Something something Sith. Flavor-of-the-month The Old Republic: Revan was everywhere last week – in fact, I daresay we have shortage of other Expanded Universe news, which makes this the shortest roundup I’ve done in a while.
Clearly, I need to take a speed reading course. I don’t know how anyone can quickly get through the coffee table books that seem to come out each year for your holiday pleasure. There’s always so much text involved. So why not just do a review on first impressions? For instance, the awesomeness that is The Complete Vader by Ryder Windham and Peter Vilmur.
This book basically takes you through the story and pop culture development of Darth Vader over the years; from his development to The Clone Wars television show.
In between? Awesome things inserted into the book. And I do love me the special books where they have things stuck in them. For instance, towards the beginning is a folder that allows you to take out a copy of the piece-by-piece instructions for putting on the Vader costume that was used for public appearances. (Sorry. Did I just crush some childhood dreams there?) And there’s also an early costume sketch that is all aged and faded looking, as if it was smuggled out of the Archives. And then there’s a look at the early toys associated with Vader.
And this is basically how the book unfolds. You hear about story developments in the years being addressed. Expanded Universe products. And the toys and pop cultureĀ happenings.
My only complaint about the book would be its construction. The pages and inserts are so heavy that it exposes the binding; giving it a flimsy air. Although I don’t believe it’s actually flimsy precisely because it’s stitched in, instead of glued. However, this might turn off well-meaning relatives trying to get you that awesome holiday gift.
So is it worth getting and/or putting on your “Star Wars things I haven’t actually purchased” list for the holidays? Absolutely; especially for fans of the pop culture aspects of Vader. It’ll be a fun stroll down memory lane.
Crimson Empire III. With Empire Lost #1 in stores, Dark Horse founder and co-writer Mike Richardson talks to Comic Book Resources about getting the Star Wars license and getting re-acquainted with Kir Kanos and crew.
Inside the Sith Empire: Random House has a good chunk of the first chapter of The Old Republic: Revan up on its site. Drew Karpyshyn’s novel about the character from the Knights of the Old Republic game comes out in November. If there’s one thing to be said about the Sith Empire, it’s that the trains run on time, so they must be doing something right.
Vader turns the page: At Suvudu, Eric Geller previews The Complete Vader with a video walkthrough of the book that looks at Darth Vader as both character and as pop culture icon.
There was a printing error — the printer used an ink that backfired and made some of the pages stick together, so the book was recalled after it was released. It will be reprinted using a more stable ink and will be released in October 2011. Many of the books found their way to market, so if you have one and the pages stick to the point that you’re not comfortable with it, you can return it and get the new one when it comes out.
I guess it’s kind of hard to get a new printing slot this close to the holidays?
Embrace the pain. Inspired by the latest in transparent rumor-mongering, Cracked puts their well-worn Wookieepedia bookmark to use to come up with five reasons the Star Wars sequels would be worse than the prequels. As an EU fan, I say… Well, yeah. It’s easy to be hard on the prequels, but we can’t deny that the post-ROTJ EU is at least equally screwed up. (I for one have no problem admitting the EU is probably worse. One word, kids: Volume. Also, [insert your least favorite author/book here.])
Not that I would expect George to actually use the existing EU for much besides a few spare parts if he ever did decide to make a sequel trilogy. But various statements he’s made over the last few years show he really doesn’t see much in the sequel era – Han Solo and the Backyard Barbecue much?
Postponed.The Complete Vader will be getting a new release date due to printing issues. It was supposed to be out on Tuesday, but better a nice, carefully reconstructed book than a complete crispy mess completely encased in plastic, right?
From the horse’s mouth. A speculative TFN thread prompts John Ostrander to make a preemptive strike and announce that Legacy will not be following in the footsteps of Knights of the Old Republic and ending with issue #50.
Random House’s fall catalog is now available to the pixel-soaked masses, and there’s not a ton of news in it… Mostly the standard publicity stuff: Author podcasts, convention appearances, 501st marketing events.
Death Troopers (page 113) will have a fan cover design contest and a special cover with a full-color poster on the reverse. (The winning entry to the contest, perhaps?)
Another free e-story will be coming with Fate of the Jedi: Abyss (page 107.)
The Complete Vader (page 111) will.. uhh.. be shrink-wrapped? You’re probably better off looking at StarWar.com’s preview pages.
Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil has the same blurb we saw with the cover announcement. It’s hanging out on page 115.
Keep in mind this catalog copy is done fairly early on, so all this is subject to change… And no, there’s nothing Star Wars in the trade paperback catalog – the next Clone Wars book isn’t due out until February.