Star Wars, Geek Culture, and Power Converters
If Rebels has figured out how to do anything, it’s making bottle episodes supremely entertaining.
Let’s just get this out of the way. This episode really didn’t add much in way of the show’s lore and didn’t exactly push the plot along. It’s very much like the X-Files monster of the week episodes that showed up between the main plot episodes. Interesting, entertaining, but not exactly groundbreaking. That disclaimer out of the way: this episode is one of the most fun episodes of Rebels yet.
The latest issue of Star Wars by Jason Aaron and Stuart Immonen is out this week or, as I prefer to call it, “The One Where Everyone Gets Beat Up.” Or: “The One Where Everyone Gets Beat Up Except For Leia Who Continues To Be The Queen And Have No Time For Everyone’s Bull$#!).”
Aside from our heroes having a really rough 20 pages, the other big theme of this book seems to have been Questions and Answers. We do finally get the answer to the question we’ve been asking about Sana Solo for months now which is about what many of us suspected. (Side note: can the Sana+Han=Finn people cut it out now?) In its place, we have new questions such as… wait can droids feel pain now without having special programing? Just who is this Gamemaster fellow? How does one go about acquiring Jedi bones? And most importantly… is Dengar actually Roose Bolton?!?
Stuart Immonen’s work continues to be impressive as hell. Not only does he draw a great Luke Skywalker but his Chewbacca is also pretty awesome. And heck, I’d love to see him draw a book that’s just about Han and Leia doing their bickering/working together thing. His work on the action scenes in this book, especially those with Luke, particularly good. You can feel the movement within the panels. Static has no place in combat!
All of this makes Star Wars #11 a fun and fast paced read that manages to do, well, just about everything. Aaron’s ability to keep readers on the edge of their seats is nothing less than impressive. I’d like to have Issue #12 now, please and thank you.
War isn’t glamorous. War isn’t fun. War isn’t something that everyone survives. Several years after the destruction of the first Death Star, the galaxy definitely remains at war. Out today, Battlefront: Twilight Company follows the eponymous Rebel Alliance company as they fight the Empire on fronts that Alliance leaders have likely only heard of in briefings. Star Wars veteran Alexander Freed doesn’t pull any punches in his first novel as he takes readers to the front lines of the galactic war.
Welcome back to Go/No-Go, Tosche Station’s regular feature where we offer our spoiler-free opinion as to whether or not you should spend your hard-earned money on a book, film, or other entertainment. Today on the launch pad: Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed. Not only is it a tie-in to the game that can stand on its own but it’s the new canon’s first real foray into serious military science fiction. But how did it go over with us? To mission control for the verdict!
It’s another episode of Star Wars Rebels as Season Two kicks into another gear with the introduction of not one but two Inquisitors. One of Rex’s potential bases checks out as possibility and so Hera sends Sabine, Chopper, and Zeb on a mission to go check out the abandoned medical stations and retrieve any medical supplies that might’ve been left behind. Ezra tags along setting up what at first seems to be another humorous (if spooky) episode like Fighter Flight until the arrival of the two new Inquisitors.
There will be some spoilers for the episode in this review. Continue reading
Ahhh yes. Another month, another issue of Kanan by Greg Weisman and… Wait. Is that Pepe Larraz on art again?
IT’S TIME FOR ANOTHER GIF REVIEW
In Issue #7, we remain in the present briefly before going even further into the past back to when Caleb Dume wasn’t even a Padawan yet. Continue reading
It’s release day for Chewbacca #2 by Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto. What adventures does everyone’s favorite wookiee get up to this week?
Zarro escaped from the mines but had to leave her father and the rest of her people behind as slaves to a gangster named Jaum. Luckily, she ran into Chewbacca who’s not terribly fond of slavers himself. She convinces him to help her but unfortunately, as most plans do, things don’t go quite as planned…
Phil Noto is absolutely the star of this book. His artwork is already fantastic to start with along with being universally loved by the Star Wars fandom. So much of the storytelling in this book is done through the art, especially through the facial expressions on Chewbacca and Zarro. Often times, they make speech bubbles unnecessary. I’d also like to add that it’s nice to see a relatively young teenage girl be portrayed as such in a comic and not be overly sexualized.
One of the coolest things about this issue is how we get a little tease into Chewie’s history. It’s not much and we probably could have guessed it but it’s always neat to see. It feels like, in Star Wars past, we’ve always thought about Chewbacca’s past in terms of when he was freed by Han (if that’s even the case anymore) so it’s nice to see someone think further before that.
As I said before, Chewbacca is entertaining and I definitely enjoy the artwork but this still isn’t my favorite of the Star Wars books. Given how quickly things have progressed, I’m intrigued to see how this story is going to go for another three issues. That said, this does seem like it’s going to be a story that reads very well in trade form so if you’re still questioning whether to pick it up, perhaps wait for the trade in a couple of months.
Warning: this post contains spoilers for Shattered Empire, Lost Stars, Lando, and Moving Target.
This post contains spoilers for the “Journey to the Force Awakens” books and comics.
Regular readers and listeners of Tosche Station already know my feelings about Luke Skywalker. He’s by far my favorite character in the Star Wars universe, and the reason I got invested in the Expanded Universe and read tons of books set after Return of the Jedi, even when I soured on certain events. I needed to know what happened to Luke after he became a Jedi. I wanted to know if he trained other Jedi, got married, and had children. We got answers in the form of books and comics: Luke started a Jedi Academy on Yavin 4, married Mara Jade, and had a son named Ben. He rose to the rank of General, resigned his commission after the Battle of Mindor, and dedicated his life to rebuilding the Jedi Order. His life wasn’t all roses, however. He had a brief dabble with the dark side about six years after the Battle of Endor, and many years later his own nephew/apprentice became a Sith and killed his wife.
But the Expanded Universe is now Legends, and we have a new canon. New films, depicting the events 30 years after Jedi. We never thought this day would come. Now everything we once knew about the Galaxy Far, Far Away has been altered, and we’re left to wonder about the events that happened between Jedi and The Force Awakens. We’re just now getting some answers in the form of Aftermath, Shattered Empire, and other books in the “Journey to The Force Awakens” line. But they’re just drops in the bucket, and only succeed in creating more questions. Then you add in the marketing for TFA, which has been very light on story but high on visuals and Force themes. We’ve seen Han, we’ve seen a tiny bit of Leia, but no Luke whatsoever (at least from the front).
Which leads to the most common question echoed about the internet: “Where is Luke Skywalker?” Or, better yet: “What the hell has Luke been doing in the galaxy?”
I don’t know what Luke’s been doing for the past 30 years, but I’m pretty certain he’s up to something hugely important during the events of TFA. And my favorite theory, the one I’ll cling to until December 17 (and probably even after that, even if I’m proven wrong) is that Luke is off the grid, training a group of secret ninja-like Jedi Knights.
This week we’re talking about–you guessed it–the final Force Awakens trailer!
Kicking off the show the hosts highlight What’s New on the Blog. Brian live-tweeted The Lost Commanders. Bria reviewed Chewbacca #1. Bria also wrote about 10 things she learned while working the Del Rey booth at NYCC. And of course we posted our off-the-cuff reactions to the trailer. Be sure to catch out Nanci’s appearance in the “Trailer Council” organized by Bobby Roberts from the Full of Sith podcast.
Fixer’s Flash covers the latest geek things Nanci and Brian have been up to, including catching up on movie watching from the past year and devouring the Shattered Empire comic. Yes, Nanci’s actually reading a comic!
From there we discuss the latest news in Deak’s Dirt, which is basically news that Season 2 of Rebels is back! In Biggs’ Bull$@!* Nanci and Brian discuss The Force Awakens poster reveal and the special Opening Night event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
This week on Camie’s Concerns, we dive into the trailer and analyze it shot by shot, highlighting our own theories and desires for the film.
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.
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