for J.J. Abram’s Star Trek Into Darkness… Does it reveal more than the teaser? Not really, no, but there is some different footage. But hey, it’s Monday, we’ll take what we can get.
According to ComicBook.com, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy told ABC News Radio that she’ll have something to announce in January. Kennedy didn’t go into specifics, but a director choice is the next logical step.
She did reveal one thing – with Michael Arndt writing the script now, further pre-production will likely begin in the spring.
CBR has Dark Horse’s March solicitations, which gives us a few more details on the new Legacy, which it gives a storyline title of ‘Prisoner of the Floating World.’. Here’s the blurb:
Despite her famous heritage, Ania Solo is just a girl trying to make her way in a galaxy gone bad. But it all gets worse when she comes into possession of a lightsaber and an Imperial communications droid—and discovers she has been targeted for death!
The solicitation text also makes it clear that Ania is “Han and Leia’s great-great granddaughter,” as opposed to just ‘great-granddaughter’ in the original announcement. It also says this series take place “in the aftermath of War,” the last storyline of the old Legacy series.
And here’s the blurb for Brian Wood’s Star Wars #3:
Princess Leia formed a secret squadron of stealth X-wings to help expose a spy within the Rebel ranks. But taking command puts her at odds with Luke Skywalker at a time they need solidarity more than ever—especially when the spy has alerted the Empire to Han Solo’s latest venture!
There are a few other Star Wars comics at the link, including Dark Times: Fire Carrier #2, Dawn of the Jedi: Prisoner of Bogan #5 and a Wild Space Omnibus.
Tomorrow is the third annual Wear Star Wars Share Star Wars Day. To observe, either wear something Star Wars or donate a new, unwrapped toy to one of the many organizations out there that take donations for children in need – but make sure to specify that the toy can go to either a girl or a boy with a post-it.
The University of Chicago received an unusual package recently, addressed to Indiana Jones. Some pranksters sent a package containing a replica of Abner Ravenwood’s diary, some replica money, postcards, and pictures of Marion and had it slipped into the incoming mail at the admissions office, which is housed in the building that formerly held their geography and geology departments.
As mentioned in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jones was the protégé of Professor Ravenwood at the University of Chicago, before their falling out over Abner’s daughter, Marion. The admissions office is trying to sort out who sent the package and why… but it seems pretty obvious to me that Abner needs to keep his documentation away from the Nazis, and sent it to someone who could use it. The bigger mystery: if Professor Ravenwood died in Nepal, who mailed it from Egypt? (Also, the addressor appears to have misspelled “Illinois” and added a ZIP code, which didn’t exist yet in the 1930’s, when Raiders takes place.)
“Doctor Jones! I’m so glad you’re back! Your mail is on your desk.” — Irene, Indy’s secretary at the college
In the meantime, the University has set up an email to accept information about the package: indianajonesjournal@uchicago.edu. Is it from a prospective student? Is it just an elaborate hoax? Is it some sort of guerilla PR work to ramp up for some new Indiana Jones announcement – some sort of new story focusing on the legacy of Abner Ravenwood? It’s not the first time Abner’s death had been exaggerated.
It seems like Salmon Fishing in the Yemen flew mostly under the radar this year, so there was plenty of surprise when it received 3 Golden Globe nominations – most notably, for our purposes, best actor in a comedy or musical for Ewan McGregor.
McGregor is up again Jack Black (Bernie,) Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook,) Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables,) and Bill Murray (Hyde Park on Hudson.)
The Golden Globes nominations are, per usual, very slight on genre.
USA Today reports that a digitally restored version of Lucasfilm’s fantasy film Willow will be coming to DVD on March 12.
Willow was originally released in 1988. It was produced and written by George Lucas, directed by Ron Howard, and starred Warwick Davis, Val Kilmer, and Joanne Whalley.
The Blu-ray will contain commentary from Howard, Davis’s own personal video diary, and and Dennis Muren’s “From Morf to Morphing: The Dawn of Digital Filmmaking” with a new intro.
Anyone who thinks George Lucas might have issues with redheaded ladies working for evil empires should probably check this one out. Of course, as a child of the late 80’s, I admit I have a HUGE soft spot for this movie and will totally be buying it.
It is with a distinct lack of regret that Santa Maul admits he is suffering from ennui this holiday season. After all, what could be more festive than utter boredom? Santa Maul has seen it all.
So naturally, he turns to flowers. Santa Maul’s friend Bright Copper Penny is creating Star Wars themed ‘Penny Blossoms’ for these who desire to feel pretty or witty or whatever.
For those with crasser tastes geared towards base metals, there is always the assorted Lord of the Rings paraphernalia, such as earrings or the actual One Ring. (Sold out, of course.)
Less apt to get one hunted down by particularly dim Ringwraiths is the ‘European-style charm bracelet,’ which is slightly less tacky and significantly more geeky than the versions Santa Maul has seen plastered on billboards in his travels.
For those who do not fall for the allure of shiny things, Santa Maul recommends the Han Solo in Carbonite business card case and Death Star ice mold. Santa Maul freezes his with ball bearings before putting it in the Maul family holiday punch bowl – it’s always fun to see which of his dim-witted bisected cousins ends up swallowing the most.
As James pointed out in our earlier Scoundrels post, it seems like every year lately there’s been a Star Wars book that comes out almost directly after the holiday. Many of us has been wondering about that in light of Scoundrels, but there is a solid reason, according to LFL’s Jennifer Heddle:
Pubtip: Sometimes certain books come out right after the holidays on purpose, so they don’t get lost in the holiday avalanche of gift books.
— Jennifer Heddle (@jenheddle) December 12, 2012
Just think for a moment how bookstores are inundated with stock for the holiday rush. Sometimes you want to make sure your box is unpacked.
— Jennifer Heddle (@jenheddle) December 12, 2012
Makes sense! And hey, it’s good for those of us who only want gift cards anyway…