The Future of Star Wars

It's been a while since I've posted, mostly because I wasn't sure how to react to news that Disney is going to possibly throw out parts of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

Disney has decided to put together a group to go over all of the Star Wars literature and decide what constitutes actual canon and what does not.

How much will be lost, how much will stay remains up in the air.

Admittedly there is "a new hope" for die hard fans of the EU, in that Leland Chee, the LucasFilm's "Keeper of the Holocron" has been added to the group.

In the article linked in the first sentence, Josh Parylak makes some compelling reasons as to why this overview might be successful.

This review would allow old outdated material to be thrown out, but it means some of our favorites could be on the chopping block.

And, to me the worst part is that while books and comics and games are all in question, the movies aren't.

I have nothing against the movies themselves.

I think they are a wonderful part of the Star Wars universe.

But what I want to know is why it's possible that the Disney overlords could erase Mara Jade from the story lines, but I still have to live in a world where Jar Jar Binks still exists.

Just sayin'!

(That last bit was for my wife. She loves Jar Jar)

I am torn about this because it could be a very good thing.

Maybe this will finally add some continuity that admittedly was needed.

I just hope Disney doesn't forget the true fans.

If they are alienated too much then they will not continue buying the movies and comics and books and games that made George Lucas a very rich man!

There have been many examples of works where the fans have been ignored to the detriment of the final product, ie. the recent Green Lantern movie.

Even the recent Hobbit movies might have gone so far away from the original to turn off true fans of the book.

On the other hand, when the fans are considered, the final project can be amazing.

Fortunately, the most recent example of this is the Marvel adaptations like The Avengers which again was run by Disney.

Here's hoping Disney keeps that pattern going in the near future!

Dark Horse Losing Star Wars

Well, we knew this had to happen and there's been a great deal of speculation. More on when rather than if Star Wars would move back to Marvel which was bought by Disney several years ago.

The announcement came out on StarWars.com last Friday. Marvel would be picking up the Star Wars story lines in 2015. For those keeping track, that's also the same year Episode VII is scheduled to be released.

The news that Dark Horse is losing Star Wars is bitter sweet.

For more than two decades, Dark Horse Comics were integral in the expanded universe of the movie franchise.

Dark Horse Comics was the first to take the expanded universe 5,000 years into the past with the Tales of the Jedi series. The stories moved through the history of the Star Wars universe including the movies and ending 150 years into the future with the Legacy series.

Recent accomplishments of Dark Horse include going even further in the past with Dawn of the Jedi which dates about 25,000 to 36,000 years before the birth of Luke Skywalker and a new ongoing series of Star Wars from the original trilogy shortly after the Battle of Yavin (the first Death Star destroyed).

It looks like all of the ongoing pieces will be phasing out this year from Dark Horse, and whether they will be taken up again by Marvel remains to be seen.

The joy I found in reading the Dark Horse Comics was because authors stayed true to continuity which is so important to the Star Wars Expanded Universe. I think our first view of how Disney will handle the issue of continuity in the new films will likely be answered by the first books produced by Marvel next year. I certainly hope Disney and Marvel don't throw out 40 years of stories just to try and reboot the franchise.

On the plus side, I think its important for the Star Wars title to be under one umbrella as a lot of changes are about to happen very quickly.

As Dark Horse comics editor Randy Stradley put it:

"With a new film scheduled every year, and a new television series, it is likely that there will be a lot of comics pages devoted to adaptations and direct spin-off stories in support of the films and TV shows. That's not where my interests lie, and it has never been Dark Horse's strong suit"

It  has been a great run with Dark Horse, and I will certainly miss it. But I do look forward to a new future with the Star Wars franchise.

Another One Bites the Dust

Another two, actually. Comic book stores that is. The biggest has to be Starbase 21 in Tulsa which is closing its doors New Year's Eve after nearly three decades in business.

In Edmond, there was much less attention paid to A.I. Comics shutting down. I just happened to drive by the shop on 2nd street as people were cleaning out the small space. There was a short mention on the company's Facebook page, but that was it.

The two businesses were very different with Starbase 21 having made itself an establishment in the area while  A.I. had only been around a relatively short time.

Running a comic book store certainly can't be easy. First off, you have a limited type of customer: someone who digs comics. Secondly, the only way to really increase traffic in your store is by word of mouth. Even in a world of social media, that can't be easy.

For Starbase 21 it was likely a little different as it had already established itself in the area. According to the report from Channel 2 in Tulsa, the closing was the result of "an aging owner and declining sales".

It also doesn't help that the stores are located in Oklahoma which doesn't put much emphasis on the geek culture. But, as I said in previous posts, I believe that attitude is changing with the recent increases in movies and television shows based on graphic novels and comic books.

In the end these are ultimately small businesses which are constantly struggling whether they sell comic books or quilting supplies.

It is up to those of us who are passionate about the products to help the companies succeed.

So let me take this moment to urge everyone to visit my favorite places: All-Star Comics on North May and Empire Strikes on N.W. 23rd.

To all the comic and geek culture stores out there, I wish you all the best of luck.

May you live long and prosper!

The 12 Doctors to the tune of 12 Days of Christmas

Something I have been batting around. What do you think?

12 incarnations of Doctor Who to the tune of 12 Days of Chistmas

On the first incarnation of Doctor Who I saw

An old man in a TARDIS

On the second incarnation of Doctor Who I saw

Big, baggy clothes

And an old man in a TARDIS. 

On the third incarnation of Doctor Who I saw

Frills and capes

Big, baggy clothes

And an old man in a TARDIS

On the fourth incarnation of Doctor Who I saw

Really long scarf

Frills and capes

Big, baggy clothes 

And an old man in a TARDIS

On the fifth incarnation of Doctor Who I saw

Celery stalk

Really long scarf

Frills and capes

Big, baggy clothes

And an old man in a TARDIS

On the sixth incarnation of Doctor Who I saw

Colorful outfit

Celery stalk

Really long scarf

Frills and capes

Big, baggy clothes

And an old man in a TARDIS

On the seventh incarnation of Doctor Who I saw

Question mark umbrella

Colorful outfit

Celery stalk

Really long scarf

Frills and capes

Big, baggy clothes

And an old man in a TARDIS

On the eighth incarnation of Doctor Who I saw

Grace kissing Doctor

Question mark umbrella

Colorful outfit

Celery stalk

Really long scarf

Frills and capes

Big, baggy clothes

And an old man in a TARDIS

On the ninth incarnation of Doctor Who I saw

Cool leather jacket

Grace kissing Doctor

Question mark umbrella

Colorful outfit

Celery stalk

Really long scarf

Frills and capes

Big, baggy clothes

And an old man in a TARDIS

On the tenth incarnation of Doctor Who I saw

Skinny suit and trainers

Cool leather jacket

Grace kissing Doctor

Question mark umbrella

Colorful outfit

Celery stalk

Really long scarf

Frills and capes

Big, baggy clothes

And an old man in a TARDIS

On the eleventh incarnation of Doctor Who I saw

A bow tie and suspenders

Skinny suit and trainers

Cool leather jacket

Grace kissing Doctor

Question mark umbrella

Colorful outfit

Celery stalk

Really long scarf

Frills and capes

Big, baggy clothes

And an old man in a TARDIS

On the twelfth incarnation of Doctor Who I saw

Peter Capaldi

A bow tie and suspenders

Skinny suit and trainers

Cool leather jacket

Grace kissing Doctor

Question mark umbrella

Colorful outfit

Celery stalk

Really long scarf

Frills and capes

Big, baggy clothes

And an old man in a TARDIS

My History with Doctor Who Part Two

As I mentioned yesterday, by the time I reached my mid teens, my attention turned to other activities on Saturday nights in Oklahoma City outside of just being glued to the television watching Doctor Who. This was in the days before DVRs and our video tape recorder was unreliable.

The funny thing was I actually found out about the regeneration from Peter Davison to Colin Baker from my mom who had continued watching the program. 

Eventually, I moved to Denver, Colorado for four years in the early 90s. I quickly learned that Doctor Who was airing Sunday mornings on the local PBS station. By this time, Sylvester McCoy had started driving the TARDIS. I was so excited to be watching the show again not to mention the fact that new companion, Ace, was pretty cool!

But my excitement didn't last long. The thing to understand is the local PBS station was running about two years behind what was being aired in Britain. So in 1991 I was watching Survival and heard the doctor say "Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice and somewhere else the tea is getting cold. Come on, Ace, we've got work to do," as the pair headed back to the TARDIS. Just then a voice came on over the final credits announcing that BBC had canceled the series in 1989. While it had happened two years earlier I was devastated, no more Doctor Who. 

It was six years till we got another taste of the TARDIS when Fox aired the TV Movie with Paul McGann. The less said about that debacle the better. Nothing personal against McGann, in fact I loved Night of the Doctor which aired shortly before the 50th anniversary special.

Finally in 2005, Doctor Who returned. I was so excited about watching Christopher Eccleston on OETA this time on Friday nights. I wasn't following any news or internet chatter about the show so imagine my surprise when just 12 episodes later, he regenerated into David Tennant. 

Tennant was phenomenal. And Matt Smith has been incredible. I have enjoyed watching them both as the Doctor. What I think is funny is I knew when Tennant was leaving, but didn't know who would replace him. Now I not only know Smith is leaving, I know he will be replaced by Peter Capaldi. 

Over the past few years I have gone back to watch all the episodes for William Hartnell and Jon Pertwee. I am currently catching up on all the episodes of Patrick Troughton. Those are admittedly harder to watch as most episodes are reconstructions after the purge of original episodes by the BBC in the 70s.

So after 30 years of watching Doctor Who it has been an amazing journey, and I don't expect it to end anytime soon.

My history with Doctor Who Part One

As this Christmas marks the passing of the torch from Matt Smith to Peter Capaldi I thought I would regale you with the story of my life with the Doctor.

My first Doctor as I mentioned in an earlier post was Tom Baker. My father and I sat down to watch the first episode which aired on Saturday night. To me, Tom Baker was amazing. He was funny, but also stylish. Not many people can pull off a fedora and extra long scarf. And that coat with multiple pockets which seemed to be bigger on the inside. I was hooked. Baker also seemed to me to be a true hero always ready for an adventure and outwit his opponent through brains rather than brawn. 

While the special effects by today's standards are sub par, I thought it was amazing. And, oh, the stories that stick with me to this day. 

I spent several years watching Doctor Who on Saturday night, but my younger sister hated it. She complained to my mom that it was scaring her, and my mom was just about to say I couldn't watch it any more. So I used a page out of her logic book, saying how could she make a judgment on the program unless she watched it. So she did. For the next several years my mom and I never missed an episode. She even named one of our dogs Nyssa after Princess Nyssa of Traken. 

When Tom Baker's time came to an end, my mother and I were glued to the television as we had the first experience with regeneration. I was blown away. I knew the Doctor could regenerate, but all of a sudden there was a young blonde man who reminded me of Peter Tork from the monkeys playing the Doctor. 

Peter Davison's Doctor eventually grew on me. The big shocker of his tenure was the death of Adric at the end of Earthshock. I have since learned that Adric wasn't everyone's favorite companion, but I thought he was great. I could relate to Adric much more than any companion before him. When Earthshock ended and the final credits role silently on an image of Adric's golden badge, I just sat there mouth open and amazed at what I had just seen. Adric wasn't the first companion to die, but it was the first time I had seen it. 

Then there was The Five Doctors episode to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Doctor Who. I enjoyed the show, but my interest in the show was waning. It aired on Saturday nights, and as I moved into my later teen years, I found there were other things to do on Saturday night outside the home. 

I would return to the Classic series, but it would be in another city and state. I'll talk about that in Part two tomorrow morning. 

Okie Geek News

Local artist and Knuckleheads colorists is adding his talents to the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

Knuckleheads creator Brian Winkeler says Norman native Jordan Boyd is taking over the coloring duties for the second installment of the ongoing Star Wars: Legacy  series.

Boyd will be starting on the issue number 12 expected out in February.

He's not the only Okie adding his talents to the comic industry.

Back in October NewsOK.com reported that Tulsa native and OU grad would be writing the upcoming series linked to the Forever Evil crossover event currently going on in DC Comics.

His addition entitled Forever Evil: A.R.G.U.S. focuses on Steve Trevor's attempts to save Wonder Woman and hopefully the rest of the Justice League after the Crime Syndicate traveled from  Earth-3 and allegedly killed them all.

Know of any other local talents who are hitting it big in the genre, please let me know.