Star Wars

Across nearly four decades and two publishing companies, the Star Wars comic book universe has seen thousands of issues chronicling tales set in a galaxy, far, far away. Following Disney’s acquisition of LucasFilm, fellow subsidiary company Marvel reclaimed the license to publish new Star Wars comics in 2015. Along with it, they received publishing rights to all prior Star Wars comics, including those released by Dark Horse when it held the license (from the early 90s up to 2015). Now, thanks to Marvel’s digital subscription service, Marvel Unlimited, the vast majority (though not yet all) of these comics are available for subscribers of the service to read in one convenient place.

  It all started innocently enough with a drunken question meant to jumpstart another dull Saturday night out on the town.  What it became however, was an hour long debate on par with other eternal struggles like Lakers vs. Celtics, Capitalism vs. Communism, and Godzilla vs. King Kong.  The question posed was innocent enough: Who …

Among the many sweeping divisions that separate the original Star Wars trilogy from the Prequels is in how “used” the films feel; or to put it another way, how the Prequels don’t. The franchise’s earlier installments have endured trends of computer graphics and frenetic editing across several generations in part because George Lucas leveraged a tight production budget with rusty edges …

Back in the spring of 1999, which by now feels like a ‘Long time ago,…’, Star Wars fans the world over could not contain their excitement regarding the soon to be released Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. They demonstrated greater energy in their anticipation than a Sith can demonstrate power through anger. Nothing in the …

Star Wars Annual #1 takes the latter approach, showcasing the fight against the Empire in a completely different way, sidelining all of the regular characters (except Leia, who only appears via holographic communication) and plotlines but keeping with the overall tone of the series. The end result is a fun, somewhat slight, story that deepens the Star Wars comic book universe.

George Lucas is a master at building worlds. The one that comes to mind is far, far away but four years before Tatooine, Lucas built a planet of a different sort. It was full of deadly moving vehicles, sweeping music, and young men struggling to find their way. If that sounds like Star Wars, that’s …

Not so long ago the idea of a casino that only trades in a crypto-currency would have seemed like something George Lucas had dreamed up on a particularly good day. After all, the concept of gambling with money that never actually exists in a material form is pretty out there. When you stop to think …

Nostalgia can be a funny thing. You see, when our Editor-in-Chief posed the idea that we run a monthly theme on Star Wars games, I immediately seized on it. I mean, what better way to celebrate one of the biggest film releases of the decade than to explore its many gaming counterparts over the years. Even as …

Warning: Contains spoilers on the Jedi Knight class story, the Revan novel, the Forged Alliances expansion and the Shadow of Revan expansion (including Ziost). The story of Revan has got to be one of the best stories in the Star Wars video games, and in the Original Expanded Universe of the Old Republic. Delivered to …

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back came out May 21st 1980, but it was only in 1987, at five years old, that I saw it for the first time. I had seen Episode IV multiple times already (understatement) and knew that I wanted to be a Jedi and make movies. Episode V however, …

Star Wars #13 has comedy, action, and holds Vader back to make him even more terrifying as Leia and her Rebel forces charge forward while the rest of the main cast of the comic is busy fighting the supporting cast of Darth Vader. Mike Deodato’s fight choreography isn’t blistering, but he excels at piecing noteworthy images together, like the progression of events where Luke wakes up from his coma, kicks the annoying BT and runs to comfort R2D2 as if he’s the family pet. “Vader Down’s” cliffhanger game continues to be on point with yet another duel of mind and body to take place in next week’s installment.

For the numerous corpses of rebel infantry and snowtroopers littered about the frozen tundra, amidst the hollowed-out, smoldering wrecks of AT-AT walkers and snowspeeders, the war is over. For the rest of us, it rages on still, an icy mess of tow cables and tauntauns. There looks to be no end in sight to this …

The story of Star Wars may repeat, but its music tells a narrative all on its own.

The second chapter of the “Vader Down” crossover between Marvel’s Darth Vader and Star Wars books, this issue makes it clear that this is going to be a narrowly-focused story – that is, chiefly concerned with one specific narrative rather than a story spanning multiple threads across multiple books. That said, regular series creators Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca turn in an exciting second chapter of the story, one which moves the overall narrative forward (however incrementally) but also puts the spotlight on the book’s regular supporting cast.

See what I did just there? Indeed, a Legend of Zelda/Star Wars crossover game isn’t too difficult to imagine. It wouldn’t be the first crossover game and there are bound to be plenty more. Many game developers like to go all out with a crossover game, hinting at such an idea with hidden Easter Eggs …

Even if Mike Deodato’s art doesn’t fit the space battle portion of the comic, Vader Down #1 is an explosive start to Marvel’s first Star Wars crossover and will give Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen the once in a lifetime opportunity to show what Darth Vader would do once the chips are down. It’s best read while playing “Imperial March” on an endless loop.

Star Wars #12 brings “Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon”, the second multi-part story of Marvel’s new Star Wars series to a rousing, triumphant conclusion, as all the various elements of the story come crashing together in Grakkus the Hutt’s arena, in the process reuniting the previously-scattered cast and putting to rest the mystery of Sana and Han’s marriage.

The penultimate chapter in the “Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon” story, this issue finds Jason Aaron and Stuart Immonen suitably ratcheting up the excitement and action, bringing the three separate groups of characters (Luke, Chewie & Threepio, Han, Leia & Sana) closer than ever to converging on Nar Shadda as the story heads into its finale.

Moonraker Directed by Lewis Gilbert Screenplay by Christopher Wood UK, 1979  Moonraker has the unique distinction of being the most absurd and over-the-top Bond film produced in 50 years of the series. Spy films exist in a genre unto themselves, but the Bond films sometimes like to crossover into other popular genres as well. The …

#StarWars pic.twitter.com/jWQ58SRE2D — Every Tweet Ever (@EveryTweet_Ever) October 20, 2015 It’s getting harder and harder for me to pretend that Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens might not be flat out awesome. In an Internet age when hype and snark dictate everything, you’re either With Us or Against Us. Light Side or Dark Side. …

While picking up the pace of the plot a bit from the previous issue, Star Wars #10 succeeds almost singlehandedly on the strength of one particular pairing of characters. After being teased in the cliffhanger of issue #9, this issue fully introduces Chewbacca into the “Showdown on Nar Shaddaa” storyline (in the same month as the first issue of his solo limited series launches) and pairs him with perhaps the unlikeliest of partners: C-3PO. The end result is comic book gold.

The open beta for DICE’s Star Wars Battlefront is currently available for download on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The beta will last 5 days (ending October 12th), and includes 2 different multiplayer modes, as well as a singleplayer/co-op mode. The first multiplayer mode is called ‘Drop Zone’, it’s an 8 vs 8 mode with …

Pan Written by Jason Fuchs Directed by Joe Wright USA, 2015 Peter Pan gets the Star Wars treatment by way of Baz Luhrmann in Joe Wright’s Pan, an attempt at putting a somewhat original spin on a children’s classic. In true Hollywood style, however, the film is so hampered by studio notes that it almost …