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EUbits: Into the Void protagonist, plotline revealed

Force Wars image from The Jedi Path. Dawn of the Jedi. Del Rey has posted a blurb for Tim Lebbon’s Into the Void, the first novel tie-in to the comic series. It reveals the novel’s protagonist, Je’daii Lanoree Brock. Always nice to see another female lead!

Previews. Jedi News has first looks from Dark Horse at standalone Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin, the Lost Tribe of the Sith: Spiral trade and what looks to be the first Legacy omnibus.

Comics. Brian Wood’s very upcoming Star Wars comics, Scoundrels, and The Clone Wars got some love from USA Today this weekend, including another cover and some extra preview material for the comic.

Interviews. Fangirl Blog continues their talk with Troy Denning. He hints a bit about Crucible, revealing that it’s a “Han-driven” book.

Reviews. James is underwhelmed by Purge: The Tyrant’s Fist #2.

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Legacy’s new Solo gets a name; first look at Star Wars #3

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.

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Dark Horse announces Brian Wood Star Wars story as part of Free Comic Book Day 2013

Dark Horse Comics announced their stories for their two Free Comic Book Day releases. The publisher will continue their tradition of having flip covers, but will have three different stories in each comic book.

In their all-ages book, the Star Wars story by Brian Wood and stars both Darth Vader and Boba Fett. Also in that book will be a story about Mai from Avatar: The Last Airbender, and a peek into the upcoming series, Captain Midnight, about the search for a superhero gone missing.

In the other comic, we get a trio of stories: R.I.P.D. (by Jeremy Barlow), Mass Effect and a preview of the police-state world of The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. The best part? They’re free! The worst part? Having to wait until Free Comic Book Day 2013, which is Saturday, May 4.

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Preview Brian Wood’s Star Wars

Nerdist has an exclusive first look at Brian Wood’s Star Wars comic, which launches next month. It also features an interview with Wood, who has a lot of nice things to say about Celebration.

When I started the job, I had this idea that Star Wars fans would be really hardcore and nitpicky and, to be frank, ready to challenge my work. Then I went to Star Wars Celebration, this convention, and I had one of the most positive experiences of my professional life. Everyone was super nice, very receptive to what I’m doing, and I felt like I belonged in a way that comic book conventions don’t. I came home from that show determined to write 10x on this title.

Hardcore? Nitpicky? Just stay away from the message boards. And, um, certain typos.

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EUbits: Denning’s Crucible date shifts again – but not far

Release dates. Troy Denning’s Crucible has appeared in the Random House catalog with a date of July 9 – last we heard, it was the 2nd. But remember, we’re far enough out that it may still change again.

Comics, currently. Brian Wood talks about his Star Wars comic with Westfield Comics. (You can take a look at the cover for issue #2 at Newsarama.) And CBR has a look at Doug Wheatley’s cover for Dark Times: Fire Carrier.

Interviews. Fangirl talks to Drew Karpyshyn, while the latest installment of Jedi Journals has Del Rey’s Erich Schoeneweiss – recorded before the Episode VII announcement.

Comics, history. CBR’s Comic Book Legends Revealed looks at the rumor that George Lucas was not so pleased with Jaxxon the giant green rabbit, among other Marvel hearsay.

The blogside. If wacky old Marvel isn’t crazy enough for you, Tosche Station’s Nanci has continued her Jedi Prince retrospective with Zorba the Hutt’s Revenge, Mission from Mount Yoda, and Queen of the Empire.

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So Leia’s in an X-Wing… Now what?

Reaction to the new Star Wars comic has been, in a word, mixed. There’s been the expected asides about canon and continuity from the usual quarters, of course. (I’ve already said all I need to say on that.) But today, the headline news from this has been, unquestionably, this from Wood on Tumblr: “Oh yeah, Leia’s an X-Wing pilot.”

In an interview with Comic Book Resources, Wood elaborated:

Leia is not going to be sitting around in a gown attending a lot of meetings — she has her blaster and an X-wing and is out there with Luke and Wedge working on building the Alliance back up after losing so much. I really wanted to put Leia into the mix, holding her own in battle.

On the one one hand, of course I would like to see Leia get more of a role. On the other hand, we already know Leia’s a badass and a better shot than most of the dudes: Does putting her in an X-Wing really show a new dimension to her character?

Yes, this again. Here’s the thing: We are constantly told Leia is a brilliant politician, but how often do we actually see that aspect of her – her actual career? Every once and a while in the books, right before things go sour and the blasters (or, more recently, the lightsabers) come out?

I’m not against putting Leia in an X-wing. This is not really specific to Star Wars, the Comic. (And a comic book is almost certainly not the place for that sort of Senator Organa anyway.) I just wish when we got more Leia, it would be less about the size of the lasers she’s shooting and more about adding some dimension to an aspect of her character that’s been shamefully neglected.

And hell, maybe Wood will go there between battle scenes. Obviously, I have no idea. I just wish we could click off a box other than Action Girl every once and a while.

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Dark Horse to publish new title Star Wars. Just Star Wars.

Yes, this is actual news. Well, here’s one Star Wars debut due at SDCC: A comic called just Star Wars by “prolific author” Brian Wood. Wood’s name doesn’t ring any bells for me, but you may recognize some of his previous titles: DMZ, Channel Zero, Northlanders and The Massive. And the cover artist should be familiar: Comic legend Alex Ross.

The series represents a refocusing on “the core characters of the Original Trilogy.” (Fan reaction should be interesting, as it seems a lot of the love Dark Horse gets in EU fandom is for not doing that.) Randy Stradley tells io9:

It’s back-to-basics in the sense that we’re going back to the beginning, but Brian Wood is exploring aspects of the characters and their relationships that have, in many ways, been glossed over in the past, or shoved aside in favor of big action set pieces. Don’t get me wrong, this series has plenty of action, but all of it is informed by, or springs out of, the characters’ reactions to events in A New Hope.

Well, I’m intrigued, though I’m not sure of how this will go over. Still, Dark Horse is clearly going for a wider audience here, one not bogged down in the minutiae of “impenetrable continuity,” and I for one can’t blame them for aiming higher than their usual audience of ultra-concentrated fanboys. Should be interesting, even if the title is going to make it a bit of a nightmare for categorizing.

The book is due to start shipping in January.