Category Archives: Comics

SWEU News From Comic Con!

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The intrepid James Floyd from Club Jade is at Comic Con this weekend, and he oh so generously livetweeted both SWEU panels.

From the Dark Horse panel, notable announcements included a new arc of Dark Times, the introduction of a new villain into Dawn of the Jedi, an Ewoks comic set in the arrival of the Empire era, Tom Taylor working on a secret project, and an upcoming Vader and clone story. For more, see Club Jade’s Storify feed from the event.

James also attended the Del Rey panel. Right at the beginning, moderator Leland Chee stated that the SWEU is in transition as a result of the Disney buyout and Episode VII. Therefore they’re unlikely to announce a new title…but we can dream, right?

Kenobi began as a graphic novel, but got so long it became a novel. Jen Heddle praised the novel, and John Jackson Miller compared Obi-Wan to a well-known superhero, saying he has to learn to be Clark Kent as opposed to Superman. Frank Parisi also praised the upcoming Empire and Rebellion: Razor’s Edge by Martha Wells, and Heddle added that there’s a good focus on the Big Three.

J.W. Rinzler, author of The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, said the book took two years to write and extensive digging into the archives. In a really cool feature, the enhanced e-book will have 30 minutes of audio and 30 minutes of video. Some clips were shown during the panel.

Other items of note:

  • There will be a Death Star Tech Manual.
  • Darth Maul: Lockdown will tie into Darth Plagueis. Apparently Sidious and Plagueis have different plans for Maul in this prison version of Oz and Scarface.
  • Star Wars: Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown, coming in August, will tell the story of middle school by a new character writing and doodling.
  • As to the future of the EU, it’s still in flux, but even before, Lucasbooks and Del Rey did their own EU without concern for films and television. Whether it’s used in those mediums is up to the writers and directors.
  • Regarding The Clone Wars, Chee said the possibility of tying up loose ends is a possibility. As to making a definitive timeline of the era, that’s not happening any time soon.

Notable announcements include the cover reveal to Empire and Rebellion: Honor Among Thieves, the Han-centric novel by James S.A. Corey, published March 4, 2014. Heddle compared the novel to Brian Daley’s Han Solo Adventures.

Han Solo Cover

A notable exception: no mention of Christie Golden’s Sword of the Jedi trilogy, scheduled for release next year. Is this good or bad news? We shall see…

Club Jade collected all of James’ tweets on another Storify, which you can find here. Thanks to James for his great reporting!

Review: Star Wars: Legacy #4

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Somehow, Ania Solo’s week just keeps taking her further and further away from being a junk dealer and into a much larger universe.  Out today is Legacy: Prisoner of the Floating World #4 by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman and trouble is definitely the name of the game here for our heroes.

This review contains mild spoilers for the issue.

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Review: Star Wars: Legacy #3

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Ania Solo’s accidental adventure continues as things just keep getting worse.  Legacy: Prisoner of the Floating World #3 was released on Wednesday and Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman continue to deliver a solidly good book.

This review contains mild spoilers for the issue.

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Free Comic Book Day

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The first weekend in May is usually a busy one in the geek world and this year is no different.  Not only do we have the premiere of Iron Man 3 on Friday and then May the 4th but the first Saturday in May is always Free Comic Book Day!

Maybe you’re not really a comic book person though.  Maybe you’re not sure that you really want to go check this out.  Well, to quote NPR:

Yes, Free Comic Book Day is about you, O person who hasn’t set foot in a comics shop in years, or ever. It’s the industry’s attempt to change that state of affairs: Walk into a participating shop this Saturday, and they will hand you a bunch of free comics. Or maybe just one free comic. Or maybe they’ll let you pick from a table heaped with piles of free comics.

The point is: Free comics! Woo!

For most comic stores, this is a day about more than just handing out the freebies provided.  It’s much more of a celebration of the comic book world.  Many stores will have local artists and writers on hand (or big names in the comic world if they were lucky enough to get them to agree to appear) and even more will have costumers.  Just in case you thought this was only a superhero related thing, don’t worry because Star Wars always has a presence!  Dark Horse’s contribution to the day this year involves a comic with Vader and Fett and it’s not unheard of for 501st and Rebel Legion members to appear at stores.  In other words, it’s a great and fun way to dip your toe in the comic book waters.  Who knows?  You might find some new books to love!

You can check out all of the titles that will be a part of the promotion and find a local comic book store near you over on the Free Comic Book Day site.  Now go get some free comics!

So You Want To Read Marvel NOW!

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So you’ve heard about the Marvel NOW! initiative and now you’re curious about the books and want to start reading.  We’re a couple of months into the initiative and it has been an overwhelmingly great ride.  Unlike DC’s New 52, Marvel hasn’t rebooted their continuity.  It’s better described as a shift in the universe.  Creative teams have moved around and characters and teams have changed after the events of Avengers vs. X-Men.  In short, it’s been a good jumping on point for new readers without tossing years of continuity out the window.

With the relaunch of Marvel and Comixology’s promotion that will offer 700+ #1 digital titles for free, now seems as good of a time as any to sample the comic book world.  If you haven’t yet, go sign up for the promotion now as sign ups end April 9th at 11:59 EDT.  Over 700 titles is a lot to choose from.  In the past, I’ve written about some good jumping on points for the Marvel universe.  Many of those books’ #1s will be a part of the promotion and I definitely recommend snagging them along with any one-shots, especially the character focused ones.  However, if the current Marvel universe is something that you’d rather dive head first into, the Marvel NOW! movement is definitely perfect for that.  Here are some of my personal recommendations about what books you should give a shot.

Avengers
Avengers_1_CoverAvengers and New Avengers  [CMX – CMX]
I’m writing about these two titles together because they are the opposite sides of the same coin.  To quote the writer himself, Avengers is about life and New Avengers is about death.  Jonathan Hickman pens both and has thus far been doing a masterful job of it.  Both are books that I’d recommend to someone who is already familiar with the universe especially New Avengers since it features the Illuminati group.  Regardless, they’ve been fantastic so far.  Hickman is the master of the long game writing style but it always pays off.  If you like the Avengers, give these books a try.  You’ll get to see some of your favorite characters along side some new ones.  It’s all about making the Avengers bigger (and hopefully better) then they’ve ever been before.

Uncanny Avengers  [CMX]
Spinning directly out of the Avengers versus X-men event of last summer, the two groups have joined together to create one team.  The first arc of the book was a “the team assembles” story, making it ideal for newer readers.  It’s also something that readers haven’t really seen before which makes it intriguing.  (Captain America taking orders from Havoc? That still has me blinking in surprise some issues.)  Some of the characters definitely have some history but it’s nothing that a quick Wikipedia search won’t solve for you.  Alternatively, you can think of this as the book to read if you can’t decide between the Avengers of the X-men as your favorite team.

Secret Avengers  [CMX]
This is definitely a title that’s a bit off the typical Avengers path but it’s one that could easily be accessible for newer readers especially those only familiar with the film.  It features well known badasses like Black Widow and Hawkeye and other SHIELD agents and a black Nick Fury and Phil Coulson.  616 fans might be scratching their heads at those last two but film fans will be just fine.  It’s all about SHIELD and its missions and looks like it’s going to be a fun book.

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ComiXology, Marvel team up to give away first issues

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Kate sassWant a bunch of free gateway drugs comics? Good news! Marvel and ComiXology are giving away the first issues to over 700 comics. All you have to do is go over to the ComiXology promotion page and sign up to get a promo code.

Once you’ve signed up, what should you get? Well I’ve got a pair of suggestions.

  • Hawkeye by Matt Fraction – This might be my favorite series out there right now. Follow the misadventures of Clint Barton while he’s not doing Avengers-y things. 
  • Captain Marvel by Kelly Sue DeConnick – Looking for a well-developed, kickass female lead? Carol Danvers is right up your alley.

The site is getting slammed, so you might need to refresh your browser a couple of times to get it to resolve. Once you’ve signed up, ComiXology will send you a date when you can start downloading your comics. From that date you’ll have 48 hour window to get them.

Dark Horse Adapting Original Star Wars Concept

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At Wodnercon yesterday, Dark Horse revealed just what that Jonathan Rinzler-written project would be. According to BleedingCool.com, it’s going to be an adaptation of George Lucas’ original Star Wars concept.

At WonderCon, Dark Horse announces new eight issue Star Wars series for September – The Star Wars. Based on George Lucas‘ original concept that eventually became the Star Wars films.

Featuring Darth Vader not as a Sith/Jedi but just a General. Anakin Starkiller. An old General Luke Skywalker.  Jonathan Rinzler will write and Mike Mayhew will do the art.

Dark Horse also shared some concept artwork for the new series which you can see at the link above. For continuity purists, don’t even try to mesh this into canon and just enjoy it for what it is. A fun Infinities-style what-if.

Fare thee well, Mr. Timm

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bruce_timm_by_dkdelicious-d3ezn9nDC Animated Producer, director, art director, writer, occasional voice actor and all around awesome guy Bruce Timm steps down.  And as long as everybody else is doing it, I call bullshit too.

If you’re even close to my age, when you think about DC comics, you can’t help but think about some of the incredible animated programs that have been created over the course of the last twenty-one years.  To most of us, we know that his work more or less started with Batman: The Animated Series, which eventually became The Adventures of Batman and Robin.  In truth, a quick look at Timm’s IMDB page will show you he actually started working with DC animated characters as far back as 1981 on The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam!

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Today on Tosche Station Radio: Marvel’s Weird Chick Lit, Expanded Universe Genre Fiction

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We’re going to be recording a brand-new episode of Tosche Station Radio today at 5PM Pacific time! Dunc from Club Jade will be joining us this week to discuss Marvel’s bizarre new chick lit initiative as well as genre fiction in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. You can listen live and join the chat at our Livestream channel. Do be sure to tune in, because Dunc is missing a new episode of Community and will have my head if we’re talking into the void while it’s on.

Since there is a fair chance we’ve picked up some new listeners with yesterday’s move to Majestic Giraffe Productions, you may be interested in knowing that we run a segment called Ask Us Anything where you can fire off questions at Nanci and myself and we’ll answer them. Really, anything.

So if you have questions about Marvel’s chick-lit thing, Expanded Universe genre fiction, or any geeky or fandom related topic, send them our way in the comments of this post, on our Facebook page, or hit us on Twitter.