Author Archives: Bria

Tosche Station (and friends!) go to Awesome Con!

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ACDClogoHeading to Awesome Con this weekend?  Thinking about heading to Awesome Con in Washington DC this weekend?  Be sure to catch our Staff Writer Bria (that’s me!) on a Star Wars Discussion panel on Saturday from 1:30pm – 2:30pm in Room 206.  It’ll be an hour chat between myself, Timothy Zahn, John ‘Dak’ Morton, and Rod and Leanne Hannah of Blue Milk Special about the State of the Star Wars Galaxy and pretty much everything Star Wars related.

You can also catch Zahn at a Q&A on Sunday from 10:45-11:45 and doing a reading from 1:15-2:15 with friend of the blog Janine Spendlove.  Speaking of Janine, she and Ron Garner of Silence in the Library Publishing have a busy schedule this weekend with a signing on Saturday, a panel on Sunday from 3:45-4:45 about Crowdfunding Your Book, and tons more.

You can check out the complete listing of panels (including some with Clone Wars voice actors!) over on the Awesome Con site!  Tosche Station will have a con round up next week but for in-the-moment updates, you can follow @chaosbria and @Tosche_Station on Twitter.

Review: The Star Wars #7

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The comic adaptation of George Lucas’s original screenplay is back!  The Star Wars #7 by Jonathan Rinzler and Mike Mayhew hits comic stores everywhere today.  Will General Skywalker succeed in keeping the royal heirs to Aquillae safe from the Empire’s grasp?

Crash landings are the name of the game when it came to Yavin.  Luke Skywalker and Han Solo leave the two young princes in the care of an anthropologist named Owen Lars and set out to find Princess Leia (who has been captured by slave trappers) and Annikin Skywalker (who has been declared some sort of god by the wookiees.)  Even with their new allies, our heroes are in for a tough battle if they’re going to rescue Leia from the clutches of the Empire and Darth Vader.

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So You Want To Get Into Marvel Comics: The Winter Soldier Edition

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So you just saw Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier and now you want to get into Marvel comics.  Maybe you’ve already checked out our original Marvel Comics beginners guide but you want something books that are more specific to the plotlines and themes from the film.  Well you’re in luck because we’ve got a few suggestions!

First off, there’s a name you need to know when it comes to Captain America over the past decade or so: Ed Brubaker.  A good rule of thumb here is that if you see a book by Ed Brubaker that’s about either Captain America or the Winter Soldier, it’s going to be a good read.  With that said, onward with the recs!

If by some chance, you haven’t seen the film yet and are still avoiding spoilers, beware.  This post will likely reveal a thing or two about some plot points.

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Review: Star Wars: Legacy #13

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Last month’s issue of Legacy ended with a crash… literally.  Ania Solo is still a wanted woman, separated from her only friends and allies in Legacy #13 by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman which hits stores today.  And—look, I just want to know who the heck Ania Solo is already!

Somehow, Ania manages to walk away from the crash landing mostly unharmed but that’s not much when there’s a bounty hunter still hot on her tail.  Sauk, Jao, and AG-37 are doing every thing they can to track Ania down and get their friend back.  Back on Coruscant, Ania Solo continues to be the topic of conversation.  True to Solo form though, Ania’s not going to wait around for a rescue or to be captured but can she evade the mysterious bounty hunter?

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Review: The Star Wars #6

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The Star Wars #6 by J.W. Rinzler and Mike Mayhew hits comic stores everywhere today.  We’re nearing the end of The Star Wars and our first draft heroes aren’t any closer to saving the galaxy.

They made it to space but that’s not enough to get free from the Empire’s grasp just yet whose ships are hot in pursuit.  Fast flying and good shooting aren’t enough to save our heroes though.  Instead, they make a crash landing on Yavin, the planet of the wookiees!  And not everyone lands together…

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Hondo Caravan: Don’t Execute Order 66

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The Lost Missions have been found and Season Six has finally arrived!  Gosh, it feels like just last week that I finished watching Season Five.  Up first, we’ve got the Clone Trooper arc.  In the interest of saving those of you who didn’t marathon the episodes this weekend from spoilers, we’ll have the entire post beneath a cut.

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Hondo Caravan: The Wrong Jedi Indeed

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The Lost Missions aka Season Six of the Clone Wars is out on Netflix today so it’s only fitting that I wrap up planned version of the Hondo Caravan today.  And yes, I watched the entirety of Season Five in one week.  But let’s be honest: this is not the craziest thing I’ve done for the blog.

Shades of Reason (DC)
On the surface, Maul’s plan to cause pockets of chaos throughout Mandalore and then have Deathwatch come in and arrest the criminals seems like a good one but I have to agree with Bo Katan: you can’t trust Maul.  Actually, in a situation like this, no one should be trusting anyone.  And honestly, doesn’t this plan run the risk of the criminal class squealing about how they’re all working together once they figure out they’ve been deemed the sacrificial lambs?

On a completely different note, Satine’s new outfit is pretty fabulous looking.  It says serious and regal all at the same time.

I wouldn’t say that the Mandalorians were ever necessarily known for being the brightest crayons in the box but they (as a planet) seem to be kind of stupid right now.  Did they really fall for Maul’s plan this easily?  And we wonder why no one saw through Palpatine’s façade…

And now Vizsla is Prime Minister.  That is a title that a) never sat well with me for a Mandalorian and b) sounds even more wrong on the shoulders of a member of Death Watch.  First of all, he’s not even close to being subtle enough to be a leader.  Immediately betraying Maul was probably not in his best interest.

I love the look on Bo Katan’s face as she tosses Maul his lightsaber.  That’s the look of a woman who knows it’s going to be Prizsla’s funeral.  And then the ladies can rule once they kill each other.  Oh look.  It is his funeral or rather his beheading.  Actually, I’m seriously surprised that they showed this on a kids’ show.

Okay, I’m just going to come out and say it.  Forget this Fett tradition, forget Satine, forget the black market Prime Minister, forget Maul.  Bo Katan for Mandalore.  Accept no substitute.

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Hondo Caravan: Why Did It Have To Be Droids?

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It’s a bit of a mixed bag on today’s edition of the Hondo Caravan.  We’ve got one more episode in the Youngling arc, an arc that makes me want to take a nap, and then the return of the Brothers Sith.  Buckle in, kids.  It’s going to be a gif filled ride.

A Necessary Bond
Turns out there’s more bad news, folks.  Ahsoka and the Younglings didn’t escape quite yet.  Apparently they haven’t even made it back to the ship yet.  It gets worse.  You’d think that getting to the ship would be the hard part.  Instead, merely getting on the ship is tricky especially when it appears to be crashing and burning.

In the previous episode, Obi-Wan was off fighting Separatist forces led by General Grievous.  At the time, it felt like a superfluous plot line to just have Obi-Wan in an episode again.  In this episode though, the Separatists invade Hondo’s planet and take possession of it.  Apparently Dooku did not take too kindly to Hondo taking him prisoner a few seasons ago.  Ooo.  Grievous just tossed Hondo across the room to the floor.  I can hear Jawa James shouting ‘Nooooooooo!’ from the past all the way across the country.  As expected, some of Hondo’s pirate underlings have seen the light and have agreed to work together with the Jedi to get out of this sticky situation.

“I may be a pirate but I do not like taking children into battle.”  I’m just going to leave that quote from Hondo there with no extra commentary.  I bet you can figure out the quiet and pent up rant there all on your own.

I must admit, these kids are pretty good for never having used these lightsabers before.  Obviously, this means something will happen to one of them.  I also really appreciate the strange sort of friendship that seems to have sprung up between Hondo and Katooni.  I’ve got head canon: Hondo’s going to somehow save her from Order 66 and she’ll become a pirate.  She’s too cute to die, okay?

I’m fairly sure it wasn’t the intention but every time Grievous does the four/six legged crab scuttle, I laugh hysterically.  You know what else makes me laugh hysterically?  Hondo verbally tallying up his bill for saving the Jedi Younglings to Obi-Wan.

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