Star Wars Star Wars - General Discussion / Legends / Comics

[Exe Gesis]

Creating this thread to discuss aspects outside of the movies and also aspects outside of the movies that tie in with the movies via comics etc.

Found these two videos very informative, first one discusses why Vader was an underling to Imperial officers during A New Hope, and why he sought out Luke Skywalker.

The second one discusses Anakin's secret training while a teenager, before Episode II/III, and how he started to dislike the Jedi Council, and them increasing distrust of him, Palpatine latching on to him early, etc.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Regarding the Aftermath book trilogy recently released in full....

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Q: So I just inadvertently saw the fate of Jar Jar Binks on the "trending" news (even though they said spoiler alert...but it's Jar Jar and I wanted to know his fate according to this writer....

A: So he becomes a street clown and the most hated Gungan on Naboo....forbidden to ever return. Really? That's his fate? Not....good...enough! Kill that awful character ten times over, man! This is a terrible way to send off the most hated GL created character ever made....not only do we not get any sort of closure to this creature, but he lives and pretty much remains the way he was in the prequels....a goof that's banned from his people. Uh...was that not how it was in the beginning? *Sigh* He could have at least had him killed in an alley or beaten to death by those angered by his handing over the Republic to the Emperor. That would have been some what more suitable end for the likes of him.

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Q: So, that's that. All done. It isn't the equal of Life Debt but it's way better than Aftermath.

A: I think this book will frustrate and irritate many given how Life Debt ended. Then, it seemed as if the stage was set for the Battle of Jakku, a big, much talked-of event, but this book doesn't start with that and takes its time getting there. In short Empire's End is not the comprehensive, detailed account of the Battle of Jakku that was hoped for. (This may be a benefit, in that the way is open for Freed to write it as a story of Twilight Company.) What is shown suffices for the story and certainly a book like this would be ill-suited for showing the battle, animation might be better - a starting point for a post-Jakku series perhaps?

As a finale, it remains what it has always been - a story about a set of characters who are not Luke, Han and Leia - oh they feature and, Luke may have turned up here and there, intertwined with a question Legends never really got to ask, never mind answer: What happens when the war is over? What do you do? The story shows a variety of answers to these questions.

It does provide a most fitting answer too to why the Empire collapsed as fast as it did, for, in a way: All was as the Emperor willed it. The notion that Sidious did not ever have any tolerance for the concept of succession planning is no surprise, so it should not be so that, in the event of his death, the Empire is to go up in flames with him! At the same time there's a nod to what has to be Snoke, with something calling Sidious to the Unknown Regions, something only he detected.

In the battle of villain versus villain, the Rax-Sloane relationship is indeed an interesting meditation on honesty and deception, for if he is nothing else, at the end Rax is open about what he is while Sloane has become a bit too good at lying to herself and others, which, right at the end of the book, sets her on course for a fate worse than death.

An area where I think there will be a lot of criticism is the New Republic politics, which do not come out of this at all well. Far from Bloodline representing a state of long, gradual decay, from the start we have opponents engaging in criminal activity for political gain. Maybe there's a politics book of what happened after Jakku to come, but right now there's a big void and no way to reconcile the conflicting pictures of the Republic, decades apart, yet similar, except Bloodline gave the clear impression the Republic had worked, which this book blows up.

In response to this it might be asked: What was the Rebellion for? And the answer, I think, has to be that it was always more than politics. It was being able to go for a walk without being stopped by a cop for no reason. It is meeting up with friends, going to a pub, then a meal without the conversations being monitored or being arrested as a result of them. It was to be able to live. Think of all the little freedoms you exercise easily on a daily basis and then consider how different your life would be if they were all gone. That's what it was for, not just the politics.

With respect to continuity, there is a neat weaving in of Thrawn and a nod to Shattered Empire.

This was a good read and a good finale, but like its initial predecessor, Aftermath, the advertising hasn't helped and could work against it.

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Q: With regards to Jar Jar, what nonsense. The point of the character is that despite his clumsiness he's a game changer. This a step down for Jar Jar's character after his Clone Wars appearances.

A: All I could do when I saw those spoilers was laugh...As someone else suggested, I just had this image of Jar Jar painted up as a clown. It's ridiculous; some images should never be created or implied.

He was aiming at some kind of subtle tragedy but it comes off as pretentious nonsense,

In regards to Jakku ...it seems my suspicions about it are correct. Its importance is only to the Aftermath trilogy, and in as much as it is important to the sequel trilogy, it is only important because Rey is from there. I suspected this when TFA scrawl does not even mention that the final battle between the Empire and Rebellion happened on Jakku. You would really only know this from reading the books or playing the games otherwise you may just assume Jakku was the site of some random battle between the two galactic powers.

Glad to see what is implied about Sloane. I felt like her character had some First Order in her.

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[Exe Gesis]

 

[Exe Gesis]

NASA reported in 2015 that some planets in the fictional Star Wars universe possess similarities to scientifically confirmed exoplanets in the real-world universe: Coruscant (Earth-like world) is like Kepler-452b; Tatooine (world with twin suns) is like Kepler-16b and Kepler-453b; Hoth (cold world) is like OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb; Mustafar (hot molten world) is like Kepler-10b and Kepler-78b; and Kamino (ocean world) is like Kepler-22b. There are also similarities to Alderaan (Princess Leia's home planet) and Endor (the Ewoks' forested exomoon) in the real-world universe, according to NASA.

 

[HahnPremium]

Grow up GG.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Grow up GG.

If only they were real

 

[HahnPremium]

If only they were real

They are.
In Roswell.

 

[Exe Gesis]

They are.
In Roswell.

Aliens only exist in sci-fiction.

 

[Exe Gesis]

 

[Exe Gesis]

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

Battlefront 2 looks awesome.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Battlefront 2 looks awesome.

Didn't like BF1, but BF2 looks like a must-buy. Get to play with Kylo

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

Didn't like BF1, but BF2 looks like a must-buy. Get to play with Kylo

Kylo vs Luke vs Rey

Yeah baby.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Kylo vs Luke vs Rey

Yeah baby.

Epic. Especially if it has a multiplayer feature one-on-one duels like Mortal Kombat/Tekken.

 

[Stevi_Tigers]

battlefront 2 campaign links in with the movies/comics/books also will have a book released with it called inferno squad which will show them after rogue one. the actual campaign is after endor and spans 30 years.

hoping to see some characters from the books like rax/sloane

the red droid thing seen in the trailer is from the comics a palpatine fail safe from if he ever died

 

[Exe Gesis]

So I've been aiming to read the new canon novels.

Finished reading The Force Awakens novelization. And am about halfway thru Bloodline. Next up will be the Aftermath trilogy.

Quick short reviews...

TFA Novelization -- absolute crap. Alan Dean Foster is a shit writer. Really makes you hate wanting to read on. I labored thru that book. Would not recommend whatsoever. He added NOTHING to that TFA world that merits giving the book a read.

Bloodline -- written by Claudia Gray. Much better writer. But still a crap writer. She's a woman, and as a woman, her writing is typically womanly, focused on things women focus on. Enjoying the book more, an easier read. And the subject matter is a little interesting -- Leia post ROTJ and pre TFA. Where no one knows she is Darth Vader's daughter as she climbs the halls of political power. When Ben Solo is still only a young boy and her and Han are still married. I'd recommend the read, but not highly recommend.

I'll update with my thoughts on the Aftermath trilogy when I get around to reading all three books.

 

[RolandF1]

I thought Bloodline was a great read. Didn't think of it as a 'womanly' book much at all though female Star Wars authors in the past don't have a great track record. Claudia Gray also did well with Lost Stars. She's certainly the best 'new canon' writer so far.

 

[Exe Gesis]

I thought Bloodline was a great read. Didn't think of it as a 'womanly' book much at all though female Star Wars authors in the past don't have a great track record. Claudia Gray also did well with Lost Stars. She's certainly the best 'new canon' writer so far.

Womanly things....the amount of times she goes into great lengths to elaborate on people's hairstyles, clothing, etc. the way she describes so many scenes with a womanly pov (like dinners, meetings, the way people turn, sit, etc, i cant describe it so quickly, it's just very typical of how a woman would describe such things, or give analogies to such things. Not denigrating it, but just imo when an author's gender comes out too much in these sorts of descriptions of things, i think is bad writing.

 

[Exe Gesis]

The other bad aspect to her writing....she uses human/earth terms all the time for a galaxy far far away that does not use them. Miles, kilometers, kilograms, and also when describing things refers back to things human readers would understand -- describing a sound for instance like a whale-song.

 

[Exe Gesis]

kebabs, noodles, etc

 

[RolandF1]

Womanly things....the amount of times she goes into great lengths to elaborate on people's hairstyles, clothing, etc. the way she describes so many scenes with a womanly pov (like dinners, meetings, the way people turn, sit, etc, i cant describe it so quickly, it's just very typical of how a woman would describe such things, or give analogies to such things. Not denigrating it, but just imo when an author's gender comes out too much in these sorts of descriptions of things, i think is bad writing.

Never read Robert Jordan or George RR Martin?

The other bad aspect to her writing....she uses human/earth terms all the time for a galaxy far far away that does not use them. Miles, kilometers, kilograms, and also when describing things refers back to things human readers would understand -- describing a sound for instance like a whale-song.

That's nothing new in Star Wars either in the way other authors write, video games or even the movies.

Timothy Zahn introduced hot chocolate into Star Wars lore.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Never read Robert Jordan or George RR Martin?




That's nothing new in Star Wars either in the way other authors write, video games or even the movies.

Timothy Zahn introduced hot chocolate into Star Wars lore.

Not normally the types of books I read (fantasy, even novels). I prefer reading first person books like Tropic of Cancer/etc.
However, thanks for dropping those names, look like good reads.
The Wheel of Time 80m copies sold, must be worth looking into.
And it's funny about Martin...you're the second person in a few days to recommend A Song of Ice and Fire (especially when the first recommendation had nothing to do with us talking books, the person just said the way I think is like reading A Song of Ice and Fire.

 

[RolandF1]

Not normally the types of books I read (fantasy, even novels). I prefer reading first person books like Tropic of Cancer/etc.
However, thanks for dropping those names, look like good reads.
The Wheel of Time 80m copies sold, must be worth looking into.
And it's funny about Martin...you're the second person in a few days to recommend A Song of Ice and Fire (especially when the first recommendation had nothing to do with us talking books, the person just said the way I think is like reading A Song of Ice and Fire.

They are authors with descriptive prose to the point of excessive. Not necessarily a bad thing. But they are a couple of male examples.

Martin has a few of those 4 letter descriptions Miller is known for but probably not that excessive.

 

[Exe Gesis]

They are authors with descriptive prose to the point of excessive. Not necessarily a bad thing. But they are a couple of male examples.

Martin has a few of those 4 letter descriptions Miller is known for but probably not that excessive.

I'm hoping Aftermath is a better read.
But I'm starting to think that perhaps with Star Wars, comic books make the perfect medium outside of the movies. It's basically a movie without the moving pictures, a storyboard. No need for excessive or elaborate description as the artwork itself can serve to do that.

 

[JackOutback]

I've read most of the new canon novels, most are ok; I thought Bloodline was pretty good as was the Rogue One novel Catalyst. The Aftermath trilogy was ok but not great. There's yet to be anything as great as the original Thrawn trilogy from the old EU.