Del Rey’s Unbound Worlds blog has the details on how you can score the two exclusive versions of Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn: Alliances that they’ll be bringing to San Diego Comic Con next month. The first is a signed hardcover version that comes with a new cover, a pin and a tote bag. The second is the audiobook version, which features an exclusive conversation between Zahn and narrator Marc Thompson, as well a collector’s tin, numbered and signed card, and the same pin as the hardcover.
Either version will cost you $45. Del Rey will be using a wristband system again, with separate wristbands for each edition.
Fans at the con will also be getting the book slightly early: SDCC is held July 19-22, while the standard editions go on sale July 24.
Dave Filoni and “special guests” will celebrate the ten-year anniversary of Lucasfilm Animation’s The Clone Wars with a panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday, July 19th. Star Wars isn’t expected to have a huge panel presence at the con this year – at least not in the Hall H sense – but this is our first announcement re: SDCC so far. Writer Amy Ratcliffe (Women of the Galaxy) will be moderating the panel.
With Episode IX more than a year out, will there be a panel on this fall’s Resistance – Lucasfilm Animation’s third show – as well? Per usual, we wait and see.
The still-untitled Han Solo movie now has a composer – John Powell. His previous credits include the Bourne movies, How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek and many more. Powell follows Rogue One’s Michael Giacchino as only the second composer not named John Williams to score a live-action Star Wars film.
Making Star Wars has some new info that is sure to launch (relaunch?) some new Snoke theories. It’s about his appearance, and backed up, for the most part, by recent Lego leaks.
A whole heap of Star Wars book news has come out of San Diego Comic-Con, some expected, some not. (This is all in addition to what we heard the other day!) Most are, naturally, tie-ins to The Last Jedi. We learned that longtime Star Wars writer Jason Fry is writing the Del Rey novelization of the film. Franchise newcomer Elizabeth Wein is writing Cobalt Squadron, “the harrowing story of the courageous bomber pilots and technicians of Cobalt Squadron.” The novel for young readers will feature Rose and Paige Tico.
Del Rey has the details on how San Diego Comic-Con attendees can get a copy of the convention exclusive edition of Battlefront II: Inferno Squad. It’s a little more complicated than the Thrawn sales at Celebration, but will hopefully result in more folks being able to actually get the book.
→ J.W. Rinzler, formerly of Lucasfilm, is writing a blog series about his time with the company, as well as his own history with the Bay Area. Check it out on his blog.
→ And finally, some release notes: On the Front Lines got pushed back at some point. It’s now due out in August. The schedule has been updated.
Lucasfilm and Star Wars will be at San Diego Comic-Con, but The Last Jedi won’t be taking a slot as one of the con’s big Hall H panels. The company told SDCC Blog that “our presence at SDCC 2017 will be focused on our booth on the convention floor, so there will be no press events or interview opportunities this year.”
The good news is that by the time SDCC rolls around, we may already have some movie news. Disney’s D23 Expo is the week before the mega-con, and Lucasfilm is part of their live action panel on Saturday, July 15. Speculation has it that we may get a behind-the-scenes featurette – something like what Lucasfilm brought to SDCC back in 2015. Rogue One launched theirs at Celebration Europe in 2016. Both were also July cons, so there’s an established pattern at work.
There may or may not be Han Solo news – there are rumblings about a title – but would anyone blame LFL if they keep quiet? On the other hand, giving a basic logline about the film beyond “young Han Solo” may help alleviate some of the ever-present wangst about its very existence. (A girl can dream.)
We probably will get some Star Wars news out of San Diego – it’s a frequent target for books, comics, collectibles and other things too minor league for D23 – but expect that anything big will be out on the 15th.
There’s still the question of that trailer, but I wonder if it’ll just turn out to be a shortened version of the first one? Stranger things have happened.
Among the Star Wars exclusives for San Diego Comic-Con is a special edition of Christie Golden’s Battlefront II: Inferno Squadron. The book is officially out July 25, so this gives fans at the con (July 20-23) a few days jump on it, assuming they get there before it sells out. For now, there’s the first excerpt. The game’s star, Janina Gavankar, has an extended interview from her Star Wars Show apperance.
We’ve got a jumbo episode of Star Wars Story Talk (AKA the show formerly known as Unboxing Star Wars) as Yowie the Skunk, Baby Jawa, and I cover a whole sandcrawler-load of the latest in Star Wars stories. Baby Jawa does her first reaction video, watching the Rogue One trailer, and Yowie and I talk a bit about Star Wars Celebration Europe, San Diego Comic-Con and review Aftermath: Life Debt, the new novel by Chuck Wendig! Plus a little update on Wear Star Wars Every Day, a visit from a Loth-cat, and of course some Baby Jawa fun time!
Quick reviews
→ Trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – I am really excited for this movie and this trailer just pushes it up another notch. But how will Baby Jawa react to her first movie trailer viewing?
→ Star Wars Celebration Europe – Big thumbs up! A whole ton of fun and a lot of work. Plus seeing old friends and making new ones while in London!
→ Star Wars at San Diego Comic-Con – Even though there wasn’t a big movie panel, Star Wars still brought a lot to San Diego, including the Rogue One costume display and the publishing panel.
→ Star Wars: Aftermath – Life Debt – Chuck Wendig increases the scale and brings in some favorite film characters into the post-ROTJ era as the heroes help track down Han Solo as he’s disappeared while trying to liberate Kashyyyk. Solid read!
→ Loth-Cat Plush from Star Wars Celebration Europe – A big hit! Mrowwwl! Help me come up with a name for this grinning feline!
Podcasts: Thanks to Coffee with Kenobi for having me on the podcast as a featured guest to talk Bloodline, Life Debt, and Wear Star Wars Every Day, and thanks to Skywalking through Neverland for bringing me on the show to discuss Wear Star Wars Every Day.
Salt Lake Comic Con: Check out my schedule at Salt Lake Comic Con (Sept 1 to Sept 3) or just view the general Star Wars-related programming, featuring Mark Hamill, Jeremy Bulloch, Lucasfilm Story Group members: Pablo Hidalgo, Leland Chee, and Matt Martin; also including Star Wars authors, artists, and voice actors, and the Full of Sith podcast crew: Bryan Young, Amy Ratcliffe, and Mike Pilot.
Among the Star Wars exclusives for San Diego Comic-Con is a special edition of Christie Golden’s Battlefront II: Inferno Squadron. The book is officially out July 25, so this gives fans at the con (July 20-23) a few days jump on it, assuming they get there before it sells out. For now, there’s the 
