Category: Feature Articles

Rebels Revisited: Prequel Shorts

Posted on September 5, 2014by and Feature Articles

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With just under a month to go until the official premiere of Star Wars Rebels‘ first two episodes, the franchise’s hyperdrive is pretty much locked in—the first tie-in novel is out, the merch is starting to appear on shelves, there’s some kind of weird bag thing happening at Subway, and as of last Monday, all four preview character shorts are available to the public (and below!). Brief vignettes taking place apart from the main action of the series, these four 3-minute videos serve as our introductions to the cast of Rebels in action, and even more importantly, to the show’s tone and style.

So now that they’re out, this seemed like a good opportunity to introduce our own walking, talking Rebels coverage machine—new staff writer and longtime contributor, Ben Wahrman. Ben has foolhardily (is that a word?) agreed to write a piece covering each episode of Rebels’ upcoming first season—since the premiere is two episodes, that’s fifteen pieces in total. Myself or others may weigh in here and there, but the plan is for Ben to be the backbone of Eleven-ThirtyEight’s Rebels operation. Read More

The Dark Horses of Dark Horse Comics

Posted on August 29, 2014by and Feature Articles

xwrs-wedgeSome of my earliest memories of Star Wars fandom are of searching my local comic book store for trade paperbacks of X-Wing: Rogue Squadron. Huge book stores were still in vogue back in the nineties, so odds were good that the only thing between me and whichever novel I’d decided to read next for my Great Bantam Catch-Up of ’97-’99 was a quick trip to Media Play or Borders. Catching up on the comics was another matter—something “mainstream” like Dark Empire wasn’t too hard to track down, but there were at least six trade collections of XWRS already in print by the time I got around to it, and a couple more on the way—and that’s not counting the first story arc, The Rebel Opposition, which wasn’t collected until the first XWRS Omnibus several years later.

For sixteen-year-old me, just figuring out which TPB came next was something of a challenge; actually finding the damned thing in tiny little Seeley & Kane’s a couple blocks from my house was far more uncertain. I eventually managed, of course, but if those trades hadn’t been out there, I’d have stood virtually no chance of finding the original issues, meaning I wouldn’t have had another shot at reading the series until the aforementioned Omnibus set much, much later.

All this is to say that it’s incredibly heartening to see the announcement this week of Marvel’s first Star Wars “Epic Collection” TPB, including much of Dark Horse’s post-Revenge of the Sith material, some of which is less than a couple years old. Regardless of the Legends banner on the front, Dark Horse’s Star Wars catalog includes some of—no, many of—the best SW stories ever told, and I’m thrilled to know that the comics license changing hands doesn’t mean new generations of fans will lose access to that material; at least not all of it. Read More

Clone Wars Character Autopsy: Ahsoka Tano

Posted on July 14, 2014by

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Our previous two articles focused on some of the villains of The Clone Wars, both of whom originated elsewhere but received the lion’s share of their development within the 100-plus episodes of the TV show. There were many notable characters who were created specifically for the show as well, on both sides of the conflict. But none of them received the spotlight as much or as harshly as Ahsoka Tano.

Behind the scenes, Ahsoka was created as part of the initial outline of the show, which involved her and an elder Jedi Master, along with other more motley crew members, traveling the Outer Rim and involving themselves with various adventures. George Lucas saw the concept art and initial sketches of her and proposed that she be apprenticed to a more notable Jedi instead: Anakin Skywalker. Ahsoka, in his eyes, would be the ideal tool to help Anakin develop from the brash, undisciplined apprentice he was at the end of Attack of the Clones into a more mature, reserved Jedi Knight in Revenge of the Sith.

Like Asajj Ventress before her, however, Ahsoka would grow into a full-fledged character in her own right. Though apprenticed to Anakin, throughout the show’s run she often left Anakin’s side and joined other Jedi on adventures through many scopes of the war. This, along with her unorthodox lightsaber style and penchant for giving nicknames (and snark) to everyone she met rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way as she made her debut in the Clone Wars movie. On the other hand, she has become a favorite character for a large portion of fans for some of those same reasons, especially among young girls. Read More

Clone Wars Character Autopsy: Asajj Ventress

Posted on June 30, 2014by Feature Articles, Sidelong Glance

Last time, we looked at one of the leaders of the Separatist Alliance’s military arm. While General Grievous was urged to use the unorthodox in his fight against the Jedi, he was in the end a blunt instrument in Count Dooku’s hands, a hammer used to smash the opponents of the CIS. Of course, Dooku also had need of a scalpel during the Clone Wars, a more selective agent who would not mindlessly charge into battle, and in whom he could implant his own ideas and training, giving him a tool with which to possibly unseat his master one day.

Enter Asajj Ventress.

Ventress was created as a part of the Clone Wars multimedia project to give the Republic a mid-tier antagonist before Grievous was revealed, first appearing in the comics but making her mark in the Genndy cartoon series as well. It was in The Clone Wars, though, where she made her biggest impact, giving audiences a major female villain for the first time in Star Wars screen history barring the antagonist of the Ewok movie (because who remembers that?). But her gender was far from her only reason for her popularity. She was menacing, she was magnetic, she was intelligent and even funny at times thanks to her talent for sarcasm. She gave the heroes a run for their money, but was far from a one-dimensional villain, as we’ll see. Read More

Clone Wars Character Autopsy: General Grievous

Posted on June 16, 2014by Feature Articles, Sidelong Glance

This is the first in what (I hope) will be a semi-ongoing look into the cast of this era, specifically using the massive amount of material provided by The Clone Wars TV show to do an autopsy of sorts into the portrayal and development of characters through the show’s length. Why am I just using the TV show and not all of the rest of the Clone Wars EU? Because TCW, like it or not, is the only official canon portrayal of characters and events that existed in the era now barring the films framing it. Even the Genndy Clone Wars series, which debuted some of the war’s major players, was heavily stylized and exaggerated compared to both TCW and the movies even before its continuity was called into question. This article assumes that the events of the cartoon happened, but not necessarily precisely as portrayed. TCW strikes a balance between the ideas and plots George Lucas had in mind for the era and elements of the EU that came before it, making it the most accurate history of the era in its current state.

With all of that said, let’s talk about General Grievous.

As the hype for Revenge of the Sith grew, Grievous was advertised and hyped along with it. It was Grievous’ skeleton-like visage that greeted fans upon the reveal of the title of the movie he would appear in. In his initial (both in and out of universe) debut in the Genndy series, he was a stoic, dreaded presence not unlike those in a slasher movie, single-handedly killing or seriously wounding several Jedi and only driven off by a barrage of laser and missile fire from an ARC trooper squad. His fighting style in that appearance was graceful, flowing, more like a dancer than a brute, including balancing on one foot so he could hold a third lightsaber between his mechanical toes, and he spoke only long enough to assure the Jedi that he would give them the honor of a warrior’s death. The hope for the character was high. Read More