New Years 2022

 

And so ends 2021. It was the first year in a long time without any new Live Action Star Wars (Except for the single episode of Book of Boba Fett that aired this morning). And yet 2022 is going to set records for being the biggest year in Star Wars TV history. As many as 30-40 episodes of live action Star Wars television will air in 2022. Which is absolutely stunning considering only 17 episodes have aired in the short history of live action Star Wars TV so far. The point is... 2022 is going to be great for Star Wars fans.

This year (2021), I ended up reviewing 50 Star Wars comics. This was not something that I planned on doing, it just kind of happened. Amazingly, those 50 comics are less than half of the Star Wars comics that premiered this year.

So as we eagerly look to the future, here is a snippet of my past year:

The 50 Comics of 2021

Star Wars

Star Wars #12

Star Wars #13

Star Wars #14

Star Wars #15

Star Wars #16

Star Wars #17

Star Wars #18

Darth Vader

Darth Vader #10

Darth Vader #12

Darth Vader #13

Darth Vader #14

Darth Vader #15

Darth Vader #16

Darth Vader #17

Doctor Aphra

Doctor Aphra #8

Doctor Aphra #10

Doctor Aphra #11

Doctor Aphra #12

Doctor Aphra #13

Doctor Aphra #14

Doctor Aphra #15

Bounty Hunters

Bounty Hunters #10

Bounty Hunters #12

Bounty Hunters #13

Bounty Hunters #14

Bounty Hunters #15

Bounty Hunters #16

Bounty Hunters #17

The High Republic

The High Republic #2

Star Wars Adventures

Star Wars Adventures #3

Star Wars Adventures Annual 2021

High Republic Adventures

High Republic Adventures #2

High Republic Adventures Annual 2021

Ghosts of Vader’s Castle

Ghosts of Vader’s Castle #1

Ghosts of Vader’s Castle #2

Ghosts of Vader’s Castle #3

Ghosts of Vader’s Castle #4

Ghosts of Vader’s Castle #5

War of the Bounty Hunters

War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha #1

War of the Bounty Hunters #1

War of the Bounty Hunters #2

War of the Bounty Hunters #3

War of the Bounty Hunters #4

War of the Bounty Hunters #5

War of The Bounty Hunters One-Shots

War of the Bounty Hunters – Jabba the Hutt #1

War of the Bounty Hunters – 4-Lom & Zuckuss #1

War of the Bounty Hunters – Boushh #1

War of the Bounty Hunters – IG-88 #1

Crimson Reign

Crimson Reign #1

Life Day #1

Life Day #1

Since 1978, Life Day has been a part of the Star Wars Galaxy (though Lucasfilm has rarely acknowledged the holiday). Still, since the Disney acquisition Life Day has had a little more light shed on it. Happy Life Day everyone! 

Always remember:
Celebrate the light; Celebrate the might; Celebrate the fight; Celebrate the love.

“Life Day”

Captain Han Solo has lost his ship and his co-pilot. Kanjiklub has taken them both. Figures. This kind of stuff always happens on Life Day. But can Han save the day with a little bit of sleight of hand and some alcoholic beverages for good measure?

“Deck the Halls”

Nib Assek and her padawan Burryaga have arrived on Kashyyyk for Life Day and something is amiss. A mysterious vendor has sold tree ornaments to the Woookiees, however the ornaments are actually Drengir eggs.

“Paid on Delivery”

It’s Life Day and Chewbacca has found himself selling goods to Trandoshans. What more, the Trandoshans are using Wookiee slaves to mine chmeicla weapons harvested from the gut of a Sarlacc. Needless to say this does not sit well with Chewie. 

“Gift of Light”

There is an Imperial agent on Kudo and the locals are fighting back using secret messages encoded in the carols of children.  Can R2 and 3-PO save Life Day by couriering these messages back to their masters?

The High Republic Adventures Annual 2021

The High Republic Adventures Annual 2021 is a collection of short tales from each of the five writers from the “High Republic” multimedia Star Wars project. Though I have been following casually for the last couple of years, I haven’t read every title. Yet, I have enjoyed the some of titles that I have been able to make time for.

“Set for Life” by Charles Soule

Bell Zettifar, Loden Greatstorm, Indeera Stokes, and Porter Engle are probably my favorite characters in the High Republic series, so it was nice to spend a little time with them in comic format. This tale is a Master / Apprentice tale and like many Master / Apprentice tales before it, the master (Loden) teaches the apprentice (Bell) an important lesson. The lesson is actually a pretty noble one about selfishness vs. selflessness. It’s probably something that readers should internalize, especially during the holiday season. 

A solid 8-page story. Good stuff.

“No Stone Unturned” by Claudia Gray

“Into the Dark” was not my favorite Star Wars book. I found my mind wandering most of the time I was reading it, and I can only recall vague details. I couldn’t tell you much about Leox Gyasi or Affie Hollow. As for their navigator Geode, the slab of rock that’s basically just a rock, I like Geode. He is controversial among the toxic fanboys who have never read “Into the Dark” and that makes me like Geode even more.

I’m still struggling to understand the conclusion of this story. I know it has something to do with the angle of the sun hitting a jewel, but the writer/artist may have made some errors with the science.

“First Mission” by Justina Ireland

Vernestra Rhow is the Ahoska Tano of the High Republic. She is a padawan with the potential to be a real fan favorite. The plot of this tale is pretty shallow, but it does give us some beautiful renderings of Stellen Gios’ lightsaber.

“Crash and the Crew Do What They Do” by Daniel Jose Older

Alys Ongwa aka “Crash” makes her debut in this comic. Crash is a Corillean bodyguard to be featured in the upcoming novel “Midnight Horizon” by Daniel Jose Older. What makes this tale amazing, however, is the art by Jesse Lonergan. He’s got a sort of sixties underground independent comics style that I’ve always loved. The style meshes well with Science Fiction in general and it kind of harkens back to the original 70s Marvel comic line.

“The Haul” by Cavan Scott

I think Cavan Scott is probably the most talented of the five writers to pen the High Republic series, although Claudia Gray could also be a contender for that title. The character of Lourna Dee feels very at-home in the Star Wars universe. She’s an instant classic, probably more so than any other character of the High Republic (expect maybe Marchion Ro). This comic also includes Porter Engle, The Blade of Bardotta and he’s cool too. 

However, even with all these combined elements, “The Haul” is not a story. It has characters who do things, but it doesn’t really have a beginning, middle, and end. It’s basically all middle. And I get it, each of these writers had 8-pages (maybe a total of 30 panels) to tell a story. It’s not easy to make a really good story out of 30 panels. But as the final tale of this comic it just leaves me dissatisfied.

Back next week to review “Life Day #1” by Cavan Scott!

Crimson Reign #1

In the Old Expanded Universe (before the Disney acquisition), there was really only one Star Wars story set between “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi”. That story was “Shadows of the Empire”, a cross-media sub franchise that manifested as a novel, a video game, comics, toys, and even a soundtrack. 

Disney has now launched their own “Shadows of the Empire” type story to cover the single year of history set between the 4th and 5th Star Wars episodes. This time it is limited to the comics, but it is hitting many of the same beats:

Han Solo in carbonite, Bounty Hunters chasing him down, Criminal Syndicates at war.

In Crimson Reign #1 Prince Xizor of Black Sun even gets name dropped for the first time in the Disney Star Wars Universe. Though he does not make an appearance, one assumes that he will show up before all of this is over.

It is Qi’ra of Crimson Dawn, however, that assumes the role that Xizor played in the original “Shadows of the Empire”. Qi’ra was portrayed by Emilia Clarke in the 2018 film Solo, and it is fairly obvious we won’t see Emilia Clarke reprise that character on screen. “Solo” was a financial let down for Disney for a variety of reasons, and though some fans hoped for a sequel to that film, that ship has probably sailed. That isn’t to say that Disney won’t pick up any of the “Solo” plot threads on screen, after all a Lando TV show has been announced (though the status of the development for that show is currently unknown). 

All of this is to say that Lucasfilm has decided to continue Qi’ra’s storyline in the comics.

Crimson Reign #1 sets the direction for the next five months of Star Wars comics. Like “War of the Bounty Hunters”, Marvel's four ongoing Star Wars series set between “Empire” and “Jedi” are tied up in a big crossover event which will conclude with a third arc entitled “The Hidden Empire” in the latter half of 2022.

The purpose of these crossovers are clear: readers will be pressured to purchase more comics and Marvel and Disney get to rack in the dough. The more creative purpose though is that the single year which exists between “Empire” and “Jedi” is a relatively short span of time in regards to the franchise's narrative. Afterall, one of the tentpole characters is quite literally frozen in time. 

It is a tumultuous time for the Galaxy at large, the final year of Imperial rule. Palpatine is desperate to hold onto his power, and others are desperate to end him. Sure, The Rebellion is altruistic enough to want to restore the Old Republic, but other organizations have less noble goals. Some just would like a piece of the pie.

And as the galaxy turns and changes, one can’t help but notice that Star Wars comics will soon have to change as well. For seven years now Marvel has chronicled the goings-on in the galaxy betwixt the confines of the Original Star Wars trilogy. But this age of Marvel is probably heading to a close. At some point- maybe not next year or the year after, but at some point Marvel will have to move on and cover the time period between “Return of the Jedi” and “The Force Awakens”. This is a much bigger playground- a larger chunk of galactic history (30 years for those counting) and Marvel’s main Star Wars line can probably live comfortably in that era for a very long time.

Yet, as Marvel continues its Shadows-of-the-Empire-esque experiment, I cannot come along for the ride. While I probably will read these escapades at some point, I will not continue to cover them week to week in blog form. Reviewing 34 issues of “War of the Bounty Hunters” was quite enough for me. As 2021 wraps up, this blog will change once again. Change is inevitable.

What will 2022 bring for this blog? I honestly have no idea. I had no idea that I would review 50 individual Star Wars comics in 2021 until it happened. None of us know what the future will bring, just as Disney is unsure of what it is doing with the Star Wars franchise.

Star Wars has never had a grand plan (even though many still evangelize that Lucas planned everything in advance). Star Wars is like everything else in life: you throw porridge on a wall and hope some bits stick.

As a wise sage once said "Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future."