Tosche Station Radio #117: Luke Skywalker and Beyond

Posted on May 22, 2015 by admin

Heath joins us this week for a discussion of all things Luke Skywalker!

Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight What’s New on the Blog. Nanci recapped Week 1 of Star Wars Weekends. Bria reviewed Star Wars #4 and #5, Princess Leia #3, Kanan #2, Darth Vader #5. Go/No-Go for Lords of the Sith and a more in-depth review from Brian. Sho wrote about Moff Mors and the importance of first impressions. In Celebration of the Kentucky Derby, Carr resurrected Bake it So with Boonta Eve Podracing Pie. Celebration odds and ends: Cosplay Roundup, What Celebration Taught us about The Force Awakens, What Celebration Taught us about Rogue One, What Celebration taught us about Rebels, Celebration Anaheim Publishing News, Interview with Jason Fry. Thank You, Kathleen Kennedy. And finally, Tosche Station goes to Disneyland

In Fixer’s Flash, the hosts have been busy at Star Wars Weekends. Dragon Con 2015? Booked.

In Deak’s Dirt, we’ve learned that Star Wars Rebels returns on June 20. Meanwhile, Wired has the definitive oral history on ILM.

Biggs’ Bull#&$*! starts with a lot of Vanity Fair. Vanity Fair photo spread, JJ Abrams interview in Vanity Fair, Interview with costume designer Michael Kaplan, Interview with Lawrence Kasdan. Interview with Pip Anderson about his role. According to the Japanese press event, Daisy Ridley was trained in bōjutsu, which means she’ll be using that awesome staff! Oscar Isaac in his base jumpsuit. Gird your wallets, Force Friday coming September 4

This week’s Camie’s Concerns is all about Luke Skywalker. What are our hopes and expectations for him in the Sequel Trilogy and beyond?

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.

Review: Star Wars #5

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Bria

The battle against the Empire is far from over as our Rebels continue their search for a new base planet. They’re not the only ones with a mission though as Boba Fett, tasked by Darth Vader, hunts for the pilot who blew up the Death Star. Star Wars #5 by Jason Aaron and John Cassaday arrives in comic stores today, bringing your own search for a new issue to a close. For this month at least.

This is an issue that will probably make the Boba Fett fanboys very happy. Not being a particular fan of the Fett myself, I can’t say for sure but this is definitely the most we’ve seen of him in the new canon thus far. That said, it does feel like a bit of a departure from the previous versions of Boba and like Jason Aaron is having fun with getting to really create and expand upon the characterization of a character who, quite frankly, didn’t do much more then stand there and look badass in the films. (Warning for the more sensitive: there are a few pages that get fairly violent.)

Bounty hunter aside, this issue does let us get another look at our favorite trio. Luke’s off on his own, headed back to Tatooine in search of answers while Leia convinces Han to be her co-pilot on her latest mission for the alliance. It’s fun to see the beginnings of the antagonistic banter between Leia and Han in the years before it fully develops into the routine arguments that fellow Alliance soldiers just walk through on Hoth. The relationships between all of the main characters are where Aaron really thrives with this book.

On the art front, I continue to enjoy Cassaday’s work and will definitely miss him when he leaves the book. There’s just something about reading a book where you can tell the artist is loving every minute of his work.

Star Wars #5 continues this book’s trend of being solidly enjoyable and gets another recommendation from Tosche Station.

Review: Darth Vader #5

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Bria

The owner(s) of the lightsabers on the cover of this issue has been the subject of conversation for weeks and now the time has finally come for all to be revealed. Darth Vader #5 by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca arrives in comic stores today with the definitive answer to that debate.

Vader has an army. And two murderous droids. And the assistance of Doctor Aphra. And the location of this facility where he suspects Palpatine is training his replacement. It’s not difficult to predict his next course of action. But when Vader arrives, lightsaber blazing, not everything is quite what it seems…

Darth Vader #5 has the distinct honor of being the first issue of the new Marvel comics to leave me going “Wait what?” and scratching my head while I try and figure out what’s going on. Palpatine quietly training a new apprentice definitely seems logical and quite frankly, easy enough to hide in plain sight given that Inquisitors are a part of canon. Without going into spoilers, the last half dozen pages or so has definitely left me not quite tracking Gillen’s plan here. That said, this isn’t a black mark against the book. I have no doubt that more will be revealed in the coming issues and quite frankly if I could predict everything that happens in this book, I’d get bored rather fast.

We don’t get to see as much from Aphra or our murder bots this issue (although Triple Zero does have a few great lines) but given that this a book about Vader, I’m content to see him be the star for an issue. There’s actually not tons else to say about this latest issue though. Darth Vader continues to be an enjoyable book with great art by Larroca who’s the perfect fit for this series. Again, those final few pages left me both on the edge of my seat and scratching my head with confusion. The next issue’s going to be an interesting for sure!

In the mean time, go pick up a copy of Darth Vader #5 as this book continues to get my stamp of approval!

Moff Mors and the Importance of First Impressions

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Shoshana

April 28 saw the release of Paul S. Kemp’s Lords of the Sith, the fourth novel in the new story-group approved canon, of which you can read our spoiler-free reviews here and Brian’s more in-depth review here. Along with being the first of the new books to focus on Darth Vader, Lords of the Sith holds the distinction of introducing the new canon’s first LGBTQIA+ character, Moff Delian Mors.

I found Moff Mors to be an interesting character and a welcome addition to the Galaxy Far, Far Away. Unfortunately, her introduction is handled with far less care than one would hope. Continue reading →

Review: Kanan #2

Posted on May 6, 2015 by Bria

This is it. This is the issue we’ve been dreading since this time last month. Kanan: The Last Padawan #2 by Greg Weisman and Pepe Larraz hits comic stores today. It’s the follow up to an issue that had all of us still talking at Celebration so how does this latest issue hold up?

Continue reading →

Tosche Station Radio #114: Publishing Madness

Posted on May 4, 2015 by admin

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Our Celebration recap continues with Megan from Blog Full of Words joins us to recap the publishing news from Celebration. We highlight the announcements and highlights from Del Rey and Marvel’s panels.

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.

Happy May the 4th: Vanity Fair reveals more character photos, names

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Nanci

Right after midnight, Vanity Fair posted their cover article for the June The Force Awakens issue, complete with a video and picture of Kylo Ren sans mask.

More photos were revealed this morning, including one of Poe Dameron looking super dashing next to his X-wing.

Also revealed was that Lupita Nyongo’s CGI character, Maz Kanata, is a pirate. A PIRATE!

~~Vanity Fair will be revealing one final photo tomorrow via their newsletter.~~

Update 12:05PM – Gwendoline Christie IS Captain Phasma/the chrometrooper

Continue reading →

Vanity Fair to reveal The Force Awakens exclusive material this week

Posted on May 3, 2015 by admin

Mirroring their work leading up to the releases of the Prequel Trilogy films, Vanity Fair is getting set to unleash exclusive content about The Force Awakens this week.

Tomorrow, they’ll be releasing photos from Annie Leibovitz on their website. Those same photos will be hitting newstands shortly after.

If the past is any indication, we may be getting set to see set photos for the first time. Could character reveals even be in store? We’ll have to check back with Vanity Fair this week to find out.

Tosche Station Radio #113: Rogue One

Posted on May 2, 2015 by admin

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Continuing our recap of Celebration, Brian Novicki from EU Cantina joins us to discuss what was learned about Rogue One. And, of course, engage in wild mass speculation

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.

Rise of the Empire Short Story Authors Announced

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Nanci

At Star Wars Celebration Anaheim, Del Rey announced a new bind-up of A New Dawn and Tarkin called Rise of the Empire, that will feature three new short stories bridging together the two novels and providing further insight into the power of the Galactic Empire.

Today Del Rey revealed the cover as well as the authors for the three short stories: first time Star Wars author Melissa Scott, John Jackson Miller, and Jason Fry!

Rise of the Empire will go on sale October 6.