It seems like just last month that the Star Wars folks announced Delilah S. Dawson would be writing an e-short titled The Perfect Weapon. Oh wait, that was last month! Del Rey doesn’t make us wait very long with today’s release of The Perfect Weapon, one of five stories that feature the pictured beings from Maz Kanata’s castle. Bazine Netal is an efficient and lethal mercenary and spy who knows how to get a job done. When an anonymous client hires her to track down a former stormtrooper, she’s forced to trade teaching a newbie in exchange for use of a ship. And while Bazine is good, even she can still be taken by surprise on a dangerous mission…
Category Archives: Star Wars
The Diversity Wars: A Letter and An Offering
My Dearest Fellow Diversity Bloggers,
It has come to my attention that we must yet again fight the #WheresFemaleCharacter War. This shall be dubbed the First Battle of Rey as we shall undoubtedly take up her standard and charge forth into the front lines of war in the weeks following the release of The Force Awakens and then likely yet again in Second and Third Battles of Rey with Episodes VIII and IX.
But these have not been the only battles we have fought, my worthy Capable Lady Warriors. Oh no. For we have all stood together and raised the cry of #WheresHera and #WheresBlackWidow in the First Battle of the Rebel Ladies and the Second Battle of the Avengers to name but a few of the hills where we have drawn our swords. We were all there for #WheresGamora and we routinely fight in the Battle of Will Someone Please Just Give Us A Decent Action Figure Of Leia In Something Besides The Metal Bikini. (At least there’s good news from the front lines on that last one.)
As much as I value all of your efforts, my dear Capable Lady Warriors, I also value your time. Our energy is far more useful in the trenches of Twitter than in having the write essentially the same column again. In an attempt to save us all some time, I have written the below form article for us to all use when posting yet another one of these articles. Please feel free to use as you deem necessary although to be honest, we’ve all had to do this so often that we could most likely write these pieces in our sleep.
So make use of the below and then run forth to Twitter and carry our banner high! We’ll win this war one marketing battle at a time.
Best Regards,
Bria
—
It seems that the toy and merchandise companies can’t seem to take a hint. For every Target who stops separating their toys by gender, we find another example where a leading female character has been excluded. I recently found this __(Insert Product)__ at __(Insert Store)__ and while it featured all of the main male characters, __(Insert Excluded Lady)__ was nowhere to be found. Given that she is one of the leading characters, this is ridiculous. Apparently it’s time to start a #Wheres__(Lady)___ hashtag. Again.
This is not the first time that this has happened with __(Marvel/Star Wars)__. __(Marvel/Star Wars)__ previously routinely excluded __(Hera and sometimes Sabine/Gamora)__ from much of their __(Rebels/Guardians of the Galaxy)__ merchandise and also __(Padme and Ahsoka/Black Widow)__ from their __(Star Wars/Avengers)__ products. It’s not just getting ridiculous—it’s been ridiculous. __(Franchise)__ should have long since gotten the memo that girls like __(Franchise)__ just as much as boys. By not acknowledging the existing market, they are yet again alienating these women and young girls. Finally, __(Company)__ needs to realize that excluding women from products that feature an entire team not only shows how tone deaf they are but also sends a bad message to the young boys they are supposedly marketing to. Women are not lesser and are absolutely an equal part of the team. They should not be excluded from products that feature that team.
So come on, __(Company)__. Stop excluding __(Lady)__ from the __(Franchise)__ products and making us as #Wheres__(Lady)__. It’s getting real old real fast.
Rebels Review: Blood Sisters
It’s taken a while but we finally got our Sabine episode! And it wasn’t just a Sabine focused episode; it was a Sabine backstory tease episode!
Spoilers after the jump.
Review: Kanan #8
Kanan #8 by Greg Weisman and Pepe Larraz is out today and– yeah, you know how this goes.
Review: Vader Down #1
Hooolyyyyy crap.
Yeah. That’s the best way to describe the opening issue of Vader Down.
Story Time! At Dragon Con this year, I was lucky enough to partake in one of the last panels of the convention titled ‘Palpatine’s Plan’ in which we discussed… you can figure that one out. During the course of the panel, I found myself having to continuously defend Darth Vader and the fact that he is powerful as hell and a serious force to be reckoned with. If I had had this comic issue on hand, pulling it out would have been the equivalent of a mic drop because holy hell is Vader a powerhouse.
It’s not like we the fans don’t know (for the most part) that Vader is strong in the Force and terrifying to many a person. It’s not like we don’t know that Vader/Anakin is an amazing pilot. Jason Aaron takes both of those facts and reminds you in a way that you will not be forgetting any time soon. You do not mess with Darth Vader whether he’s in a TIE or on the ground.
When you take a step back, Vader Down is certainly a set up issue but it never feels like it while you’re reading. So yes: Vader, Luke, Leia, Han, and Aphra are all being maneuvered on to Vrogas Vas but this is explosive exposition. It’s a great hand off to Kieron Gillen and I absolutely cannot wait to see how these two gentlemen handle the next five issues of this story.
Mike Deodato knocks it out of the freaking park with his art on this issue and uses his four two-page spreads incredibly strategically and for great dramatic effect. Some of these would look amazing as full sized posters. Deodato also draws a pretty fantastic Han Solo. I hope we see more of his work in the Star Wars universe.
This is definitely one of my favorite single issues from the Marvel Star Wars team thus far and you should absolutely pick it up and the rest of the storyline.
Review: Star Wars #12
Let me start with a note that you should definitely read this before you read Vader Down #1 as this is an arc wrap up before getting into the crossover.
Star Wars #12 by Jason Aaron and Stuart Immonen is a nice little wrap up to the second arc. We get a final-final answer to the Sana question, Luke gets rescued, and there’s some really freaking cool stuff in the middle. Some spoilers are going to follow.
Rebels Review: Wings of the Master
This episode of Star Wars Rebels was made for me.
After three episodes with cameos from The Clone Wars and not much for Hera to do, Rebels came back and reminded me why I love this show so much. This isn’t to disparage the other characters, but I much prefer Rebels when the show is an ensemble cast rather than Ezra’s story. If they are going to focus on Ezra for a few episodes, then they have to give the same amount of time to the other characters.
Just as I was grumbling about “Where’s Hera?” Rebels said “don’t worry; we got this” in the best possible way. Introduction of the B-wing? Check! A fantastic Mon Calamari engineer who’s a tribute to Ralph McQuarrie? Check! Rousing music by Kevin Kiner in honor of James Horner? Check! Hera musing about her love of flight and being the best damn pilot in her corner of the Rebellion? Check!
Review: Darth Vader #12
You know what’s a good sign that a comic book is awesome? When you turn a page and audibly say “OH $#!*” Darth Vader #12 by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca not only has one of those moments but it’s a sequence that would make the Battlefront game jealous.
It’s difficult to point to one element that makes this book work more than any others. Is it Gillen’s great grasp of Vader? Is it the supporting cast of characters? Is it Larroca’s artwork? Is it how Palpatine’s manipulating hand can be felt in so many of the pages? Is it how badass Vader is? Is it Dr. Aphra’s ridiculous facial expressions when things aren’t going the best?
Darth Vader has been a beautiful example of how an entire team can come together to make a book gel. I’ve been remiss in mentioning everyone on that team in the past so let’s rectify that now and give some accolades to Edgar Delgado on colors, Joe Caramagna on lettering, and the editing skills of Jordan White and Heather Antos. This is the last issue before Vader Down kicks off and it feels like a good time to look back and appreciate how virtually flawless this book has been.
This issue may not have had the emotional impact of the ones where Vader realized Luke was his son but it certainly packs a punch. All the pieces are moving into alignment and, like I said before, it’s hard not to see Palpatine sitting back to see what all of his pawns will do next. I’m particularly interested to see how things go with Thanoth and to see if he’ll eventually become wise to Vader’s plan.
Darth Vader #12 is another well-down issue by the entire team that perfectly sets up the forthcoming crossover and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Oh and those pages. Those amazing four pages. You’ll know them when you see them.
Review: Chewbacca #3
The Star Wars offices of Marvel must have Phil Noto locked away and drawing at the speed of light because we’ve got another new issue of Chewbacca out today. Gerry Duggan’s story of everyone’s favorite wookiee on his own continues after an explosive end to the last issue.
Chewbacca is a miniseries that’s far harder to comment on each individual issue as it’s more so one continuous story than the Leia book and less happens than in the Lando one. Consequently, that makes reviews trickier. In lieu of saying more of the same of what you’ve read for the past two issues, let’s go with a short assortment of observations.
- I love that people say things like “We just sarlacc’ed them.”
- Apparently not everyone in the galaxy knows what a wookiee is.
- Why did it have to be bugs?
- There seems to be an effort to show more people in Star Wars with a disability that isn’t just magically fixed like Luke’s hand or Han’s eye that one time in Legends.
- Is Zarro the only kid who is stuck in these mines?
- And just how old is she anyways?
- Phil Noto’s art, man. HIS ART.
- Okay but now I’m curious. What exactly does sarlacc’ed mean? Because ‘eaten alive and digested for a thousand years’ is oddly specific and really doesn’t seem to apply to this situation…
End of the day, Chewbacca continues to be a fun read and it’s nice to see him take center stage for once.
Entertainment Weekly Previews Upcoming Star Wars Issue
As promised yesterday by awesome person Anthony Breznican, Entertainment Weekly has some new Star Wars material for us today! First up is a meeting with Harrison Ford.
The 73-year-old star has softened significantly now that the planet is beside itself awaiting his return in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. “I was glad that the character was still alive for me to play in this new iteration,” he says.
If you spend any time with Ford, one simple reason for his long-standing discomfort with the role starts to reveal itself. Here is the hard truth that some, and Ford himself, may find difficult to accept:
Harrison Ford is totally Han Solo.
Second up is an overview of what additional Star Wars stuff will be inside of this EW issue.