EUbits: Deathtroopers format upgrade; Interviews with Stradley, Stover, & Hale

Updates from Sue Rostoni: Deathtroopers is becoming a hardcover, and the release date has been moved up to October 13th – all the better for Halloween sales, no doubt. Also moving is the newly-titled Fate of the Jedi: Backlash, back a week to January 26. Our book release schedule has been updated.

  • Comics: Dark Horse’s Randy Stradley talks Star Wars with Newsarama. The big news here is that Invasion, like Rebellion, will alternate with Dark Times: “five months on, five months off.”
  • More interviews! In podcast form! Author Matthew Stover on the Dragon Page; The EUCast has voice actress Jennifer Hale.

So what’s up with that Fixer comic, again?

It was pretty overshadowed by the Invasion reveal, but NYCC also brought another project to light: A Fixer comic, ‘From the Shadow of Twin Suns,’ co-written by Anthony Forest, who played the character in scenes cut from A New Hope. But don’t get too excited: Here’s what Dark Horse editor Randy Stradley said on TheForce.Net boards this morning:

I feel that I should state for the record that this is NOT a Dark Horse title, and it is NOT on our publishing schedule. It is a story that has been proposed to us. Period.

In short, that chicken is not yet hatched.

Comic old, comics new: Sneak peek at new KOTOR, taking in all of Vector

Editor Dave Marshall talks a wee bit about Knights Of The Old Republic #37, plus a nine page preview. (Alas, the issue didn’t come out yesterday – at least not if you believe Diamond.)

Meanwhile, CBR has John Jackson Miller, John Ostrander, Jan Duursema and Randy Stradley to talk about Vector now that it’s done – and/or the first trade is imminent, depending on your point of view. But the piece does contain spoilers.

EUbits: Gizmodo discovers the GFFA; TFU up for writing award; First look at Insider #107

Great things on the Wookieepedia: Gizmodo has blogged the Wookieepedia’s galaxy map (originally appeared in Star Wars Insider #65) thus making it legitimately cool on the internet. Or something. Not that I’m saying you kids still don’t have some work to do.

  • Comics: Randy Stradley has an update at Dark Horse’s Star Wars Zone. Big news is that The Clone Wars comic will go on (monthly!) for six more issues. And there will be two big announcements at New York Comic-Con.
  • The Force Unleashed: The game is a nominee for the WGA’s award for 2008’s best videogame writing. (via)

  • Magazines: Could the Star Wars Insider be on the road to improvement with a new editor?
  • Authors: Karen Traviss is up for the Philip K. Dick award for the final book in her Wess’har series, Judge.

EUbits: Dark Times returning, TOR, Endor

Comics: There’s a new update from Editor Randy Stradley on Dark Horse’s Star Wars Zone, and it’s of particular interest to you Dark Times fans. A new story will appear (online, for free) in the January and February issues of Dark Horse Presents on MySpace, with the comic coming back into regular rotation with #13 in April. (Thanks, Zee Zee!)

No Crimson Empire III in the works, says Stradley

Sorry to get your hopes up, folks, but it seems that Mike Richardson’s announcement was premature. Dark Horse’s Star Wars editor (and Crimson Empire co-writer) Randy Stradley lays it all out on their boards. Basically? Yes, it has been discussed, but:

…I don’t have the time to write it in the foreseeable future. And, frankly, after all these years, I have virtually no interest in continuing/finishing the story. On top of everything else, the approach I had wanted another writer to take has turned out to be impossible within established continuity.

So, despite Mike’s untimely mention of the project, it doesn’t actually exist, no work is being done on it, and it is not on Dark Horse’s Star Wars publishing schedule.

Sorry, comic fans. Better luck next time.

Good news for Crimson Empire, Tales fans

In a video interview with CBR, Dark Horse founder Mike Richardson says that he and Randy Stradley “have started talking about revisiting the last chapter of Crimson Empire.” Comic fans have been waiting nearly a decade for that one. He also mentions retooling the second mini/graphic novel, Council of Blood, for “fixing all the stuff that got left out” due to possible prequel conflicts. There’s already a thread on the Dark Horse boards – perhaps Stradley will shed a bit more light on this soon? (Keep an eye on the Star Wars zone!)

Could that be the big project for 2009 that Sue hinted at a few weeks ago? Seems likely: It’s sure to get the fanboys all hot and bothered.

UPDATE: Not so, according to Stradley.

But! There’s also Star Wars Adventures, a new all-ages digest series teased in the letter column of the latest Rebellion. We don’t know much, but Jeremy Barlow is writing a story for it about Han and Chewbacca, and it’s slated to debut sometime next year. As someone who was rarely interested in the Dark Horse line until Star Wars Tales came around, I’ll be sure to nab Adventures.