Star Wars, Geek Culture, and Power Converters
For those of you lucky enough to be in attendance at San Diego Comic Con and have a camera on them, you can get yourself a rather nifty photo op. The folks at Del Rey and Star Wars Books have put together a Scoundrels lineup stand. You, too, can get your official prison photo with Han, Chewie, and Lando.
And for those of you who will be at Celebration VI…
@LaneWinree yes!We’re bringing it to CVI as well! (Erich)
— StarWarsBooks (@DelReyStarWars) July 10, 2012
Iron Fist is my favorite novel of the Wraith Squadron trilogy, for many reasons. It’s funny, heartwarming, touching, and intriguing. The characters continue to be flawed, fascinating creatures, and you root for them to both survive and thrive. In the meantime, you know that this is war and not everyone will make it out unscathed, both physically and mentally.
This is book has one of my top moments of the entire Expanded Universe. And yes, I warn you now: there will be spoilers. If you’ve already read this book, I’m sure you can figure out what for.
io9 has a first glimpse into a new project from Dark Horse that’s simply called Star Wars. Randy Stradley lets fans know that they have brought in author Brian Wood (of DMZ, Channel Zero, and Northlanders fame) to helm what they’re calling a “back-to-basics” approach to Star Wars comics and narratives.
We — the Dark Horse editorial team and the folks at Lucas Books — felt that the time was right to rack focus back on the core characters of the Original Trilogy. It has been a few years since there had been any comics stories set in the era of the OT, as it’s called, and the time was just right. Both we and Lucasfilm had ideas for how to return to the classic characters, and all told it took us about a year to work out a plan with which everyone was happy.
As for how this series is “different” from past entries in this time period, I guess the answer would be that we’re trying very had to keep everything fresh — as if Episode IV had just come out in theaters. This is the Star Warsseries for everyone who has loved the films, but has never delved into any of the comics or novels. There is no vast continuity that a reader needs to know beyond the events in A New Hope. This is the beginning of the adventures of Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie.
This is probably as close to a reboot of any part of the Star Wars franchise as you’ll see in your life. By the sounds of it, this project is going to be something that’s accessible to new comics and expanded universe fans, something that isn’t bogged down by thirty years of continuity dead weight. Frankly? That’s a good thing. It can be difficult for new fans to so much as set foot in the EU because there’s so many strands of continuity to keep track of. For someone that wants to get their foot in the door, a project like this might be just the gateway needed.
No doubt this is going to cause an uproar among the continuity diehards in the fandom, but I’m not worried. Maybe I’m just at the point in my personal fandom where I don’t care about the continual canon angsting anymore. If this series delivers a solid narrative, I will be more than content.
(via)
Guy Fleegman knows things are about to get ugly
It’s Tuesday! There really isn’t much of a reason to be excited for Tuesday beyond the fact that it’s the day after Monday, which means you’re slightly closer to the weekend but not close enough to actually care. If you really stop and think about it, Tuesday is an exceedingly dull day. It’s not dreadful like Mondays, and it doesn’t even get you to the half-way mark like Wednesdays. What gives, Tuesdays? Be less dull.
To alleviate the usual Tuesday tedium, we like to run a segment we call Trope Tuesday. Every week we look at a literary device or theme that makes the entertainment we love work. This week, we’re investigating a trope called Genre Savvy.
The exact opposite of Genre Blindness. A Genre Savvy character doesn’t necessarily know they’re in a story, but they do know of stories like their own and what worked in them and what didn’t. More sophisicated versions will also know they can’t tell which genre they are in (and are often in far more realistic or complicated genres that the stories they remember), or which characters they are.
They know every Simple Plan is doomed to failure from the start and instead of participating, sit back and wait to get in their “I told you so”, or even a “We Could Have Avoided All This“. They can spot someone being controlled by Puppeteer Parasite from a mile away (usually). They’re more likely to listen when they catch someone in a compromising position who sputters “It’s Not What It Looks Like!”.
They can tell fairly early that the strange old man who’s offering free lollipops is probably best avoided. And they’ve seen enough Horror movies to know that when there’s an ax murderer on the loose, the last thing you want to do is either splitup, boink your significant other, or investigate strange noises in the Sinister Subway. They know how to avoid getting a bad rank on the Sorting Algorithm of Mortality.
The Genre Savvy live to hang lampshades, give Aside Glances, and say, “You just had to say it, didn’t you?” right after use of a Tempting FateStock Phrase. Their exasperation with the sheer stupidityof the entire universe usually makes them a Deadpan Snarker. They are likely to be told that This Is Reality or just ignored, and likely to be the one who always wanted to say that.
I’ve never bothered to hide the fact that I am extraordinarily fond of Aaron Allston’s entries into the Star Wars Expanded Universe. A big reason for that is he (and his characters) demonstrate a wonderful amount of genre savvy. Executed well, this trope can add just the right amount of humor to a scene and is a good way to break up dark and gritty plot for a bit. Or it can be used to call attention to an expected trope and then subvert it. Take, for example, this line from Tyria Sarkin in Wraith Squadron:
Tyria: This isn’t going to be one of those squadrons with one female pilot that all the men are chasing, isn’t it?
Then of course you’ve got Allston’s Ben Skywalker, a lampshade hanging machine that clearly inherited the Genre Savvy gene from his mother.
Greatest example of this trope, however? Pretty much the entirety of Galaxy Quest.
The fourth of five sets of exclusive CVI art prints released today. This set features work by Joe Corroney, Mark McHaley, Erik Maell, Carlos Garzon, Doug Wheatley, and Brian Rood. On the left is McHaley’s “The Saga of Solo” print.
To see the rest of the prints, head over to the Official Site.
It’s a new week, which means there’s a new batch of Essential Guide to Warfare notes from Jason Fry. We’re finally up to the New Jedi Order, which means Fry is handing off the bulk of these notes to co-author Paul Urquhart.
Yavin, 28 ABY: The purpose of this piece is to set the scene for the events of the New Jedi Order novels – by introducing the alien culture of the Yuuzhan Vong, with its mix of mysticism, sadism and treachery, and by “interrupting” the narrative with something in a very different style, reflecting the violent shock of the alien invasion of the New Republic. Cutting the scene into static-washed fragments was Jason’s idea, and I really like the result.
Vergere’s agenda is a mystery that fans still debate, and I deliberately DON’T want to speculate on the answer, or on how much she’s deceiving her apparent allies here. (After all, Vergere’s most famous line is “everything I tell you is a lie.”) I don’t want to spoil all the surprises of the novels for fans who’ve not read them all, either. But I do want to suggest that Vergere was involved in schemes and plots we never really saw on the page – so her linkage to Mezhan Kwaad and her presence on Yavin 4 are new continuity. There are other questions raised by this piece, as well, which might sneak up on readers who give it several re-reads – for example, just who is monitoring the conversation?!
For more, head to Jason Fry’s Tumblr.
It’s got nearly 1,500 parts, articulating S-Foils, a rotating cockpit, and I want it I want it I WANT IT.
Over the weekend, Random House quietly put the first thirty-five pages from Aaron Allston’s upcoming novel X-Wing: Mercy Kill online. Included in the preview is the novel’s dramatis personae and a heartfelt note to fans.
There are a few very interesting names listed in the DP for this book. Those of you familiar with the X-Wing novels might find one name in particular to be a pleasant surprise, but I’ll refrain from writing that down here for those of you choosing to remain completely unspoiled until the novel releases on August 7th.
I love all the X-Wing books. I especially love the Wraith Squadron trilogy by Aaron Allston. While Corran Horn remains one of my favorite Expanded Universe characters, I have a deep and abiding love for Garik “Face” Loran. (This will not come as a shock to people who regularly listen to the podcast.) However, there is so much more to this series than this one exceptional character. Allston took the wonderful setup given to him by Michael Stackpole and ran with it, but wasn’t afraid to put his signature touches on the trilogy. To that end, fans of the Expanded Universe received a plot worthy of Star Wars and engaging characters who jump off the page and keep bringing you back for more.
According to G4, Lucasarts may be getting set to release a Knights of the Old Republic PC bundle containing both games.
LucasArts appears to be getting ready to release a two-pack PC bundle for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, based on Amazon and GameStop product listings (via Joystiq). The collection hasn’t been officially confirmed, but GameStop’s listing notes a July 17, 2012 release date and a $20 price.
If it’s released, I do hope it ships with bug and compatibility fixes. The last time I tried to play KotOR on a modern operating system, I ran into all sorts of glitches with the video playback that numerous crashes to the desktop. Just take a look at this thread that documents countless issues and partial workarounds.