Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
I’m sure almost all you watched the video of the panel this weekend, but for those who didn’t, here are a few highlights. Nothing here about the behind-the-scenes video, though – that’s an entirely different post.
Continue reading “What we learned about The Force Awakens at SDCC’s big panel”
The Hasbro panel at SDCC seems to have been, well, a Hasbro panel. Dan Brooks liveblogged it for StarWars.com, and above you see the female figures: The Black Series Medal Ceremony Leia will be in the 3.75-inch line, and for Rebels, Hera and Sabine each come in two-packs with troopers.
Rumor: Marvel making a Princess Leia comic? Bleeding Cool seems to think so, and that it will be revealed at San Diego Comic Con. (But: Third title? What are the other two?)
At least two fully-clothed Leia figures coming to the Black Series, according to a couple new reports. We don’t know if they’ll be the larger figures or the smaller ones, but one is the Boussh disguise, and the second is likely the ceremonial version from A New Hope.
Why Episode VII needs Skywalkers. Nanci at Tosche Station on why the new trilogy needs at least one of the leads to be a child (or children) of Luke or Leia.
Rumors. Bryan Young and Bobby Roberts discuss last week’s big scriptwriting development on the latest Full of Sith. Seems like Bobby’s being hearing the same things as McWeeny and Faraci. They speak sense, so listen and calm yourselves.
Meanwhile, on the weekend Harrison Ford scoop, Blue Sky Disney revives the “Han Solo gonna die” thing from early on.
Flashback. In the midst of all this, HuffPo’s Mike Ryan looks back at Leigh Brackett and her Empire Strikes Back draft. All this has happened before… And Tor digs up some of Carrie Fisher’s thoughts on Leia from the infamous beach blanket bingo issue of Rolling Stone.
Ugh. The Sarlacc got a mention on last week’s Once Upon A Time in Wonderland.
Short stories. Star Wars Books announced last night that Lucasfilm editor Jennifer Heddle has written a young Leia Organa novel for Star Wars Insider #145. “Constant Spirit” features Leia before A New Hope, and Heddle thinks it’s “one of the earliest-set stories about Leia there’s been, if not the earliest.” The issue will be on newsstands October 22, and in subscriber mailboxes a week or so before that.
Chats. Star Wars Books also had a Facebook chat with James Arnold Taylor the other day. (About… Kenobi? I guess?) There’s even an official edited transcript. There’ll be a John Jackson Miller chat soon, but no details yet.
Interviews. Speaking of Miller, he did a bunch of Kenobi interviews. Check them out at Suvudu, Tosche Station, Eleven Thirty-Eight and TFN. Yes, there are more, but Miller himself has rounded ’em up and he’d know better than I.
DRAGONCON! Tosche Station Radio was on location at DragonCon, and they shared their experience with those of us who had to play along at home. Check out their audio of panels with Star Wars authors, fan activities and the panel on women and minorities in the franchise, featuring Club Jade’s own Luci! They also caught Tim, Mike, and Aaron conspiring!
Reviews. Head over to the newly-redesigned Big Shiny Robot for James’ latest comic reviews: A double (with Bryan Young) of the hot new release The Star Wars #1, plus Star Wars #8, Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin #5 and Dark Times: A Spark Remains #2.
Fan art. Lucasfilm may not have revealed what (most) of the Rebels character design will look like yet, ENGELHA5T on DeviantArt has created several OT-era characters in the style of The Clone Wars. Of particular interest to us would be Mara Jade, but there’s also Han and Chewie, Thrawn and Pellaeon, a teen Leia and even a Luke, may of them with cardbacks as well. You can check out his full gallery, but be warned it does contain some more adult works, though they do seem to be hidden if you’re not logged in to DA.
Del Rey. We actually heard about it way back at Celebration, but now Del Rey has officially announced their Star Wars Action Team. It’s not quite up and running yet, but the general gist is that you “spread the word” and get points. Please don’t break down any doors. On that note, here’s some of the swag they’ll have at SDCC.
Comics. Newsarama has a first look at the next arc of Dark Times, A Spark Remains.
The blogside. At the official blog, Dan Brooks praises Matthew Stover’s Revenge of the Sith adaptation, while Jennifer Heddle talks about why Leia is awesome.
Reviews. Over at Big Shiny Robot, James reads Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin #3,The Clone Wars: The Smuggler’s Code and Legacy #4, where Ania Solo learns sometimes shooting first isn’t the best solution.
So tomorrow is the 30th anniversery of the release of Return of the Jedi: Why not experiment? Bria over at White Hot Room has a tutorial on how to create Leia’s Endor braids.
io9 has our first looks at the cover for Martha Wells’ Empire and Rebellion: Razor’s Edge. No blurb – the provided text is just the stuff we already know about the series, but hey. Cover!
It’s another new look for Star Wars books – kind of a melding of the stark Fate of the Jedi covers with the old-school photo montages. It’s crisper than the montages, but less severe than the stylized Fate covers – will fandom as a whole like it? Who knows!
Razor’s Edge – we just learned the title last week – is due out in hardcover on October 15. The next entries in the series will probably come in 2014 – we know that James S.A. Corey (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) are working on their Han novel, while Kevin Hearne’s Luke novel is still in the outline stage.