Book Review: Steve Sansweet’s 1,000 Collectibles

1,000 Collectibles: Memorabilia and Stories from a Galaxy Far, Far Away by Stephen J. Sansweet and Anne NeumannAdmit it.  You’ve always wanted to see Steve Sansweet’s collection.  I mean he has the World’s Largest Star Wars Collection.  (I’m sure that has to be trademarked, by now.  But it’s true.)

We’ve gotten to enjoy a video tour in the past, but that doesn’t allow you to really look at all the cool stuff close up.  The new book “1,000 Collectibles:  Memorabilia and Stories from a Galaxy Far, Far Away” lets you do that without trying to win a charity auction or do something really drastic.

The book is divided into sections based on the type of collectibles.  Sections like “Wear It” and “Eat It” are particularly amusing.

The photography by his curator and co-author, Anne Neumann, really allows you to see the detail in each of the selected pieces.  This is particularly useful for some of the more insane collectibles that just have to be seen to be believed.

For me, though, the best part of the book are the stories.  You can find out how he started.  He tries to answer all the usual questions he gets when he’s giving a tour.  But the captions for each of the items are the most entertaining.  They’re often a large paragraph long and include fun stories about how they were created and the odd ways in which some of them came into his collection.

This is like getting to take a tour of Rancho Obi-Wan without having to go there.  And even though you don’t get to be washed over with the full show, the sheer volume of the book will help make up for it.

If you’re looking to add this to your holiday wish list, tell your loved ones that they can find it in the collectibles section of the bookstore.

Out this week(ish:) Legacy, 1000 Collectibles

A single, solitary comic this Wednesday: Legacy #40, the conclusion of the ‘Tatooine’ storyline. I find myself hoping that Morrigan shots Cade (not a spoiler: look at the cover;) if only to put us him out of his fail spiral.

As for books, both Amazon and B&N are showing a release date of October 1st for Steve Sansweet’s 1,000 Collectibles: Memorabilia and Stories from a Galaxy Far, Far Away. A Thursday? Does that just mean there is no official release date? In any case, go ahead and start looking but don’t count on anything.

Forcecast talks with Steve Sansweet in Chicago

TFN’s Forcecast (which now has a brand-new website of their very own) caught up with Steve Sansweet at Chicago Comic Con. He talks about Celebration V and the issues as to why we don’t have a definitive announcement yet. Key statements: He hopes to announce it before the end of the summer, and “It could very well be later in the summer” than the previous events.

They also address the whole ‘second animated series’ thing. “You don’t build two animation studios and just do one series. You have other things in mind,” and “not nessarily Star Wars,” Steve said.

Steve brings Star Wars to Chicago next weekend

Steve Sansweet will be giving a presentation next Saturday (August 8) at Chicago Comic-Con, aka the convention formerly known as Wizard World Chicago.

Should the speculation prove true, he may be announcing something noteworthy… But let’s not get our hopes too high this time. In any case, it looks like there will be plenty of Star Wars folks in attendance.

(Photo from last year’s Wizard World Chicago by Edlitmus.)

Steve Sansweet talks Lucasfilm, fandom

There’s a great interview with Steve Sansweet over at Digital City, focused on fandom and Lucasfilm’s relationship with us. I particularly like this bit about us internet savages:

…It is, and they have a sense of ownership that Lucasfilm is smart enough not to try and disrupt. And fans are critics, and people who post online are the ones who are the most upset about certain things, but we accept it all. Star Wars is what you want Star Wars to be for you. George’s Star Wars is something that he made for him, but if you don’t like a certain thing in his Star Wars, what are you gonna do? Everyone can take their own piece of Star Wars that they enjoy. It’s what fans make of it.

Amen!