Rebels Review

Ahhh, the new Disney Star Wars canon. Such a mixed bag. And what better foil for such a discussion than Star Wars: Rebels. I have very strong feelings about this cartoon. On one hand, I like to see a band of operatives cruising around, half-affiliated with the forming rebellion. An interesting time in Star Wars history to explore more fully.

Continuing with the positive vibes, I am thrilled that they chose to base their 'look and feel' on the extraordinary original concept art of Ralph McQuarrie. Some of the backgrounds in some of the scenes in Rebels look just like a McQuarrie painting. Wonderful stuff. As for characters, I am a fan of Hera. A bit of a fan of Kanan. 

Now for some negatives. In terms of the characters other than Hera and Kanan, I marginally don't care for Sabine and the concept of the street artist spray painter vandalizing for justice. I equally dislike Zeb, although he is easy enough to ignore. Ezra is bad, but not nearly as bad a Chopper. I hate that droid. And I am a droid lover!

The space whales and whatnot fit with the StarCave of ThonBoka, so I'll grant them a pass. Those silly ideas are grandfathered in, and Lando vouches for them personally.

The lack of third dimension to the character animation is odd. All of their clothes, including layers like vests, accessories, belts, etc seem to be printed onto one skin-tight surface. The characters also move weird. The run very slowly and disjointedly. Whenever they go into a "crowded" place, there are like 2 people around. Even (literally) aboard a Star Destroyer, they basically encounter nobody except 1 squad of stormtroopers...eventually. And don't get me started on the Wookiees. Or the shape of the Ghost. Or the firepower and capabilities of the Phantom.

The worst part, to my mind, is the flippant disregard for existing canon. Yes, I know, Disney can do whatever they want. They aren't bound by the old "rules". What irks me is that this leads them not to making up new stories, but to WRECKING OLD ONES. Why do they need to make wrong sized A-wings? They are not the same size as seen in ROTJ, I don't care what Lucasfilms incorrectly states as the ship's length. Why destroy the origin story of the B-wing, using the same system name (Shantipole), but replacing Commander Ackbar and a whole team of Verpine Engineers with a single mad Mon Cal tinkerer working alone? Even making the guy a Mon Cal just rubs it in our faces that these new idiots get to wreck whatever they want from the (at times) carefully crafted shared world. Why make up a THIRD, and different, Interdictor cruiser?  Why have fragile, bat-like TIE fighters land on the ground like dummies? And don't ask about Wedge Antilles. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

It's the same feeling I got from Jar Jar Abrams and The Force Awakens. The feeling of watching a moody and un-creative outsider smash someone's carefully painted models together over and over while filming the whole thing and adding lens flare. Why? Why? Add in another Death Star and turn everything up to 11. The essence of an old quote comes to mind: "What was good wasn't original, and what was original wasn't good."

Timothy Zahn wrote circles around these losers, and it isn't even close. Most of the WEG stuff I've read is better, too. And Stackpole. And Crispin. And Luceno.

I can't be too hard on Filoni et al., as Rebels is a kids show and I am not exactly the target audience. I guess I have to chalk this up to a Marvel-esque, good old fashioned comic book re-boot for Star Wars lore as a whole. Where we get to tread over all the same ground again. And re-hear the same origin tales, but with new twists here and there. Old villains come back. Etc. Etc.

I just wish we could thoughtfully add new, compelling content to the shared universe (with some pruning, here and there) instead of a wholesale sloppy re-write by amateurs.

Forged in Battle (P)Review

Presented here is an overview of what one can expect from the new Forged in Battle supplement.

Page 1: Opening crawl

Page 2: Inside title page

Page 3: Table of contents

Page 4: Fiction

Pages 5-9: Overview and summary

Chapter 1 (pages 10-39): Heroes of the Rebellion

This chapter presents ideas for soldier backgrounds and duties; four new species (Elom, Elomin, Kyuzo and Shistavanen); three new soldier specializations (the Heavy, Trailblazer and Vanguard); soldier motivations; and two signature abilities (The Bigger They Are... and Unmatched Courage).

Chapter 2 (pages 40-63): Weapons of War

In this chapter one can find ten new ranged energy weapons (including the BlasTech A280, which I was happy to see); three each of slugthrowers, explosive weapons and melee weapons; five new types of armor; three weapon attachments; perhaps a dozen other equipment items; and ten new vehicles, including the LAAT/i.

Chapter 3 (pages 64-96): Indomitable Courage

This chapter presents suggestions for using soldiers both in combat scenarios and in other types of adventures. There are suggestions for different types of objectives; rules for different combat environments; suggestions for ways to reward soldier characters; and rules for creating and using fortifications. 

All in all, this seems like a useful sourcebook, one that should see plenty of use during an Age of Rebellion campaign. 

A Major Weapons Test is Imminent

Adventurous

Star Wars Adventure Journal, Volume 1, #3 (WEG, August 1994). The least inspiring one so far, in my opinion. A cool article about cartoonist Al Williamson who drew a syndicated newspaper strip from 1981 to 1984. Apparently Dark Horse Comics collected these into a collected, edited, and colored comic book in 1993.

Another good tidbit was entitled "The Business of Bacta". It seemed like less adventures and more "wall of text" background stuff and/or short stories in this issue. Onward to #4!

Rogue Leader

    

Issues 1-3 "X-Wing Rogue Leader"

Released in August, September, October, November 2005.

Set immediately after Battle of Endor, ~4 ABY

Written by Haden Blackman

Penciller Tomas Giorello

Letterer Michael David Thomas

Cover Art Gary Erskine

The Rogues Return, sort of. Dark Horse Comics released this three issue 'Rogue Squadron Origin Story' in 2005, seven years after the end of the great Rogue Squadron run.

The tale opens with the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Endor; the Rogues are split up and helping out with clean-up and salvage operations. The squadron is still led by Commander Luke Skywalker (Rogue Leader). Wedge is also a Commander, but his call-sign is Rogue Two. Captains Ten Numb and Tycho Celchu are there, as is Lt. Wes Janson ("Nice shot, Janson!").

Ackbar gives them a mission. Go to Corellia (still held by the Imps) and scout out the situation. Assess the current Imperial presence and report back. Of course it all goes awry! Imps attack! Ten Numb is captured, and over the course of the short series is tortured to death by a ruthless General Weir. The other Rogues work with the Selonians to find Weir's secret base and kick some.

At the end, Luke steps aside, handing the reins of Rogue Squadron to Wedge. Ackbar leads Wedge to a briefing room filled with volunteer pilots. Wedge is tasked with hand-picking his new squadron...and the rest is history!

A pretty good story. Nice art. Good action. Glossy pages.

Rogue Squadron Wrap-Up

Issue "Handbook: Volume One"

Released in July 1998.

Written by Peet Janes

Penciller various

Letterer various

Cover Art John Nadeau

The last of the Dark Horse Comics X-Wing: Rogue Squadron comic books. This issue includes a bunch of information on the making of the comic series and specific details about different characters and ships and whatnot.

A nice read. A couple of things struck me as very interesting. 

One: Michael Stackpole was approached to write the X-Wing novels first. In an off-hand comment when meeting with a Lucasfilm exec, he mentioned he'd like to do comics one day. That comment led directly to this memorable run from Dark Horse. Stackpole envisioned the comics as a prequel for the novel series.

Two: Peet Janes, the writer for this Handbook, suggests in his closing comments that Stackpole was "...the original builder of the squadron..." Interesting. The confusing history of "Red Squadron", "Rogue Flight", "Red Group", "Rogue Group" and whatnot, from Yavin, through Hoth to Endor is not really clear. Somewhere along the way Rogue Flight or Rogue Group, a couple of T-47 snowspeeders led by Luke Skywalker became the basis for the iconic "Blue Angels" of Star Wars; perhaps the best addition of any from the offerings of the now-Legends Expanded Universe. Credit goes to, who else, Zahn:

"And then in 1995, out of the blue, I picked up the phone and there was Mike. It seemed he'd just been contracted to write a series of Star Wars X-Wing books for Bantam and wanted to discuss the Rogue Squadron group I'd created for my own Star Wars books."―Timothy Zahn.

Three: Stackpole spoke to Zahn and Ann Crispin about Baron Soontir Fel, just as he was being created as an "Imperial Red Baron" for the "In the Empire's Service" story arc. The initial Red Baron idea was Dark Horse editor Peet Jane's. Both Crispin and Zahn decided to include Fel in their current projects: The Hutt Gambit (1997) and Vision of the Future (1998).

The timeline looks something like this:

Heir to the Empire novel (creates Rogue Squadron as they exist in 9 ABY): June 1991

Stackpole meets at Skywalker Ranch to discuss books (and comics): July 1994

Dark Horse X-Wing Rogue Squadron comics: first issue on July, 1995

X-Wing: Rogue Squadron (the first novel by Stackpole): released January, 1996

Rogue Squadron Oddballs

   

Issue "1/2"

Released in February 1997.

Set in the Galactic Civil War Era, 0 ABY

Written by Micheal A. Stackpole

Penciller Gary Erskine

Letterer Annie Parkhouse

Cover Art Christopher Moeller

Issue "Special"

Released in August 1995.

Set in the New Republic Era, ~4 ABY

Written by Ryder Windham

Penciller John Nadeau

Letterer Steve Dutro

Cover Art Mark Harrison

These two are technically a part of the Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron comic legacy from Dark Horse. They are both oddballs, however.

The "1/2" issue takes place right before the Battle of Yavin. Short story, older art. Good, but odd. The Rogues (before they were Rogues, I guess) start out in a bar on Commenor. A smuggler named Nera Dantels (who has a thing for Biggs Darklighter, and who would later go on to pilot a B-wing in the FFG Rebel Aces expansion set) delivers a load of astromech droids. Imperial entanglements ensue en route to the hyperspace jump point (the squadron wants to return to Yavin). One of the X-wings selflessly takes one for the team, allowing the others to make good their escape.

The "Special" issue was released as a part of a Kellogg's Apple Jacks promotion. It's a very short story with old art, odd and inconsistent material, and overall underwhelming. The action takes place on the planet Tandankin, and all the Rogues are using "Red Squadron" call signs. Wedge is a Commander. Luke is there. Eh.