Star Wars, Geek Culture, and Power Converters
Sometimes, a comic book is exactly what it reads on the label and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Out today is Ewoks- Shadows of Endor; a new Star Wars graphic novel for the younglings about everyone’s favorite fluffy little terrors. Penned and drawn by Zack Giallongo with colors by Braden Lamb, it’s an enjoyable little tale about how Endor is turned on its head when the Empire arrives to build the shield generator for the new Death Star.
This review contains mild spoilers.
And here’s your fifteen second teaser trailer for Rebels on Disney XD.
The one line that caught everyone’s attention on Twitter last night was “The Jedi will rise.” Marketing buzz, or was Order 66 the least effective genocide ever? Who knows! Just keep in mind this was a fifteen second announcement for a show that is still in development, so the only thing anyone knows is that it’s called Rebels and that it’s airing on Disney XD.
Last week we were fortunate to have author and all-around awesome human being Janine Spendlove on the podcast. Janine is the author of War of the Seasons, a YA fantasy trilogy that both Nanci and I have greatly enjoyed. Today, she’s kickstarting the launch of the third and final book in that series.
If you’ve read the first two War of the Seasons novels, you can contribute to this kickstarter to get either an ebook or a print version (depending on the contribution level) of the third book. If you haven’t read the prior two novels, you can get those included as ebooks for a $15 or greater contribution or as print novels for $50.
As is the case with many kickstarters, there are bonuses for hitting some stretch goals. Among them? Short stories set in the War of the Seasons universe that will be penned by Star Wars Expanded Universe authors Aaron Allston and Mike Stackpole.
Other stretch goal authors that may wind up contributing short stories both in the War of the Seasons universe and outside of it are Bryan Young, Cleolinda Jones, Albin Johnson (founding of the 501st), and Maggie Allen.
I’m sure that if you’ve been following the blog for a while, you may have heard me on the podcast once or twice. When I’ve been on, you’ve probably heard me say one of the geekiest things you have ever heard anyone say: I watch e-sports.
Let me be clear about this, I don’t watch just any e-sport; I watch the League of Legends Championship Series. If you don’t know what this game is, if you don’t care what it is, that’s fine. As I’m writing this, the world championships for the series are currently being played. Teams from all over the world–North America, Europe, Korea, China, Southeast Asia and one team of challengers that made it in from Lithuania–have been playing for a month in Los Angeles leading up to last night. Starting at about midnight EST, 9pm PST, October 4, 2013, the champion picks began, and I watched the game between the finalists get ready to start–SK Telecom T1 from Korea, which came in as a third seed and Club Royal from China.
Again, if you don’t care, that’s fine, but let me tell you why I think you should. Continue reading
On this episode of Tosche Station Radio, the hosts sit down to talk with author Janine Spendlove.
Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog. Nanci reviewed of The Making of Return of the Jedi and did a spoiler free Go/No-go of The Darwin Elevator. Meanwhile, Bria reviewed The Star Wars #2.
In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci finished reading The Darwin Elevator. Both the hosts caught up with Once Upon a Time and watched The Last Starfighter.
Deak’s Dirt this week starts with Kotaku’s profile of the LucasArts collapse. J.J. Abrams appearance on PBS to talk Star Trek and Star Wars and reassured fans that the franchise wouldn’t be Disneyfied. Dark Horse entered into a distribution partnership with Random House. In the Rumor Roundup, there’s rumblings of live-action Star Wars and a time placement for Rebels. Apply your grains of salt, but it’s rumored that Saoirse Ronan, Ben Kingsley, and Sullivan Stapleton have read for Episode VII parts.
We’re lucky to have War of the Seasons author Janine Spendlove join us on this week’s Camie’s Concerns. We talk with Janine about Star Wars, conventions, her writing process, and her work on novels and her short stories. Be sure to visit her site and check out War of the Seasons and anthologies she’s featured in!
Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of Majestic Giraffe Productions. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store. We can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
Nanci and Brian are the co-founders and writers of Tosche-Station.net. You can find Nanci on Twitter with the handle @Nancipants and you can find Brian with @LaneWinree.
This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and Audible.com.
“There’s good in him. I know… I know there’s still…” “There is still good in him.” “I’ve got to save you.”
It’s not a stretch to say that redemption is a main theme of the Star Wars films and neither is it a stretch to say that the same theme continued through the Expanded Universe. The story of someone’s fall to the dark and eventual redemption to the light has been repeated countless times throughout. This is, afterall, a franchise built upon the story of the rise, fall, and redemption of Anakin Skywalker.
So why, in recent years, have we seen stories go against this?
I’m talking, of course, about Jacen Solo and also Vestara Khai. How did we get to a point in the Star Wars universe where Luke Skywalker, Dark Side Redeemer Extraordinaire, isn’t consistently giving it his all to try and bring back his nephew or a young girl from the dark side? But before we get there, let’s look back at redemption throughout the rest of the Star Wars Saga.
Headed out to New York Comic Con this month? Keep an eye out for the Dark Horse booth and for their convention exclusives. This year, one of the exclusives will be a special limited edition of The Star Wars #1. The comic is the adaptation of George Lucas’s original screenplay which we’ve been reviewing. There will be only 1000 copies of this special convention edition book sold at the con. They will be sold for $5 a copy (which is a dollar above the usual cover price) and will be limited to two per person.
Read the entire press release for all of Dark Horse’s exclusives after the jump.
The Darwin Elevator, Jason M. Hough’s debut novel, features a large cast of characters, page-turning action sequences, alien technology, and a zombie-like plague. When I first heard the novel praised on Twitter, it seemed like something I should check out. Then I was lucky enough to win a signed copy by the author! What did I think?
I’ve seen The Darwin Elevator described as “popcorn science fiction”, and that’s definitely an apt way to put it. But that’s not to say the novel isn’t smart. Hough kept me guessing throughout the approximately 475 pages, and I never could figure out what was going to happen next. Most of the secondary characters, especially Tania Sharma and Samantha Rinn, are engaging and fun to read about. The main protagonist, Skyler Liuken, is adequate, but somewhat bland. I hope that changes in Books 2 and 3. And I wanted to punch the villain, Russell Blackfield, every time he appeared on the page.
This brings me to one thing I wasn’t entirely comfortable with: the rampant objectification of women. It’s not done in a glorifying way by any means, but rather to show how awful conditions in Darwin are, and how awful Blackfield is as a person. It certainly worked, considering how much I hated Blackfield by the end of the book. But some of it was a little over the top and cliche, and made me a bit too uncomfortable.
All that said, The Darwin Elevator kept me engaged throughout and I definitely want to pick up the second and third novels in the trilogy, collectively known as The Dire Earth Cycle. I give it a GO.
The Empire Strikes in the second issue of The Star Wars as Jonathan Rinzler and Mike Mayhew continue to tell and adapt the story of George Lucas’s original draft.
That’s no moon that’s rapidly approaching the planet of Aquilae. The Empire has made its move and now General Luke Skywalker is scrambling to get the war codes from King Kayos so he can mount a proper defense. Meanwhile, Annikin Starkiller is sent to retrieve the recently departed Princess Leia and bring her back safely from school. General Darth Vader presses the Empire’s attack and things are not looking well for Aquilae or for two familiar looking droids who’ve found themselves in the middle of the space battle.
One of the things that makes this book fun is how Rinzler isn’t afraid toss in a familiar iconic line or at least an incredibly strong allusion to one. The story feels distinctly different enough from the A New Hope we all know and love that the sly little nods are a nice little tie back instead of feeling groan worthy. We also get to see snippets of scenes that survived from the rough draft into the final film which are another element that helps readers remember that this is a sort of alternative universe Star Wars. Overall, Rinzler’s writing is a definite check mark in the positives column.
Mike Mayhew continues to be the perfect choice to draw this book. His clean lines and overall art style give that slightly retro feel to it. It meshes well with its status as the adaptation of a rough draft. The costume design is also quite fabulous. In particular, General Skywalker’s uniform stands out. It’s not terribly similar to the Jedi robes but still manages to have a similar feel while looking cool. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a cosplayer or two sporting the look at future conventions. Leia’s outfit is another standout with a corset element to her look that almost feels like a steampunk influence but still fits with the overall outfit to give off that ‘Princess of Aquilae at her university’ vibe. There is nothing negative that I could possibly say about this art.
The characters are definitely one of the most intriguing aspects of the book though. We’re only two issues in and I’m already finding myself to be quite fond of this older Jedi General version of Luke Skywalker. He’s definitely not a farmboy but rather an established and respected leader. Princess Leia is perhaps the least changed from the films and is her usual stubborn yet sassy self and is a nice thread of continuity. On the other hand, we have Annikin Starkiller who is, for a lack of a better term, infuriating. His people skills seem to be a bit… ahhh… questionable.
Above all though, it was fun to see Threepio and Artoo for the first time. It’s really quite strange seeing Artoo with dialogue instead of beeps and deets. We seem to be heading towards a part of the story that we’re more familiar with so I look forward to seeing how their part in the story changes with no Obi-Wan Kenobi and no farmboy Luke Skywalker to carry the story along.
Again, I recommend picking up this book if the concept even remotely intrigues you. Rinzler and Mayhew are making it worth it. (And hey: if you needed another reason, context clues indicated that we’ll be meeting Han Solo soon.)
Comic publisher Dark Horse has partnered with Random House to distribute titles. Given that both houses have the rights to Star Wars, this could certainly prove to be an interesting and beneficial agreement. Press release below the cut.