Star Wars

FILM WARS: Before the Star Wars Saga Ends, We Rank What Has Come Before

December 3, 2019 // 0 Comments

So this one’s got a pretty convoluted origin. I started writing it a year and a half ago, after witnessing an insane on-line fan-rage argument over The Last Jedi, months after it came out. I got pretty far into my rankings, but abandoned it for… reasons I don’t remember. It’s been sitting on my hard drive ever since, though, waiting for me to come back to it. Which I did this week, after seeing Knives Out, the new murder mystery flick from Rian Johnson, director of Last [...]

Art and Empire: Al Williamson’s Star Wars

October 22, 2019 // 1 Comment

So real life’s been getting in the way of nerd farm business a lot lately, and this week is no exception. But people are more important than funnybooks, so I’m okay with that. Besides… It allows me to share pretty pictures that my usual long-winded ramblings don’t allow. Like the Al Williamson Empire Strikes Back Artist’s Edition. If you’re not familiar with the Artist’s Edition format, these books reproduce original black and white comics art at the [...]

Because I Can’t Stop Thinking About Star Wars, No Matter How Hard I Try

April 19, 2019 // 0 Comments

So here’s my new Star Wars Fan Theory: Rey is not a Real Girl, but is in fact Anakin 2.0. Eh? Eh? Whattaya think? To be honest, I came up with this idea as a joke, just to annoy my prequel-hating friends (which is to say… ALL of my friends). But then it started making sense to me. Sense enough that I decided to write it up real fast. So hear me out… Going back to our Prequel lore, we know that Anakin Skywalker was a virgin birth. His mother reveals that to Qui-Gon Jin in [...]

Seriously, I Just Can’t…

December 27, 2016 // 0 Comments

I know I’m supposed to be posting something tonight. Some funnybook reviews, or the final part of my Fantastic Four reboot, or… or… SOMEthing. But, y’know… I’m just getting home from a very nice Christmas visit with my family. I haven’t touched the computer in days. And now, Carrie Fisher is dead. Jesus Fucking Christ. So, yeah. Sorry. It’s just not happening this week, Nerd Wranglers. But, here. Rather than dwell sadly on her death, I think [...]

Dark and Compelling, Rogue One is Star Wars Done Right

December 20, 2016 // 4 Comments

So… Rogue One. I hesitate to make bold statements like this so soon after leaving the theater, but I think I may have a new favorite Star Wars movie. This is high praise, I know, and not the sort of thing I say lightly. But, hot damn, this is a good flick. A damn sight better than The Force Awakens and, I would argue, maybe the first real spiritual sequel to Star Wars. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the first of the Walt Disney Corporation’s [...]

Hateful Heroes: What I Did On My Christmas Vacation

January 12, 2016 // 0 Comments

So we kind of took a little holiday there, didn’t we? I hadn’t really planned it, but as the actual holiday season stretched on, it became nicer and nicer to have a break from writing. Every once in a while, it’s good to spend some time away from even the things you love doing. And in the meantime, I just relaxed. Enjoyed time with friends and family. Went to the movies. Read some funnybooks. So let’s start with the movies, and see where we go from there… Star Wars [...]

Take a Walk on the Dark Side

February 16, 2015 // 0 Comments

Vadercomic! Dark Side Represent! Darth Vader 1, by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca I picked this book up for exactly two reasons: 1. I like the idea of a story told from the perspective of Darth Vader, and 2. Kieron Gillen strikes me as a good choice to tell that story. I’m sure the prior has been done before, but I’m equally sure that it hasn’t been done by anyone as interesting as the latter. So it’s really the combination of the two that caught my eye. Gillen and [...]

A Funnybook Far, Far Away…

January 20, 2015 // 2 Comments

Taking another little side-trip from the Dork Awards to discuss another comic that everybody’s talking about… Star Wars 1, by Jason Aaron and John Cassaday I wasn’t sure I was going to give this book a try. The last time I really enjoyed a Star Wars comic, I was maybe in middle school. I think Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson were doing the book then. Which says less about my taste at that age, and more about how lucky I was to have such a great creative team on a comic I [...]

The Star Wars That Wasn’t

September 4, 2013 // 4 Comments

The Star Wars #1, by George Lucas, JW Rinzler, and Mike Mayhew Ever since I was a kid, I’ve read about George Lucas’ original story for Star Wars, about a Jedi named Starkiller and a different way of cracking the story of the Empire, the Jedi, and the Sith. Lucas has revealed half-remembered glimpses of that version in interviews from time to time, and I always wondered what kind of story it would have been. Well now I get to find out, because somebody had the bright idea of taking [...]

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Life Day…

December 11, 2012 // 0 Comments

Been having some trouble getting into the Christmas spirit this year, so I decided to sit down with that most Christmassy of Christmas traditions, The Star Wars Holiday Special! Oh. Hmm. That’s… really dreadful, isn’t it? Ten minutes of annoying growly pantomime punctuated with elfin space acrobats. But, hey! Art Carny’s in this next part! And nothin’ sez Chrimmas like Art Carny, right? Holy… Y’know, I didn’t think Harvey Korman [...]