Marvel Cosmic Primer

It’s been a pretty slow news week on the SW front so I’ve decided to go ahead and throw this up on the jumbotron for you all to take a look at.  Star Wars is a big part of my fandom but it will always be second to my first love of geekdom, comic books.

Marvel Comics has never really been my thing.  I will freely admit that I am and have always been the quintessential DC fanboy, so most of my knowledge of Marvel probably isn’t any more than the average comic book fan.

There is one caveat to that, though, and it’s one that I’ve only discovered in the past couple of years.  At the same time that Marvel was rolling out what many people consider a landmark in comic events, Civil War, they were also running a different sprawling event, Annihilation.

Annihilation was a story line that was concerned with the cosmic level setting and characters that generally don’t get much more than cameos in the regular comics.  Characters like the Silver Surfer or Captain Marvel generally show up occasionally and do something but they don’t tend to stick around all that much.

This event was the spotlight for these characters.  One cosmic level entity, Annihilus, is trying to take over the galaxy and he’s being opposed by the heroes of the cosmic setting, many of them that most readers either don’t know or they don’t remember.  The primary characters of the story are former Heralds of Galactus and a really pretty old character that nobody had done anything with in quite a while, Nova.

To any of you out there that don’t typically like comic books but do love a pretty good sci-fi story, I would recommend Annihilation to any of you.  I will say, however, that there are somet things that reader needs to know in order to understand the situation.

That’s what this post is for, it’s probably going to be pretty long.  The actual primer starts after the jump.

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New Mystery Star Wars Project Announcement Incoming

Hit it, John Jackson Miller!

Could this be the original trilogy project Dark Horse hinted at during C2E2? We’ll have to wait for the actual announcement to know for certain, but that won’t stop any of us from stooping to rampant speculation.

I, for one, am hoping we’ll finally get a book or comic filled with Bren Derlin Facts.

Sideshow Introduces New Stories and Statues in “Mythos”

Toy maker Sideshow is introducing a new line of Star Wars figures they dub “Mythos.”

The Star Wars Universe is limitless with possibilities, its mythology ever-expanding. Our art team wanted to contribute to that expansion by telling new stories about some of the most compelling Star Wars characters. With the encouragement of Lucasfilm, we created the Mythos line of statues.

This line of collectibles will be populated by characters from new and existing story lines. We will bring history, unique details and personal choices to each in order to elaborate on who they are. Through the design and sculpt process our goal is to delve deeper into these established characters and offer our own interpretations of what they have done outside of the Star Wars canon.

They already have concepts and art for a Darth Maul and Obi Wan figurines. While these figurines look to be extremely well done, what really catches my eye are the interesting pieces of story that take place outside of the films. Obi Wan’s page includes a brief little first-person introspective that takes place just after he delivers Luke to Owen and Beru Lars.

While  these figures are neat, I’ve got to agree with Dunc over at Club Jade …

Anyway, the “new” part of the equation? Psst, there are a few existing characters you guys haven’t done yet, in any form. I mean, we are still waiting for that Mara. Or even, hell, a Leia not wearing a metal bikini. Or a Padme. Have they ever done a Padme? An Ahsoka? What do the Gamorrean fans have that we don’t, Sideshow? TELL US.

I would buy these figures as well, Sideshow.

Via Club Jade

George Lucas Approves New Book Project

While no one’s sure just how deeply involved George Lucas is with Star Wars Books, there’s always reason for excitement/optimism/fear/loathing when word gets out that he’s personally approved something. Take it away, Lucasfilm executive editor and writer J.W. Rinzler:

If I had to wager a guess, I would say it’s some kind of reference book ala the Essential Guide series.

Book Review: Leaving Mundania

Ready for another aspect of geek culture?  Here’s a book you might want to look into: Lizzie Stark’s Leaving Mundania: Inside the Transformative World of Live Action Role-Playing Games, published by Chicago Review Press and out in bookstores Monday, May 1st.

Full disclosure: I received an advance digital copy of this book for reviewing purposes.

Leaving Mundania was one of the more interesting books I’ve read in a while.  Being a geek myself, I’m familiar with live action role-playing games.  Many of my friends in college played, and while I never made it to an actual LARP event, I knew the basics of how to play, had my own boffer sword (think a homemade Nerf sword–a pool noodle carefully duct-taped around a PVC pipe), and enjoyed practicing beating the crap out of my friends with it.

I never went to a LARP event, because when you got right down to it, it meant camping and tromping through the woods, and well, I didn’t want to go.  I’ve always been much more of a table-top gaming girl myself (which I loved doing with these same friends).  In the intervening years, the LARP that I knew has gone under, unfortunately, so my husband and his brother don’t spend weekends “playing whoop-ass” (as my mother-in-law likes to refer to it).

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Tosche Station Radio #14: Gambit Pileup

Podcast: Stream HereDownload

We’ve been promising it for a while and we’re finally giving it to you: our look back on Fate of the Jedi! Be warned, THIS EPISODE CONTAINS NUMEROUS SPOILERS FOR APOCALYPSE AND THE SERIES AS A WHOLE.

Brian and Nanci kick off the show by highlighting what’s new on the blog this week. We asked for your dream Star Wars EU novels on Twitter, and you delivered. Shane explained why Ewoks are nightmare fuel. Brian discussed the double standard between sports and geek fandom. We’ve also got a new review looking at the horror film Cabin in the Woods. Finally, we looked back at those awesome Micro Machines Action Fleet toys.

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci’s been enjoying Once Upon a Time and has gotten knee-deep into a brand new book. She also finished Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse and does she ever have thoughts about the book. Brian delves into a little more detail about Cabin in the Woods and gushed about it*.

*Which is saying something since he’s the world’s biggest horror movie wimp.

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Del Rey Acquires Original Trilogy By Drew Karpyshyn

Expanded Universe author and guru of all things Old Republic Drew Karpyshyn has to be thrilled with how his week is going. On Monday, he announced that his agent had closed a deal Del Rey to publish an original trilogy.

I can finally announce that my agent – Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown Ltd. – closed a deal with Del Rey to publish  my original fantasy trilogy! Here’s the official announcement in Publisher’s Weekly, though I should clarify that this is a fantasy series, not sci-fi. I’m really excited about this, and I’m ecstatic to be working with Del Rey and Tricia again. (I worked with her on some of my Mass Effect novels.)

The plan is to publish the first two books of the trilogy (Children of Fire and The Scorched Earth) in 2014, with the final installment (Chaos Unleashed) coming 9-12 months later. Some of you may remember that I’ve mentioned this series before – I’ve been working on it sporadically over several years… basically squeezing in time to write between my work-for-hire novels (SW and ME) and my work at BioWare.

Karpyshyn notes that the first book in the trilogy is nearly finished but he’s waiting to publish it until he can get started on the second entry.

Originally well-known for his work at game developer Bioware, Karpyshyn has branched out to write numerous media tie-in novels both for the studio and for Lucasfilm Licensing. His novel Revan revisited the protagonist from the critically acclaimed videogame Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. 

For more information, see the announcement post on his blog.