New ‘Legacy’ Writers Discuss Ania Solo

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Over at Comic Book Resources, new Legacy comic writers Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman stopped by to discuss the new series and all-new protagonist, Ania Solo:

The lead character of this adventure is the great-granddaughter of Han Solo and Leia Organa. Beyond that, what can you tell us about her?

Hardman: As far as her actual lineage goes and exactly how she’s related to Han and Leia is something that is a little bit of a mystery and we’re not going to be paying off anytime soon. A lot of the “Legacy” era has been about these larger-than-life Emperors and royalty — we’re taking this down to much more of a ground level. Ania Solo is somebody that is not a part of that world, and she doesn’t have a personal connection to it. She may have even turned her back on it.

Bechko: She’s living in a backwater, Outer Rim system. She runs a junkyard and she doesn’t have that many prospects, and that’s where we start things. Our story takes off there.

Hardman: That’s where the big change in her life is going to happen. She’s launched into an adventure that involves much bigger stakes than anything she’s been up against before.

Bechko: She’s certainly brash enough to recognize an opportunity when she finds it. It’s not necessarily bravery, but it’s maybe not something a wiser person might do.

Now is Ania a Jedi? She is from a pretty powerful lineage so it makes sense that she’d be carrying on that important legacy in some …

Hardman: She finds a lightsaber.

Awesome. Does she know how to use it?

Bechko: No, absolutely not. [Laughs]

Hardman: We’re so far out in the middle of nowhere that they’re not even entirely sure what it is when they find it. She’s not overly Force-sensitive. She’s a character that relies on her wits, and when she finds this lightsaber, it really just gets her into trouble and draws some seriously unwanted attention that launches her into this story.

Okay. I love this. This is the sort of character I’ve been lobbying to take the lead of an Expanded Universe plot for ages and for the first time, I’m legitimately interested in picking up a Legacy comic.

EU Retrospective: Revenge of the Sith

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Here we are.  At last, we’ve arrived at the book I’ve been dreading because it is just that good.  (Thanks for that, Matt Stover.)  In 2005, Del Ray published a novelization of Revenge of the Sith and two novels that take place on either side of it, forming an unofficial trilogy.   I’m also including another book in this post just because it needed a place to go.  This is also the review where I finally did post some reaction pictures so I could properly express my anguish.  (Enjoy the spam of my face.)  However, if you’re going to take nothing else away from this and the past few posts, take away that I would positively love to see both Stover and Luceno write more books in this era.  Please.

Labyrinth of Evil
This is by far the prequel lead-in book that has the most to do with its film.  (So, in retrospect, my decision to go to the bookstore and read through this hardcover I couldn’t afford the day before the movie was released was a good one but then again 15 year old me probably should’ve had the good sense to get it from the library weeks before.)   Because it goes directly into the film, it ends up being one of the most worthwhile of the lead-in books to read.  However, even though it’s a lead up, the book still has its own story to tell and that tale never really drags.  Luceno’s action sequences are well done and he has an excellent grasp of all the characters.

Speaking of which, no one writes Palpatine like James Luceno and no one has the ability to make the Prequels make more sense like him either.  He drops in some references, like the one to Plagueis, that apparently went right over my head when I originally read that book but that had me nodding and going “ohhhhh” as I read it this time.  He also references tons of things from the rest of the Prequel books without it ever being heavy handed.  What’s even more impressive to me is that he manages to write the best Palpatine in a book that was still under the ‘LOLZ DON’T TELL ANYONE THAT SIDIOUS IS PALPS’ gag order.  The writing accolade obviously extends to how he writes Sidious.  Luceno does keep up the ruse for those who live under a rock and weren’t aware of Palpatine’s secret identity but he doesn’t sacrifice characterization to do so.  Applause all around really.

Luceno also writes a pretty good Anakin and Obi-Wan.  I love that Obi-Wan’s plan of attack to find this pilot is to go drink in every bar until they can find her.  Best plan ever, Boozy-Wan.    This era is absolutely his forte.  Actually, I’d love to see him write a political Amidala book or even an early days of the Rebellion book based purely on how he handled those characters in this book.  Actually, I don’t have any complaints with how he handled any of the characters, even the ill-fated Captain Dyne.

Overall, it’s actually a pretty good read.  It tells the story that it needs to tell and never lets the reader get too bored.  It’s a nice mix of action and politics and the hunt for Sidious.  If you skipped this, it’s one of the Prequel books I would recommend going back and giving a shot.  Honestly, I’m thrilled to have rediscovered this book.

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Timothy Zahn Talks ‘Scoundrels’ and Episode VII with Hollywood.com

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2012-04-06-swscoundrelsSMHollywood.com put up a great interview with Expanded Universe author Timothy Zahn today as part of the promotional blitz for his upcoming novel Scoundrels. One question posed to Zahn was how best to deal with the daunting size of the EU and what authors and editors can do to address that problem:

HW: It’s a departure for you as well, because it feels more like a one-off, standalone adventure. It doesn’t feature some of the characters that recur in your work like Thrawn or Mara Jade. 
TZ: Actually, that was part of the goal with this. Shelly Shapiro, the Del Rey editor, and Sue Rostoni, who was handling these things for Lucas Licensing at the time, were looking for a story that could appeal to Star Wars fans who weren’t necessarily Star Wars readers. There are 150+ Star Wars novels out there and for someone who isn’t already familiar with them the whole thing can look a little intimidating. So my goal was to do a story that could draw in fans who don’t know anything about the Expanded Universe. What kind of story could do that? That story is Scoundrels. If you’ve seen the Original Trilogy, you’re good to go.

And of course, what are Zahn’s thoughts on Episode VII?

HW: What do you, as a Star Wars fan par excellence, want to see from the new trilogy? 
TZ: You got a couple of hours here? First of all, I think they need to skip a generation and have either Luke, Han, and Leia’s kids, or even grandkids, and have the Original Trilogy characters be the older, wiser mentor types. But one of the things I’d really like to see, and this would fit very nicely with Disney, as far as I can remember we’ve never seen a really good family relationship in Star Wars. We’ve had neurotic relationships and even outright antagonism with Luke and Vader. But I’d like to see Luke and his son or grandson have a true bond, a functional family relationship. And of course I want a really good storyline and space battles. I’d like to see something different than a Skywalker turning to the Dark Side. The Star Wars universe is so rich with storytelling possibilities that you don’t need to repeat the “turning to the Dark Side” concept of the previous films. I don’t want to see the same stuff over and over.

There’s other great questions and answers in there as well tackling everything from continuity to whether or not major characters should die in future books and movies. For more, head to the link above and read the three-page interview.

Fanwork Done Right

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In terms of explaining fandom, and especially fanworks, to outsiders, 2012 hasn’t exactly been a banner year. Gawker and Jezebel—and, briefly, io9, though they ended the feature and apologized for it—have mocked fanfiction and by extension those who write it. The self-insert One Direction one young fan is writing is going to be turned into a book.

And, of course, there was 50 Shades of Grey.

I’m not going to touch on the fact that it is a smutty novel, because one of the positives of fandom, at least in some areas, is that it provides a safe and healthy environment for learning about sex, sexuality, kinks, and so forth. There are plenty of people who read and write fanfiction, at least in part, because of the openness about sex and generally sex-positive culture that fandom often has.

However, generally speaking, I can’t think of anyone who reads fanfiction for bad writing, dangerous mispresentations of BDSM culture (link is to a not very safe for work video), and outdated and misogynistic narratives about just sticking with the bad boy because your love will make him change. Certainly, those are not reasons I would give my mother if I were attempting—again—to make her understand why I’ve been doing this for so many years.

Instead, I would talk to her about the things that transformative works can do, how they can reinterpret the original material, make it relevant (or even just more relevant) to a different audience, flesh out secondary and tertiary characters, and explore the dynamics of putting characters in different settings.

In short, I would talk to her about all the things The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is doing.

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EU Retrospective: The Clone Wars Part II

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It’s a shorter post this time as the Clone Wars books begin to wrap up.  Once again, we have a pretty stark contrast between two books which is a shame.

Jedi Trial
Wow.  This book has some of the worst pacing ever.  The book is basically one giant battle on a planet and Anakin and Nejaa don’t even get there until 100 pages in.  To top it off, about half the book is centered around two soldiers from the planet that I never end up caring about.  If this is supposed to be the Anakin book to balance out the Obi-Wan book… it kinda fails because of that ratio.  Oh.  And the villain is just one big tropefest and not in an entertaining David Eddings sort of way.

This might be the first book that I’ve reread for this project that is worse than I remember it being and I honestly have always wanted to like this book.  I remember being incredibly excited when I heard that it would also be featuring Nejaa Halcyon and he really is the saving aspect of the book.  I do actually like the friendship between him and Anakin and it’s nice that they are this little fraternity of Jedi Who Shouldn’t Be Married But Are.  (Mark Nejaa down as another friend that Anakin desperately needed and should’ve chatted with BEFORE making horrible life decisions.)  Unfortunately, Nejaa never really gets much character development outside of the mission and his friendship with Anakin.  It would be nice if we could get an e-short story about him one day.  (HEY DEL REY.  MAYBE GIVE STACKPOLE A CALL.)

Bottom line is that it’s not terrible but it’s not good either.  To take that a bit further, I think that the moral of my Clone Wars book reviews has been that most of these books are good… except for the ones focusing on our main heroes from the films which is rather unfortunate.

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Further Adventures into Independent Comics

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Last week, Bria put up a post regarding independent comic books.  For those of us who are tired of the gimmicks and the ploys that the major publishers use to draw in readers but who still want that classic superhero feel, we still have options.  Bria hit on some of them already, like the perennial favorite, Watchmen.  I’m going to hit on some of the others that I consider to be my personal favorites.

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Cosplay Monday: Luminara Unduli and Barriss Offee

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Welcome back to Cosplay Monday!  We hope you’ve all recovered from the cuteness attacks the past few weeks.  Today, we’re diving back into the galaxy far far away .  Check out this stellar Master/Padawan team with hiron as Luminara Unduli and her friend as Barriss Offee.  Not only do they look amazing but both of their costumes clearly took a lot of work.  Awesome job!

Fanwork Friday: One Man Les Miserables

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Is it any surprise I’m featuring a Les Miserables oriented fanwork? No! I love Les Mis, and I cannot wait for the movie to be released on Christmas Day.

I found this excellent video on YouTube. The ultra talented Nick Pitera sings nine songs from Les Mis – male AND female parts – and he does them all wonderfully. The video is 13 minutes long, but it’s definitely worth a listen.

Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

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Warning: This review will contain some spoilers so read at your own risk.  The short version, however, is that I rather enjoyed the film and suggest that you go see it especially in 3D IMAX if you have the option available to you.

This is definitely the film that we’ve been waiting almost ten years for and for the most part it delivers.  This is indeed Bilbo Baggins’s unexpected adventure and he will absolutely not return to the Shire the same hobbit. To the jump!

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Kathleen Kennedy Announces an Episode VII Announcement

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According to ComicBook.com, Kathleen Kennedy told ABC News Radio that we should be hearing an announcement for Episode VII sometime in January and that pre-production for the film will begin this coming spring. What’s the announcement? No one knows, since this is just an announcement of an announcement. One presumes that it could be a director.

So if that’s the case, speculate while you still can.

(via)