Author: M. Dean Cooper

The Pitch – Marvel Star Wars, The Next Generation

Posted on July 4, 2014by , , , , , and

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In our first “The Pitch” piece way back in November, we submitted some ideas for new Star Wars novels we’d like to see. At the time, the only books known to be forthcoming were Maul: Lockdown and Honor Among Thieves, and with the canon situation unresolved, no one really knew what to expect from Star Wars novels in 2014 and beyond—or whether there’d even be any.

Shortly afterward, the announcement came down that the Star Wars comics license would be transferring from Dark Horse to Marvel at the end of 2014. Now, six months later, we’re in much the same position with comics as we were back then with novels—the last of DHC’s new offerings will be along next month, and as yet there’s been no information of any kind on what Marvel will be releasing next year (though with San Diego Comic-Con in a few weeks, I suspect we won’t be in the dark much longer).

So this time, I asked the others to pitch their own Marvel comic series. This being our first Pitch article post-reboot, I also made it clear that ideas didn’t need to fall in line with the existing Expanded Universe. Here’s what we came up with. Read More

The Expanded Universe Explains, Vol. VIII – Han and Lando

Posted on July 2, 2014by Scotch Tape and Popsicle Sticks

Now that we’re officially living in a post-reboot Galaxy Far, Far Away, one could be forgiven for thinking my EU Explains series isn’t really relevant anymore. I, however, think no such thing. I love the Expanded Universe largely because of the context and depth it gives to the many ambiguous bits in the movies—the spice mines of Kessel? Bothans?—and even if it can no longer be entirely relied upon to bear out in future content (which, let’s admit it, was always the case), even the most oft-contradicted sources present a fascinating superposition of possibilities for those bits, and will almost certainly be sprinkled into the new canon here and there; likely even the Sequel Trilogy itself.

Understanding the possibilities, I think, is just as valuable as knowing things for certain. To that end, for the time being I’m going to capitalize on this lack of certainty and begin exploring topics that even the EU was never quite sure about—the bounty hunter(s) on Ord Mantell, for example, or how the Rebels got a hold of the shuttle Tydirium. I may even untangle the myriad tales of the Death Star plans. But first… Read More

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss: Imagining A Truly New Republic

Posted on June 23, 2014by Scotch Tape and Popsicle Sticks

About a week ago, Making Star Wars broke a story that alleged a few things about the premise of Episode VII that many found hard to believe. The assertion that’s attracted the most attention is that the villains will be so-called “Jedi Hunters” (along the lines of the Inquisitor in Star Wars Rebels) who have largely kept Luke Skywalker’s burgeoning Jedi Order on the run in the decades since Return of the Jedi. Plenty has been written about them already, and I’m not about to believe or disbelieve the overall report with anything approaching real confidence, but the larger premise of the rumor did kickstart a pretty interesting discussion that caused me to rethink a lot of my own assumptions about what the galactic status quo “should” be in the Sequel Trilogy.

Last year, in Part II of his A Case For Starting Over series, Alexander Gaultier delved deeply into the Expanded Universe’s handling of the founding of the New Republic, what it did right, what opportunities were missed or mishandled, and so on. But one thing that both fans and detractors of the EU have never really given serious thought to is the notion that thirty years after Palpatine’s death, the Republic wouldn’t really be back just yet. Read More

So You’ve Heard Yourself A Rumor

Posted on June 18, 2014by Scotch Tape and Popsicle Sticks

suncoverIn the first round (volume? saga?) of So You Think You Can Internet, I offered my time-tested advice on how to conduct oneself amicably in an internet debate. Now I’d like to move on to another area with which I’ve got a bit of experience: rumors. At first glance my target audience here might seem limited to people who actually run websites of their own, but I’d say it’s just as important for a reader to understand these things as for a writer or publisher.

When I founded the Unofficial New Jedi Order Homepage almost exactly fifteen years ago (ugh), the tone of fandom regarding the series was not altogether unlike what we’re seeing with Episode VII now—the Expanded Universe was regarded as stagnating, and suddenly the novel license was in new hands, with rumors of a drastic new storytelling direction on the scale of the Original Trilogy. The first excerpt from Vector Prime released in the summer of 1999 featured Han’s reflections on an uncertain galaxy where no one was safe; it didn’t come right out and say it, but the message was clear: someone was about to die. Read More

In Defense of Cheesecake

Posted on June 11, 2014by Scotch Tape and Popsicle Sticks

Cheesecake (noun)

1. A pie made of sweetened and flavoured cottage cheese or cream cheese, eggs and milk on a crunchy base.
2. Imagery of one or more scantily clad, sexually attractive persons, especially young women; pin-ups.

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Often in the course of our diversity discussions at the Jedi Council Forums, people will object to what they see as an attack on the phenomenon of male heterosexuality. If people complain about the objectification of female characters (or all too often, characters who exist solely to be objectified), that’s taken as implying that there’s something wrong with finding a given type of imagery sexy, and that men should feel bad about it.

Of course, this isn’t the case—and complaints of that nature generally fall into the category known as “Not All Men” objections, in which people ignore the precise substance of a complaint and choose to argue against gross overstatements instead. But I’ve seen this particular flavor of debate come up enough at this point that I thought it would be helpful to demarcate what exactly can be considered, essentially, “good sexy” and “bad sexy”. Read More