When it comes to being a Mandalorian fan, I could probably be considered a late bloomer. I didn’t really find any appreciation for them until I was 16 and discovered the Republic Commando books. At the time, only the first two had been released but those two were all it took for me to fall in love with first this batch of clones and then with the Mandalorian culture that Karen Traviss created. When you’re a sucker for found family stories, it was hard not to. That was not, however, the Mandalore we saw first in The Clone Wars and that is now the official canon. While I’m not the sort to be a bitter Legends fan, I strongly believe the Star Wars universe is lesser for it. Continue reading
Category Archives: Star Wars
Rebels Review: Heroes of Mandalore
Breathe… just breathe. It’s the premiere of Heroes of Mandalore, the first episode of the final season of Star Wars Rebels. We’re not ready to say goodbye to this show but we sure are excited to start watching this season. In typical Rebels fashion… boy were there feelings.
Spoilers after the jump.
Review: Poe Dameron #20
Black Squadron: Not actually doing all that great
Lor San Tekka: Also not doing all that great
Poe Dameron #20 emphasizes that the Resistance is probably lucky that they even have a base and any matching uniforms. In terms of size and strength, they definitely aren’t on par with the Rebel Alliance. The Resistance is closer to being like just one of the original rebel cells before they became a part of the larger group… albeit it with more famous names attached. It’s fantastic how the books and comics can help flesh out the galaxy during the time.
Wait. Let me amend my first: Poe’s actually doing pretty good. He’s got his fancy x-wing back! Snap, Karé, and Jess though? Not so much. I won’t spoil those specifics for you but I will say that there is a delightfully meta BB-8 joke that made me giggle.
Gotta say though… “Legend Found” as an arc title does make me wonder curious about the future of the comic. We’ve always assumed that Jakku was the first time that Poe was meeting Lor San Tekka but given the title and this set up issue… maybe that’s not the case which in turn raises a lot of questions about that meeting. Perhaps “This will begin to make things right” doesn’t mean what we’ve always thought.
“Legend Found” is a nice start to the arc and while I’m certainly excited to finally get to know Lor San Tekka a little more, I think I’m even more excited about getting to see Black Squadron fly a mission while trying to deal with their own personal struggles. (Jessika Pava. I just want to see more Jess Pava all the time.)
Poe Dameron #20: Charles Soule/Writer, Angel Unzueta/Artist, Arif Prianto/Colorist, Joe Caramagna/Letterer, Jordan White/Editor, Heather Antos/Assistant Editor
Review: Doctor Aphra #13
Star Wars: Giving more of us excuses to roll up to conventions in comfortable robe costumes one character at a time
Oh wait. Was that not the takeaway I was supposed to get from this issue? Oops.
Spoilers after the jump. Continue reading
Looking for Leia Takes Center Stage at Geek Girl Con
On Saturday morning I had the great pleasure of being part of the conversation about women in fandom marshalled by documentary filmmaker Dr. Annalise Ophelian—the mighty force behind the upcoming fandom documentary Looking for Leia. Panelists included: Christina Cato, 501st Legion member and BB-8 builder; Pat Yolo, Assistant Jedi Temple Master and founder of the My Little Pony Jedi; Linda Hansen-Raj of Fangirl Blog; Maggie Nowalowska, an elder stateswoman of fandom and curator of early 80’s printed fanzines; and Jamala Henderson, a Seattle radio personality, newscaster, and lifelong fan (she can hum the entire soundtrack!).
Christina Cato poses with the BB-8 she’s building.
Each of the women on the panel came to Star Wars at different times in their life and they focus and express their fandom in different ways but the one overriding theme of the panel and the morning was that Star Wars “has never been a boy thing”. Cato mentioned that she has more than once encountered male fans declaring “I’ve never met a girl who likes Star Wars as much as you.” Her deadpan reply: “Yes you have.” Continue reading
Review: Star Wars #37
It’s an end of an era today as Star Wars #37 is Jason Aaron’s last issue of Star Wars. In honor of the occasion, let’s take a moment to appreciate what a fantastic job he’s done with the book. While I haven’t loved every thing he’s done with the book, he’s written 37 incredibly solid issues of story and I’m sad to see him go especially after this last bunch of issues.
As for Star Wars #37 itself… Sergeant Kreel is not a very happy man and he’s not going to be anything even remotely close to happy until he smashes the Rebels into tiny bits for the glory of the Empire. This… is not good for our heroes or the Rebel Alliance. In a way, this issue is the most surprising way that Aaron could have wrapped up his run because he doesn’t end it like one might expect. It’s open enough to make me wonder if Kieron Gillen might pick up some of these plot elements in his run. Part of what I like about this issue though is that it does surprise me while also giving us a fantastic moment for the Skywalker twins. It’s a moment that feels like both a resolute ending and beginning.
The true highlight of this issue though is the back up story, “The Sand Will Provide” by Jason Aaron and Dash Aaron with art by Andrea Sorrentino. It’s one last hurrah for the excellently executed one-shot stories from Obi-Wan’s journey and is the simple tale of a young tusken raider. It’s a simple story yet beautiful within that simplicity. It’s also oddly sweet and feels like the perfect note for Jason Aaron to end his run on. And honestly, what better note could we end this review on than to praise the issue’s last few pages?
Star Wars #37: Jason Aaron/Writer, Salvador Larroca/Artist, Edgar Delgado/Colorist, Clayton Cowles/Letterer, Jordan D. White/Editor, Heather Antos/Assistant Editor
Review: Darth Vader (2017) #6
It’s interesting how an issue with a ton of action can also be an issue where not much happens. The series so far has left Vader a little worse for the wear and honestly, he probably needs a few minutes where not much happens. (Too bad he doesn’t get much of one.)
This will be one of the spoiler filled reviews. Just a warning. Continue reading
Review: From a Certain Point of View
What I told you was true… from a certain point of view.
It’s a phrase that all Star Wars fans know but one that takes a whole new meaning today with the release of From a Certain Point of View by, well, just about everyone. Del Rey assembled an all-star line up of 43 authors to write 40 different stories that cover the events of A New Hope for the film’s 40th anniversary. It’s an ambitious concept that benefits a good cause: all of the authors have forgone any compensation and all proceeds will be donated to First Book. The stories within the book run the complete gambit with every possible writing style, story tense, and narrator that you could imagine and yet it all comes together to make some magic.
Given what a unique book this is, we’re abandoning the traditional review format to give you the full range of our own certain points of view on this book. Continue reading
Review: Poe Dameron #19
I feel like I’m just repeating myself at this point but it bears saying again: War Stories is a very X-Wingy sort of story. That’s X-Wing with a capital X, by the way. As in the X-Wing series.
Why has War Stories made me happy? Oh let us count the ways…
- It made the series feel like more of an ensemble piece again
- It’s not afraid of humor
- This includes bad jokes/puns because our heroes can’t be perfect at everything (LOOKING AT YOU, POE DAMERON)
- The use of a holojournalist and propaganda examines a not as often dealt with aspect of war
- The new main villain would totally be twirling her mustache if she had one and I mean that in the best way possible
- We get illusions to a character’s tragic backstory which leaves us wanting to know more
- It tugs at your heartstrings when you least expect it
Poe Dameron #19 is the cap on a very solid arc that has been very Star Wars to the core. There hasn’t really been any moment that’s left me gasping in shock or crying my eyes out in this arc but it’s been fun and I’ve enjoyed the heck out of every minute. Perhaps I’m biased because I adore Jess Pava but I can definitely see this being a story arc that I keep coming back and rereading. Kudos to all involved.
Poe Dameron #19: Charles Soule/Writer, Angel Unzueta/Artist, Arif Prianto/Colorist, Joe Caramagna/Letterer, Jordan White/Editor, Heather Antos/Assistant Editor
Review: Star Wars Annual #3
How are we already to the third Annual of the Star Wars comic? Time has just been flying by! In this latest Annual, Jason Latour tells a Han/Leia story in which they try to find a new Rebel base but something shady that Han did in the past rears its ugly head to cause trouble.
On the surface there’s nothing particularly wrong with this story. It has all the right elements to be an amusing Star Wars tale. As a part of a larger whole, it’s a little less exciting. The pre-ESB Han and Leia dynamic is one that has to be carefully handled or else their bickering can fly into parody territory. Latour doesn’t do it badly but it doesn’t have quite the spark of some of their other interactions that we’ve seen in the not so distant past.
What makes the issue memorable is when Leia sets someone on fire which is really not a sentence I expected to be writing in a Star Wars review but here we are. I’m not even mad.
Bottom line is that the Star Wars Annual #3 is a perfectly fine issue if you’re looking for a one-off story or you just really need your Han and Leia fix but it’s nothing to write home about. This is, however, said with the caveat that if this story ends up tying in to the next story arc more that it’ll be far more of an essential read but I don’t think it will.
Star Wars Annual #3: Jason Latour/Writer, Michael Walsh/Artist, Clayton Cowles/Letterer, Heather Antos/Assistant Editor, Jordan D. White/Editor