Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
The apparent replacement for the Chuck Wendig Shadow of Vader series has been announced: Vader: Dark Visions. Marvel fired Wendig in October for being “too vulgar, too political” on Twitter and canceled the book last month.
The new limited new series is written by Dennis Hopeless with art from Paolo Villanelli and Brian Level. The first issue is due in March.
Continue reading “Shadow of Vader replacement series announced”
Only a week after announcing a new project at NYCC, Marvel has fired writer Chuck Wendig, the author first revealed on Twitter. Shadow of Vader #1-3 will go ahead as planned, but he’s off the last two issues, as well as another Star Wars comic that hasn’t been announced yet.
The firing was over his Twitter feed, Wendig says (and verified by sources within Marvel, per Vulture.) “I was too vulgar, too political,” he tells them.
Neither trait is particularly new for Wendig’s Twitter feed – he’s always been vulgar, and political, and unapologetic, particularly when butting heads with the more obstinate parts of fandom. What has changed in the past week or so is that he’s attracted the attention of some of Twitter’s more high-profile right-wing personalities, resulting in a fresh wave of trolling. That puts this more in the range of a situation like James Gunn’s – and the implications are that this is yet another example of Marvel (though the comic side and the movie side are very much removed from each other) caving to right-wing pressure. Granted, Wendig has been getting the short end of the troll stick since Aftermath – something he brings up for context – but the higher-profile attacks have brought a much more relentless wave.
The firing is 100% Marvel – neither Lucasfilm nor Del Rey were involved, something Wendig affirmed in a follow-up tweet thread. Love or hate Wendig or his work, this is still a disturbing trend.
There were only a handful of Star Wars fiction reveals at NYCC this afternoon, but they’re pretty sizable ones! We get the final cover for Claudia Gray’s Master & Apprentice. The art is by Alice X. Zhang. We also have a brand-new book announcement: Alphabet Squadron, by Alexander M. Freed, will feature “Rebel pilots hunting down Imperials,” apparently set post-ROTJ. Master & Apprentice is due in April, and StarWars.com says that Alphabet Squadron is due in June.
Continue reading “NYCC: Cover for Gray’s Master & Apprentice, new Freed novel on tap”