Continuing “Showdown on the Smugglers Moon”, Star Wars #9 is, essentially, an all-out action issue, advancing both of the story’s two plots incrementally in favor of extended action scenes. The end result is an entertaining issue that nonetheless reads briskly and is somewhat unsatisfying as a result, since not a whole lot of plot advancement or character development happens.
Though less photo-realistic and painterly than previous artist John Cassaday, Immonen is much more of a traditional comic book artist, eschewing strict realism for more representative & kinetic action and layouts. He also has a particular knack for using body language and facial expressions to express characterization, showing readers visually what a given character is feeling at a given time just by the look on their face or the way they’re standing. It’s a skill he puts to good use here, making vivid Luke’s aw-shucks naivete as he stumbles his way through a Nar Shaddaa bar fight, Han’s combination of chagrin and frustration at Sana’s continued instance that he’s A. up to no good and B. her husband, and the transition of Leia’s reaction to Sana from wry amusement to righteous fury as the woman proves to be no easy pushover.
Gareth Edwards‘ Star Wars: Rogue One is still over a year away, but Disney has just released a first look at the cast of the upcoming spinoff film about a group of resistance fighters who have united to steal plans from the Death Star. Thanks to D23, the very first official photo has been revealed, …
There are few real-life figures more beloved in American cinema than Steven Spielberg. He’s earned that adoration without question, but his worship retards the dialogue around his work. Like his buddy Colonel G. Lucas, Spielberg is a brand first, a businessman second, and a filmmaker last. It’s time to loosen up the conversation. Spielberg is …
For the most part, Star Wars #7 is skippable filler even for hardcore Obi Wan fans. The character does get a bit of an arc, but it is mired down in navel gazing narration and shoddy action set pieces. Colorist Justin Ponsor does nail the fact that Tatooine is the planet farthest from a bright spot in the universe with his light browns and faded whites and yellows with a tinge of red for its beautiful binary sunsets. However, this is just a tiny plus in a book filled with minuses.
The series kicks off well, using as its starting point an opportunity for characterization left unexplored by the film. After all, in A New Hope, we see Leia consoling Luke over the death of Ben Kenobi, a man he’s known for all of a few days, while the massive grief she herself must be feeling at the time over the destruction of her entire planet, including her family, goes unspoken. With the Death Star destroyed and the Rebellion victorious (for now), Waid and Dodson kick off their story by exploring how Leia is dealing with the aftermath of her homeworld being obliterated before her eyes.
When it comes to geeking out, nothing comes close to Star Wars and an opportunity to immerse yourself in a galaxy far, far away, is one that cannot be missed. UK events company Future Cinema specialises in secret, interactive film screenings, the majority of which take place in Londo. With experiences ranging from recreating 1920s Beaumont …
UPDATE: Lucasfilm has now confirmed the news via StarWars.com with an official logline: The story focuses on how young Han Solo became the smuggler, thief, and scoundrel whom Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi first encountered in the cantina at Mos Eisley. Lord and Miller also had this to add about the idea of working on …
For any Star Wars fan, it’s a familiar sight: a boy named Skywalker staring off into the distance under Tatooine’s twin suns. His past is a series of choices that were out of his hands to make and his future is as yet unwritten. He’s a kid from a backwater planet who will one day hold the destiny of a galaxy in his hands. You probably know the picture or recognize the description but in Darth Vader #7, Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca turn the image upside down. Instead of an idealistic and young Luke Skywalker looking towards the future, Gillen and Larroca show us Vader in that very similar pose on the Lars desert homestead, where Tatooine is a past that he cannot escape.
Electronic Arts rounded out its 2015 E3 conference with the game everyone in the theater had been waiting for, the new Star Wars:Battlefront. Developed by DICE, the trailer showed actual gameplay footage from the PS4, and as usual the Frostbite engine delivered something gorgeous. Showcasing the always popular Hoth attack sequence, the world of Star …
Another acting legend has passed on. Sir Christopher Lee, known recently for his roles in Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, passed away on Sunday at the age of 93. He had gone into the hospital for some respiratory problems. Lee had a long career that included playing Dracula, Frankenstein, Count Dooku in Star Wars, Saruman in Lord …
Writing a Boba Fett fight scene must be tricky, due to the disconnect between his portrayal in the films and everywhere else. On screen, there’s not much to Boba Fett: in Empire Strikes Back, the audience is told he’s dangerous but he doesn’t really do much but look cool, and then in Return of the Jedi, he has brief fight with Luke before a jet pack malfunction sends him to his seeming death inside the Sarlaac Pit (something an “over-reliance on technology” message George Lucas would repeat with Boba’s dad in Attack of the Clones). From the films alone, Boba Fett is a cool looking character with a great reputation who, at best, doesn’t do much and, at worse, is kind of a chump.
Boba Fett is, essentially, the Star Wars’ universe version of Wolverine, two tremendously popular characters who built their following on the basis of a cool image, a mysterious past, and a tough guy mindset, whose popularity grew to the point that they came to dominate their respective franchises while everything that made them intriguing in the first place suffered for their ubiquity.
If you’re an action hero, pulling off daring rescues and badass escapes is just another day at the office. The rescue has been the prototypical action scene since humans have been able to put pen to paper. From Tarzan swinging in on a vine to Iron Man flying in on his jets, a hero isn’t …
More Star Wars spinoffs are inevitable. And everyone in the universe, from Han to Chewie to Lando to Leia, could all have one. Gareth Edwards is working on Rogue One, which in 2016 will tell the story of how rebels stole the plans for the Death Star, ultimately leading to the events of A New …
Many comic book companies, including the Big Two of Marvel and DC, offer digital copies of their comic books for sale. However Marvel has something extra to offer with its Marvel Unlimited Service, a subscription service that has access to over 15,000 comic books. Using the website or the Marvel Unlimited Application available for download …
Following the series’ initial, action-packed story arc, Jason Aaron and John Cassaday settle in for a relatively quiet fourth issue. This is a breath-taking issue, a chance for the creators to focus on characterization and set some plots in motion. To wit, there’s Luke Skywalker, dealing with the reality of his (non)status as a Jedi following his confrontation with Darth Vader in the first arc
For fans eagerly awaiting Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, or for those who want to catch up and understand all the hoopla (yes, there are people who exist who haven’t seen Star Wars), Lucasfilm is finally giving you the opportunity to do so without investing in a whole bunch of hardware. All six …
With this issue, Jason Aaron and John Cassaday wrap up the inaugural story of Marvel’s new Star Wars series, an action-orientated finale finds the Rebels fleeing from the surging fury of Darth Vader aboard their purloined AT-AT walker, desperate to reach the Millennium Falcon, as Luke does his best to ensure their mission wasn’t for naught. As a single issue, it’s all a bit rushed (particularly in the subplot with Threepio losing control of the Falcon to a group of scavengers, which added a nice bit of tension to last issue but doesn’t really payoff much here), but it’s to the larger story’s benefit that it only runs three issues. Overall, there’s not much plot here (Rebel mission goes south in part 1, they try to escape in issue 2, they escape in issue #3), but thankfully it doesn’t get stretched out any further than three issues.
In our first episode, we discuss several releases starring female characters, including the new Leia and Spider-Woman comics from Marvel, the return of Rat Queens and Saga from Image, and a small press book called Pussycats
We all would like to believe that we have that someone special to look up to for guidance and direction. From time to time we practice the art of worship for the mentor that appears larger than life to us. Whether our designated mentors that we choose to follow are inspirational or insidious it does …
While the Disney overlords are keeping a clench fists over anything bearing the Star Wars name, this is about the closest they’ve gotten to a bona fide risk. Though restricted to a simple miniseries, one of the first flagship titles Marvel is churning out is a solo book starting the franchise’s leading female character. The book delves into Leia’s character and her place within the Rebel Alliance. Mark Waid does a fantastic job conveying subtlety through her actions and words, Terry and Rachel Dodson give a new spin to the look of Star Wars, and it all leads up to one of the most satisfying first issues in ages.
For over three decades, in a variety of novels, video games, comic books, reference material and other sources, the Star Wars Expanded Universe thrived, developing, deepening and, well, expanding the universe of the Star Wars films. Considered to varying degrees part of the official canon of the shared universe (for example, the name “Coruscant”, the planet from which most governments in the Star Wars Universe govern, came from the Expanded Universe), there was at least a little something for every Star Wars fan to be found in the “EU”, from detailed explorations of background characters to adventures of entirely new ones. Following the acquisition of the Star Wars franchise by Disney, however, the EU was re-branded “Star Wars Legends”, the stories therein now considered apocryphal, with all future stories set in the universe to be closely monitored, the better to keep them consistent with the films and across Disney’s new empire.