Journey to The Force Awakens: Aftermath Cover and Author revealed

Posted on March 17, 2015 by admin

Well, the author is officially revealed, anyway.

A few days after Random House’s publicity site let slip that Chuck Wendig would be writing the first Story Group canon era novel set after Return of the Jedi, Jen Heddle made it official. While she can’t say much, Jen was able to tell us that this will be the first book in a trilogy. Also, this:

What I can reveal is that you will be introduced to a sweeping new cast of characters, along with a fan favorite from the films. And who knows what other familiar faces will pop up along the way? And once you’ve seen The Force Awakens in movie theaters, you may find that certain names and places in Aftermath have a relevance you never knew–so keep your eyes wide open!

Additionally as you can see on the right, the cover was released as well. I don’t know about you, but I absolutely dig that look.

Welcome to the Star Wars community, Chuck!

Separating the Art from the Artist: Why I’m Torn About Lords of the Sith

Posted on March 17, 2015 by admin

I don’t want to feel conflicted about this, but there’s no way around it.

It goes without saying that an LGBTQ+ character being introduced into the Star Wars story group era canon is unequivocally a good thing. Any step to diversify one of the most prolific and powerful pieces of entertainment in the world is welcome. Despite this obvious good news, I can’t help but be wary. Not because I don’t doubt there are good intentions by the story group and the folks at Del Rey, but because the author who is introducing this character has a pretty dubious history when it comes to speaking about diversity.

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We have our first Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens image!

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Bria

Not content with dropping the breaking news mic all week, the Star Wars folks have released the very first image from Marvel’s contribution to Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Check out the cover of Shattered Empire #1 by superstar artist Phil Noto below. The first issue will be out in September.

Rian Johnson officially confirmed for Episode VIII, first standalone to be Rogue One

Posted on March 12, 2015 by admin

Pretty much the whole world has known for a while that Episode VIII’s director would be Rian Johnson, but Bob Iger and Disney made it official today.

Iger confirmed that Rian Johnson will write and direct Star Wars: Episode VIII. The film, which continues the saga after the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is set for release on May 26, 2017 — forty years and a day after the release of Star Wars: A New Hope in 1977.

Of note is Star Wars returning to a traditional May release window. Looks like we’ll only be doing one holiday Star Wars episodic release. Believe it or not, though, this wasn’t the biggest announcement in this press release. We finally have the name of the first standalone film: Rogue One.

Rogue One is the title for the first film in a unique series of big-screen adventures that explores the characters and events beyond the core Star Wars saga. Rogue One will be directed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla) and written by Oscar nominee Chris Weitz (Cinderella, About a Boy, Antz). The first actress cast is Felicity Jones, who garnered an Academy Award nomination and critical acclaim for her performance in The Theory of Everything.

Be still my heart! I mean, we don’t really know what the film is about, but it’s hard to see that title and not think Rogue Squadron and military science fiction. And, hey, there’s a lot of great written material to draw inspiration from.

Review: Star Wars #3

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Bria

It’s an explosive conclusion this week to the first arc of the new Star Wars comic. Star Wars #3 by Jason Aaron and John Cassaday is out now and so far, they’ve lived up to the promise of their first issue. Luke, Leia, and Han’s mission to destroy the weapons factory hasn’t gone as planned and now, it’ll be tough enough to escape from Vader and the Empire with their lives let alone finish their mission.

As with the previous issues, it’s obvious that this is a labor of love for both Aaron and Cassaday. It’s difficult to say which Aaron does a better job with: the characters or the plot. That’s impressive. His Leia and Han have the perfect level of post-Yavin bickering (aka: not too heavy on the flirting subtext) while Luke is trying to live up to his mental expectations for himself. Or at least what he thinks Obi-Wan and his father would expect of him.

The plot line for this first arc was a great choice. Attacking a weapons factory is a high stakes mission without being involving entire fleets and large armies. It’s the right level of important and tense for a story such as this and, without any spoilers, I found it to have a very satisfying conclusion.

Cassaday’s art with Laura Martin’s colors continue to be a great fit for the book. His panels where he’s having fun with facial expressions are definitely my favorites. The joy on Luke’s face as he flies the speeder, even in the heat of battle, is positively tangible.

As I said in my review of the first issue, the true test of this book will be how the second arc plays out. However, if the last two pages are any indicator, I think it has potential to be just as great.

Star Wars #3 gets a 4/5 from me for both this issue and for the first arc. Go pick up the first three issues if you haven’t yet!

Tosche Station Radio #105: Rebel Cells

Posted on March 10, 2015 by admin

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On this episode of Tosche Station Radio, Tom from Del Rey joins us to discuss the inaugural season of Rebels!

Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight What’s New on the Blog. We reviewed Fire Across the Galaxy. Bria offered her Princess Leia #1 Review and discussed why Barriss Offee shouldn’t be an Inquisitor.

In Fixer’s Flash, Brian and Nanci adopted a new dog named Jade (to go along with Mara). Nanci also found time to read Princess Leia #1. Bria’s been costuming. Meanwhile, Tom went to PAX East.

Deak’s Dirt starts with awesome news on the Star Wars diversity front: Lords of the Sith will introduce the new canon’s first LGBT character. Meanwhile, starwars.com has a preview of Kanan: The Last Padawan. JOURNEY TO THE FORCE AWAKENS was announced. There’s also a ton of articles/interviews about the season finale of Rebels. Dave Filoni talked to IGN, USA Today, and the Official Site. USA Today also spoke to Ashley about reprising Ahsoka. Finally, Sarah Michelle Gellar will be voicing a character in Season 2 of Rebels

This week in Camie’s Concerns, we talk all about the first season of Rebels. What did we enjoy in the finale, who were our favorite characters, and what are we looking forward to next season? Tune in to find out!

You can find Tom on Twitter with the handle @DarthInternous.

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.

Barriss Offee Shouldn’t Be An Inquisitor

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Bria

The Star Wars fandom has a PhD in speculation and theories and we’ve certainly continued in that fine tradition with Rebels. One theory that’s come up a few times especially in the wake of the Season 1 finale is that it’d be interesting to see Barriss Offee resurface as an Inquisitor. Personally? I think that’s a bad idea.

I’ve said more than a few times that I strongly disagree with how Barriss was used in The Clone Wars Season Five finale. I don’t think it made sense for her character and didn’t have the intended impact since she’d rarely been in the show over the past few seasons. A different character could have better served the role of betraying Ahsoka. If you’re going to mess with a character to her very core than at least earn it through a well built arc.

However, this isn’t about The Clone Wars and what happened is canon. Although she fell to the dark side (I find this debatable) and blamed the Jedi for the war, we don’t actually know what happened to her. A good guess is that she was put in the Jedi’s prison basement which they (like the X-men and Avengers) totally have and after that, your guess is as good as mine. For all we know, Barriss was redeemed or maybe she was another casualty of Order 66. That said, I find it unlikely that she survived the Jedi Purge.

But for the sake of argument, let’s say she did survive.

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20 New Star Wars Books and Comics to Fill in Gap Between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Shoshana

Those of you thirsty for some information of the state of the Galaxy Far Far Away leading up to The Force Awakens are in luck. According to an exclusive report at Entertainment Weekly, there are at least twenty new Star Wars books and comics to be released later this year fleshing out the thirty-two years between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, ranging all different publishers and target age demographics in a series called Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Content under that title will be released by various Disney imprints as well as at least seven outside companies and is confirmed to include adult novels, young adult novels, sticker books, and comics.

Details on most of the books involved are still under wraps and many of the books are still being worked on, but we do know some about of the upcoming material:

A few titles we can confirm are Del Rey’s Star Wars: Aftermath, which sounds like it may serve as an epilogue to the original trilogy – and perhaps a prologue to the new one. Meanwhile, Marvel Comics will put out one prequel called Star Wars: Journey to the Force Awakens and another preview story told from C-3PO’s perspective. For vehicle enthusiasts, Studio Fun International will print Star Wars: Ships of the Galaxy.

The report also let’s us know some of the authors involved for a series of young adult novels focusing on the characters of original trilogy, to be released by Disney-Lucasfilm Press:

Cecil Castellucci (author of Tin Star) will write Moving Target, an adventure following Princess Leia; Jason Fry, who earlier wrote Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy, will be the author of The Weapon of a Jedi, about Luke Skywalker; Claudia Gray, author of the Evernight series of fantasy books, will write a book titled Lost Stars; and Greg Rucka, a comic book scribe and writer of the Atticus Kodiak novels, will pen Smuggler’s Run, a Han Solo tale.

There will also be a new series of novels retelling the original trilogy from various perspectives, though there’s no word yet on whose points of view we’ll see.

The Big Problem with Heir to the Jedi

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Nanci

I cannot talk about Heir to the Jedi without revealing spoilers. I’m too emotionally invested in Luke Skywalker’s life. If you’d like to read a non-spoiler opinion, let me direct you to Bria’s review over here. However, if you’ve already read the book, or just don’t care about being spoiled for the end, proceed at your own caution.

(I’m serious.

Major spoilers abound after the cut.

You’ve been warned.)

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Go/No-Go: Heir to the Jedi

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Bria

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: Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi. It’s the first novel written in first person since I, Jedi and stars the one and only Luke Skywalker. To mission control for the verdict!

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