Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
I don’t know why Hasbro is doing a 4-figure The Last Command action figure set in 2024 – the book turned 30 last year – but here we are. The Black Series set (aka 6-inch figures) features Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade, Joruus C’baoth and Luuke from the book’s final confrontation.
Continue reading “Hasbro flashes back to the 90s with The Last Command action figure set”
I briefly mentioned Del Rey’s new Essential Legends Collection – trade paperback reprints of the greatest hits – back in May, when Heir to the Empire turned 30. Of course Heir was part of the first wave, but today, Del Rey has announced that the remainder of Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy is coming to the format this fall.
Continue reading “Mara Jade finally appears on a reprint cover”
Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars novel Heir to the Empire was first released in hardcover on May 1, 1991. It was the first Star Wars novel to be released since L. Neil Smith’s Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka dropped in November 1983, and the first Star Wars novel to actually take place after Return of the Jedi. It was a lot of firsts, actually.
Continue reading “Heir to the Empire is 30 years old”
Wednesday, October 17 brings two comics and a Legends trade collection of some interest. The spooks continue with IDW’s Tales from Vader’s Castle #3, while Marvel has Darth Vader #22. And we’ve got a pretty noteworthy edition of the Legends epic collection – The New Republic volume 4 contains the complete comic adaptations of The Thrawn Trilogy: Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command.
The next two episodes of Star Wars Rebels, ‘Kindred’ and ‘Crawler Commandeers,’ will have two special guest stars. Warwick Davis is voicing Rukh, the show’s second big Legends transplant, while Seth Green is doing duty as Captain Seevor, a Trandoshan. Nerdist has a preview clip.
Davis is also doing a Reddit AMA today.
A clip from ‘Kindred’ and stills from both episodes under the cut.
Continue reading “Next block of new Rebels brings Warwick Davis’ Rukh, Seth Green”
Two big things (for our purposes, at least) came out of Celebration’s Rebels panel. It will be the show’s final season, but Grand Admiral Thrawn’s bodyguard (in the books) Rukh will make an appearance before it’s gone for good. The character will be only the second character from the Thrawn trilogy to make it to canon on Rebels. And, the kicker: He’s being voiced by Warwick Davis.
Given the timeline, I wouldn’t expect him to play quite the same role in the show that he did in the books – but you never know.
The show itself ending is not a particularly big surprise, but as Dave Filoni pointed out at the panel, this gives him a chance to take it out properly. This certainly won’t be the last we see from Lucasfilm Animation – and I’m not talking about Forces of Destiny.
We also got to see the first episode of S4. I won’t say much, but it was the first part of a two-parter set on Mandalore.
Kieron Gillen’s Darth Vader ongoing may be ending with #25, but he’s on board for the replacement – which has been solicited as simply Star Wars: Classified. He’ll be joined by artist Kev Walker, who’s not quite new to Star Wars – he did a cover for Dark Horse’s Republic #55 back in 2003. The new comic, which will also be an ongoing title, will be launched with a number of variant covers in December.
Meanwhile, the flagship Star Wars comic will feature a Yoda story (via Obi-Wan’s journal) in issue #26. Writer Jason Aaron discusses it with StarWars.com’s Dan Brooks.
→ Ashley Eckstein is narrating the audiobook for E.K. Johnston’s Ahsoka, which is out next month. (via)
→ The Force Awakens novelization in paperback will contain two short stories: Alan Dean Foster’s ‘Bait’ (from Star Wars Insider #162) and Delilah Dawson’s ‘The Perfect Weapon,’ which was released as an eBook.
→ Tosche Station’s Thrawncast has officially begun with the discussion of Heir to the Empire’s first four chapters.
just in time for Thrawn on Rebels and the refreshed paperbacks, Tosche Station is launching the Thrawncast, a new podcast dedicated to reading Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy. They recorded their prologue/introduction episode last night, and regular episodes will begin on September 12.
Jedi Bibliothek has our first look at the new covers for Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy. This time, they’re a triptych!
They are, without a doubt, a vast improvement over the very dated originals. And that’s certainly a lot of the eponymous Grand Admiral Thrawn, which makes sense as his forthcoming Rebels appearance is the catalyst for the long-overdue refresh.
The new artwork is by Rick Kelly, we learned from Del Rey’s Tom Hoeler. The official Star Wars Books page has also shared the new covers.
I am sad to see that our namesake Mara Jade didn’t make the cut this time. Sure, Thrawn is becoming canon and she isn’t, but she is a major character in these books – and one of the most popular Legends characters ever. Did they just not want to get our hopes up?
In any case, here’s hoping that the new look gets more people reading. Legends or not, Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command are some of the best Star Wars novels on the shelves.
The new covers are expected to begin appearing in stores late next month, as the existing paperbacks are restocked.
Thrawn makes his Rebels debut on September 24 , with a new canon Timothy Zahn novel coming in April.
Jedi Bibliothek noted a listing saying that Timothy Zahn’s original Thrawn trilogy – Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command – will be getting new cover art in the fall. (The listing may only be visible to logged-in users – here’s a screenshot.) The new art hasn’t been revealed, but it certainly makes sense to give them a refresh, particularly given that this information appears in a listing for Zahn’s upcoming Thrawn novel. The new book will be canon and tied to the character’s Rebels appearance, but his Legends origins aren’t exactly a secret.
In short: Whatever the covers are, expect Grand Admiral Thrawn to be much more prominent. (And will we finally see ‘The Thrawn Trilogy’ as an official designation?) Which has apparently already happened, my bad.
The current cover art has been the same – with occasional design and typography tweaks like the Legends banner – since the books were released in the early 90’s. A 2011 anniversary edition of Heir introduced a more graphical look, but proved to be a one-off.
The editions with the new art are due out on September 27, but will maintain their current ISBNs and may be slow to find as stores restock.
Personally, I’m happy to see the Thrawn books get a cover update – the old ones are extremely dated and among the worst covers of the old Expanded Universe – a real pity considering the novels themselves are among the best of Legends. Bring on the new look! (Perhaps something in the vein of the Brazilian covers?)