Marvel’s Star Wars Number Ones

You've just jumped inside the Marvelous March

spectacular here on the pull bag. This annual

spotlight on Marvel Comics characters will be

held every March. Well, this year we are a bit

late with the spotlight, but it fits in, because

we are going to say at the end, may the 4th be

with you, as Ep 105 of the podcast will air on

Star Wars Day. For 2015, TFG1 Mike, JT from Saskatoon,

Hunnic Outcast. and Steve Megatron tackle all

new characters and storylines featuring Transformers

Classics, Avengers, and X -Men Access, Superior

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to Marvel. It's an all -new, all -different Marvelous

March in its second year. It's all inside the

pull bag here on the Keycast Radio Network. And

now, on with the show. Hello and welcome to the

pull bag. This is episode 105. I'm your host

if you're my journey is Jeremy Yeah, Jeremy fine.

I almost said Jeremy from Saskatoon. I'm like,

wait a minute. You don't live in Canada But not

Canada, yes At least in Florida you don't have

to change citizenships you'd be amazed Mm -hmm.

Yeah a lot of aliens live there Fresh off talk

about being fresh off the boat And we are ending

marvelous March this year on a Star Wars day

may the farce be with you And we're gonna be

talking about Marvel Comics Star Wars number

ones since Marvel got the license back from Dark

Horse Marvel has been doing an amazing job and

basically taking everything that Dark Horse did

Putting Marvel's name on it like dark Darth dark.

I almost said dark helmet We need spaceballs

comics folks. We really do Taking Darth Vader

in the ghost prison or The Thrawn trilogy or

whatever, you know the the Boba Fett books from

that were in Dark Horse They basically took all

they basically took the entire Star Wars catalog

back From Dark Horse, which we knew that was

gonna happen But I was really surprised when

I saw some of the books that I've been wanting

to get from Dark Horse some of the some of the

big trades Show up on Comixology under Marvel

Mike. Oh cool. I don't have to worry about finding

a softcover or hardcover of this. That's great

Marvel is also doing their own new main Star

Wars series and they also have Three other series

right now. I believe Kanan Just started and that's

based off of the lead pilot rebel in Star Wars

rebels But we have Princess Leia who is a five

-issue miniseries apparently and we have the

ongoing for Darth Vader I'm kind of I'll say

right up front. I'm kind of glad that Leia is

only a miniseries because That second it like

don't get me wrong folks I know I know better

than to talk shit about Mark Wade because I've

heard stories that he'll come after people But

I just I don't know what it was the first issue

as we'll talk about it later in this episode

I really enjoyed it, but my overall first impression

was that I really really enjoyed it when I got

to the second issue I'm like Okay, this is a

little weird. This is well. I don't know it was

a little weird for me um with the Star Wars comic

it Number one you know and we're gonna get into

this here in a minute, and I'll let you go with

your thoughts I thought it was really great.

I thought it was interesting to you know show

the aftermath after They get the awards and all

this and all that I think there's a lot of really

nice homages to the film the original Star Wars

film a new hope and all that. But for me right

now, my money's on Darth Vader. That series is

amazing. Darth Vader is to comic villains as

to what J .R. Ewing is to the television villain,

in my opinion. What about you? What were your

initial opinions when Marvel first got Star Wars

back and when they started launching these new

titles? I think Marvel is going to treat this

as any cash cow and milk it until there's nothing

left in the udder. Now, that's not a bad thing.

I think Marvel played a nice game of put -up

or shut -up. I'm really glad that Marvel owns

LucasFilms now. You know, Marvel... Disney. Disney

owns. Well, you know what? Let's just say it.

All hail the mouse, because that's what I'm saying.

First of all, smarter deal that they took a bite

out of the Marvel Apple. That's all I'm gonna

say. Second of all, they know how to tell a story

and by they, Marvel, Disney, they know the difference

between good and evil. They know how to set up

a villain. They know how to make a villain work

and how to make a villain immortal. So, I was

not scared. You know... The Dark Horse comics

I've talked about for years. I remember walking

into Oh God, we're going back to the 90s. I think

it was a store called Comic Attitudes I know

it was in Jersey because Kevin Smith would talk

about it, but I just remember as soon as you

walked into that store They had the Dark Horse

Star Wars and I would try to read them They were

big. They were bulky. The dialogue was almost

there. But you know what it just didn't click

with me and I love Dark Horse. Marvel is playing

a little bit smarter because what they're doing

is they're taking bits and pieces of those good

parts. And yeah, I like the idea of this in between

quill type of ordeal where even though Luke is

going to be facing off Vader now, it's not going

to replicate what happens in Empire Strikes Back.

And even though we have a fight with an ad at

Walker and we see what Vader can do with it,

it's not going to replicate what's going to happen.

Even though what I hate about like prequels and

in between calls is that, you know, 30 to 40

years ago, nobody thought about the prequel.

Nobody thought that Star Wars was going to become

what it became. So when you try to go backwards,

I say something in the middle. I understand that

nobody thought about it back then, but it kind

of, for fans today, can be very nitpicky. For

me, I'm okay with all of it because thankfully

have the writer is able to, and the writer, of

course, is Jason Aaron. Jason Aaron is able to

take what was done 30 years ago, tweak it a little.

but not insult the intelligence, and at least

say, okay, there's a reason why when we get to

Empire, why things are not changing so much as

staying the same, and we're gonna work that away

around. And the other thing that I appreciate

is that even after they stop whatever these miniseries

are gonna stop with, there may be continuity,

and as far as I know, Marvel is looking to make...

at least a thousand issues of Star Wars. I'm

sure there's going to be a ton of stories between

episode seven, because we got new characters

right there. I've already pre -ordered my BB

-88 toy. I mean, that's going to bankrupt me

right there. I mean, I'm kind of curious. It's

a soccer ball. It's a fucking soccer ball. Oh,

but I love in Star Wars Celebration when they

had R2D2 and BB -88 just like get together. But

I want to see Finn's story. So I like what they're

doing with this in -between goal, but I think

because it's sweet short and to the point because

these pages for these issue ones are probably

under 20 pages at least like anywhere between

20 to 24 if you don't count like the cover and

you know the artwork or you know, the fan letters.

I love the covers, though, and I love the fact

that we also have John Cassidy that... I'll say

it, he's very good at doing characters, making

these characters look like they were 30 -somewhat

years ago. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, it's... Yeah,

I mean, from just on Comixology, because thank

God Comixology has no ads, Um, they go from the

actual star wars. Number one is 35 pages. Um,

as you already said, writing on here is, is Jason

Aaron artist is John Cassidy. Uh, the colorist

is Laura Martin letter is Chris. Yeah. Probably

saying that wrong. Yeah. Why not? We all do cover

artists, Cassidy and Martin. Um, What I love

about the Marvel Star Wars stuff and how they've

done this is They actually use the blue Credits

like I was expecting to see the credits somewhere

in the story like you know you open up Let's

say a DC book at some point within the first

five pages of a DC Comics comic whether it's

Batgirl or Grayson or Batman some point within

that first five pages or in some cases at the

very you know sometimes they put the Credits

in the title of the story at the very end You

know there's gonna be the credits. You know on

the page somewhere I like how they did this with

this one where all the credits look like the

end of a Star Wars movie The the original cover

the first cover I'm not gonna talk about right

on top center and talk about all the covers,

but for Star Wars number one It's Luke, Han,

Leia, Chewie, 3PO, and R2 with X -Wings and TIE

fighters coming out of a space bridge. Oh, I'm

sorry. That's not, you know, this isn't Transformers

meets Star Wars, but it's supposed to, I guess

it's supposed to be hyperspace. And we start

off with a long time ago in a galaxy far, far

away. And the Star Wars name comes up and we

have book one Skywalker strikes. It is a period

of renewed hope for the Rebellion. The evil Galactic

Empire's greatest weapon, the Death Star, has

been destroyed by the young Rebel pilot Luke

Skywalker. With the Imperial forces in a disarray,

the Rebels look to press their advantage by unleashing

a daring offensive throughout the far riches

of space, hoping to defeat the Empire once and

for all and at last restore freedom to the galaxy.

I could almost hear John Williams score my head.

But yeah, the other thing is that I just want

to talk about the cover is that the ships coming

out of hyperspace. I'm just noticing this right

now. It's the silhouette of Darth Vader's helmet.

It's got to be. I mean, that's what it looks

like. Yeah, that's it. This helmet. Yeah. Yep.

And then, of course, the other thing, and I've

been doing the written reviews on this, I love

the first four panels that it feels. This is

almost a motion comic. I mean we got panel one.

It's just space and then we started to see The

spaceship starting to you know slowly move across

space and onto the planet again, this is anything

out of any opening of Star Wars movie with the

exception of I guess Because I'm not gonna give

the prequels any credits. I'm not giving episodes

1 2 & 3 any credit I'll give 4 5 & 6 and that's

all I'll give Once we you gotta you gotta give

three credit for setting up Vader's, you know

Anakin's story to becoming the only thing about

three that I absolutely give credit for is we

got to learn how Vader finally became Vader.

That's that's it. Here's my response But here's

the thing that I love too is that this artwork

feels more like the original I Wouldn't say the

Dark Horse comics. I haven't read them in years

It feels like nothing's really changed like There's

something nostalgic about about the detail especially

the facial detail and I wrote about this as well

when you look at Han Solo up and close and You

just see the way that his mouth is moving the

typical Han Solo arrogance about him Mm -hmm

everything from the lip twitch To the way in

his eyes to a smirk. I mean The one thing that

I gave was the details anything up close. You're

not just getting okay It's you know a character

of Harrison Ford. No, you're getting a living

breathing actor being portrayed in a comic book

if that makes any sense and everything looks

like Something that I want to invest my time

into so I was definitely not disappointed with

how this artwork and especially with the panels

where Just like any Star Wars Movie where you

have the ship starting to land on the planet

or the ship is out in space going around before

you get to the actors Cassidy and Aaron know

what the fans want and but Star Wars what I loved

about the opening any movie Was that tension

you you know you get John Williams score? You

get the opening credits, you know, you get that

scroll to find out, you know, like what we have

to know previously on Star Wars, whatever the

case may be. Score starts to fade away, you know,

the rolling credits fade away. And you just get

like maybe 10 or seconds or so of dead silence

and just looking at space. And again, Aaron Cassidy

really know how to respect. What the fans want

in this series? I? Don't think on the art I don't

think Cassidy is trying to emulate the old Dark

Horse stuff And I haven't read a lot of the only

thing that I've read is the the Boba Fett stories

Boba Fett is dead and Django and Boba Fett so

I don't know but I'm telling you, it's like he's

watching the films while recreating the characters

on the page. It's like he's looking at episode

four for reference in how to draw and the color

is the same thing, you know, the color is, you

know, how to color Han's, you know, vest and

jacket and pants and whatever else. And, you

know, you get a, well, you don't get, but, you

know, you get the stormtroopers and it's, you

know, don't get me wrong. I don't want to insult.

any of the artists on any book, but it's pretty

hard to screw up a stormtrooper. I mean, you'd

have to, you know what I mean? I think, like,

who could screw up a stormtrooper? Well, but

I'm saying, like, you know, you look at, um,

what is it, the page where the target, the first

target is, and, you know, Hans, you know, you

see the stormtroopers around this, you know,

this Aggie, or whoever the hell he is, and those

look like the stormtroopers we all know and somewhat

care about not really but you know it's one of

those things where it's pretty hard to screw

up a stormtrooper and you're right Han looks

like how Han is supposed to look Chewie as a

sniper I don't as a story point I don't buy that

because Chewie has never been one for the subtle

move I mean Yeah, I know we're not there yet

in this comic here, but you look at Empire and

You know Chewie was about to rip her. Oh, no,

it wasn't if I it was it was you know in episode

four He already showed he is not for subtlety

at all because he nearly ripped Luke's head off

when he wanted to handcuff him I don't bite you.

I think it's cool Think it looks great. I think

it's interesting seeing Chewie behind the scope

of a sniper rifle. I just don't think character

-wise it's I Don't think it fits. Well, here's

the thing and again, we're watching Star Wars

my own hypothesis and finally when I would listen

to what George Lucas had to say is that we all

know that Chewie supposed to be a dog and You

know We either see him as the pet or we see him

as the friend. We never see him as a sidekick.

No, he's not a sidekick. A sidekick would be

barf. I mean, barf is a sidekick. Right, but

what I'm saying is with Chewie and finally, you

know, reading up on the mythology on the Wookiees,

technically, can they use ranged weapons? They

can if they want to. Anything from a sword to

a blaster. The thing is is that My own hypothesis

with the Wookiees and I'm going with the video

games and the comics they're more about Their

brute strength and they'll only rely on it if

they need to use the weapons They're more You

know again a Wookiee can rip your arms off if

it's cheated or even if you lose if he loses

at a chess game I think the problem is that people

want to see something different to see The animal

with a gun for some people looks cool But if

truly you just run around and rip your arms off

then again the problem is It's a budgetary issue

back then and I think it also because little

kids are watching this movie I think if they

see him with a blaster then it's not as gory

as he turns into a grizzly bar or something that

effect Well, yeah, but I mean, let's face it,

this comic is not for... This is not an all -ages

comic. This is for us. This is for the fans of

the film. You know, in Star Wars itself, yeah,

sure, even though we saw it as kids, I don't

think I would show any of the Star Wars films,

prequels, originals, whatever, to anyone under

11 years old. You know, it's funny because today

in Free Comic Book Day, I sold... divorced dads

that I kind of asked that question because Star

Wars is coming up and They walked over and they

were showing them the Marvel stuff and they were

showing them the Marvel Star Wars And I'm not

gonna go there and judge and say anything like

what kind of parent are you but their excuse

From what I overheard was well, you know, I grew

up watching this and I turned out Okay, and you

know, I'll show it to you. Yeah, it is supposed

to be for know our generation that we grew up

in watching this and this is supposed to be for

fans and this does feel like fanfic but you gotta

pass it off to somebody and I don't think until

that time comes when we get droids or Ewoks or

uh you know I guess Clone Wars or Rebels or whatever

the case may be I if I were a parent would I

show this to an eight -year -old? Well, I was

literally a month old when this first movie came

out and then I was six when I saw Empire and

Well, no Empire came out in 80 So I was like

three and then I was six when Jedi came out My

point being is that at that age and I got the

comics and whatnot. I turned out. Okay, so I

don't think violence? Is this violent? Yeah,

it kind of is, but it's not saturated with violence,

and it's still a story. So, no, I mean, I don't

think it's gonna... once the parent is gonna

be that overprotective. I mean, it's not as gory

or bloody, and I never will recall a Star Wars

movie being that violent. I mean, people get

killed and, you know, you have to use your imagination.

But even when the violence is used in this...

first issue Especially when you know stormtroopers

heads are being bashed in whether wearing the

helmets Well, they are and we see it. I use my

imagination. I don't want to think what's happening

on the inside of that helmet. I kind of Get an

idea either a at one point with that panel neck

is already broken or They're gonna have to keep

that helmet on for the rest of their natural

life as a life support system Well, yeah, but

see, that's the thing. You have imagination.

You grew up knowing imagination was okay. There

are a few exceptions. There are a few in my circle

of friends that I will take an exception to on

this because they, I know, will raise their kids

right. But the world today at large, from what

I've seen at least here in Kentucky, some parents

don't raise their kids properly. What it was

like it like the world has changed so much since

the 80s And I really do think that you know when

it comes to parenting Imagination is dead Yeah,

that is true. I I think if it's not on the internet

or they have to see it Yeah, the short attention

spans if definitely has delayed it since I mean

i've i've talked about this off topic about You

know the mirage teenage ninja turtles. I thought

they were able to you know do the violence between

asaki and Yoshi with, you know, that battle and

you just used your imagination of what was really

going on. But no, I think the problem is kids

imagination has definitely changed, but I don't

see this one as being too violent for this first

issue. I see a lot of people getting knocked

off. I see a lot of people getting punched around.

I see a lot of people, you know, contemplating

what the next move is. There's a lot of talking

in this first issue. a lot of dialogue. It's

not a bad thing. I kind of like the mixture between,

you know, the character development, what's going

on. I got confused at first. I don't know why

for the first two pages. I didn't put two and

two together and realize because I just wanted

to speed right through and I'm like, you know,

is this an in -between call? Is this after episode

four? Yeah, I would scroll back because I didn't

look at the prologue for some reason. I just

like, wow, there's a new Star Wars. I just like...

Skip through and I just wanted to read this and

finally by page now five or six. I realized Oh,

I gotta go back and really look at that prologue.

I was like, oh, okay. Yeah, this is a prequel

This one. Well, no, it's not this isn't a pretty

cool. Yeah. Yeah, it takes place after episode

four. Yeah And I and I like this because they're

showing the aftermath and what you know the next

adventure before Empire because I've said this

on, I said this on the overall five hour podcast

that we did on movie weekend review back in 2010

for Star Wars. Even as a kid and even now as

an adult, I hate the ending to episode four.

Yeah. Because it, because it just fucking ends.

I, okay, great. They got medals. What what's

next? I want I wanted something a little bit

more than just ending on Everybody all big smiles.

Yay. We won Okay, bye. See you in three years

for Empire Well, here was the thing too with

that ending from what I understand It was one

of those we didn't realize this was gonna be

a hit and we're gonna do Empire. That's why it

took three years George, you know, I remember

Not George Lucas, it was actually Mark Hamill.

He said something in an interview that he went

to a theater in New York, and they were playing

a preview to Star Wars, and a guy in the audience

said, yeah, well, in a month later, this is gonna

end up on late night television. Nobody knew,

and I know we hear this today, but nobody literally

knew back then what Star Wars episode, especially

being called episode four, because, okay, where's

one, two, and three? Nobody knew that this was

gonna explode. So when George Lucas went, oh

shit, He Cliffhanger or not or whatever was gonna

be now we got Empire So I'm okay with the ending

now because that's the excuse for the 70s today

No, that's not gonna fly, but it's I mean now

that we have this this new ongoing series with

Aaron and Cassidy I'm fine. I'm okay because

I'm seeing what happens next I get that, you

know, we're getting the story. We're getting

all this stuff of you know how Luke and Han and

Leia are going to go in to this whole weapons

facility and take it over and basically destroy

it. This is the whole point of this issue, folks.

They're at a weapons facility in the outer rim.

and they're going to destroy it because it belongs

to the empire uh... you know they they pull that

whole hey negotiator thing blah blah blah oh

no there will be no negotiations you'll just

you know take the deal and accept it along the

way luke has you know some force talks with them

a little bit he finds all these prisoners and

saves them he does have an amazing and i love

how cassidy does this the art on loop pulling

out his lightsaber basically cutting somebody

else's hand off yeah I wanted to talk about that

too because it is going back to what Ben did

in episode 4 but we he was the thing too as a

kid I didn't put two and two together with lightsaber

okay saber is another word for sword why because

this seems to be You know, I guess as Anakin

said in episode one a laser sword and that's

what it pretty much is So I can understand that

this is a laser sword because it's both heat

and light That this is the perfect weapon when

you think about it not just for a Jedi But for

anybody that if you want to have something with

violence and having people getting sliced up.

Well, it's a laser sword and The reason why you're

not gonna see people bleed again heat and light

The way they're getting cut up, they're also

getting burned to the point where they're not

going to be bleeding. And I think this way, you're

not going to see them dripping with blood once

they're getting cut up. But I do love how Lucas

just stand there after he's done it and just

like, follow me. Follow me if you want to live.

Yeah, it's a stance. But the way that he's standing

there holding the lightsaber held, you know,

to his left, and you just see right behind him

that guy that's been sliced up. Again. lasers

have always been the perfect weapon in sci -fi

or anything where if you shoot somebody you don't

have to worry about the bullet because excuses

well it's a laser you know as I said a few minutes

ago so yeah it's it's again it's great artwork

and the other thing is with the panels of how

Luke is doing it because we just see panels of

him waving the lightsaber around and then we

just see like the hand fall and the spectators

watching again. Well, we don't even see it fall.

It's already on the ground and he steps over

it. It looks like it kind of... Oh yeah, that's

true, yeah. No, it's on the ground and he steps

over it. Yeah, that's true, yeah. He is waving

the lightsaber around like something at a light

show. But yeah, you're right. Kind of, yeah,

you're right. Yeah, it's on the ground. So, he

saves the people. Han and Leia and R2 are trying

to overload the reactor and Luke shows back up

with with you know a few more passengers and

blah blah blah blah Apparently there's a ship

incoming Chewie is still doing his sniper detail

and apparently the negotiator that they sent

was Darth Vader himself and Han tells Chewie

not to take the shot I can so start a whole argument

here. Actually, it would be true, because Chewie

did shoot first. But Han tells him not to take

the shot, and Leia's like, screw that noise.

Take the shot if you've got the shot. And I love

how Cassidy draws Vader. I love the effects on

Vader's lightsaber. It doesn't even show you

that he pulled it out. but it looks like how

the bullets come in and how he pulled his lightsaber

out that he pulled it over his head to deflect

the bullets and at first until I saw the lightsaber

in his hand I'm like oh red red beams that's

an interesting way a way to show the force you

know the the effects of you know moving something

away from you with the power of the force but

it's obviously the lightsaber that looks amazing

You know Vader then starts throwing stormtroopers

everywhere You know, he tries to beat up chewy

with a force choke that doesn't really work I

Love him using his own guard. I mean, we know

he's gonna do it. They're disposable stormtroopers

But I do like it kind of feels very three stooges

ask when he has You know uses the force to clunk

their heads together. I don't know if you played

Oh god, it's not the force. Is it the force awakens?

I think not not the movie, but there's a Star

Wars game where Vader is trying to train a Jedi

to kill the That's that's the force awake. It

is the force awakens. Okay No, it's not a way.

It's not that's the movie the force unleashed

Yeah, okay in the force unleashed you get to

play Vader in the beginning He just like walks

around and Wookiees are coming at him. He's just

using like, you can play as Vader and just use

the force push to just like push everything aside

including the Wookiees and I love that. So that's

what it kind of reminded me of. So we go back

to Han and Leia and all that. And they're like,

you know, I'm talking to 3PO, get us out of here.

The Falcon looks great. You know, we saw it a

little bit earlier when we had a scene with 3PO

and I didn't mention it, but the Falcon looks

amazing. Even though they star -tracked it up.

Yeah, but you know what? Okay, who shot first?

I mean, who shot first but came out first? Well,

what I'm saying is that they, you know... the

whole point of where 3PO is with the Falcon is

that they buried the Falcon in with the other

garbage. And the fact that the Falcon has to

come out of the dumpster, it's just like the

Enterprise having to come out of the water and

into darkness. Oh, I'd like to pretend I never

saw that movie, but I'll take your word for it.

I've blocked that out. I've used my force mind

trick to block it into darkness. But in all honesty...

The Falcon has never looked better, and C -3PO

has never looked better. I mean, his design as

well, he looks, he doesn't look shiny, but they

kind of have this glow to him where... Yeah,

he looks shiny, but it's more of a... It's more

of an Iron Man gold than anything else. It's

a good Iron Man gold. Yeah. My god, he even has

a little bit of hot rod redden is his wires on

his on his stomach So we get the Falcon we get

this huge battle between Han Luke and Leia and

the stormtroopers and you know I wasn't sure

because I read this in Comixology's Guided View,

because that's how I read all my comics when

I'm reading them for myself. And they go panel

by panel on this page with a fight. And at the

end of it, you know, she says, great work, Han.

If your plan was to get us trapped, how do we

get out of here now? Well, we walk, Your Highness.

And I didn't know what the hell he was going

to talk about. I didn't know what he was referencing.

I should have. And then you turn the page. And

there's an army of Adats. Here's the only thing

that bothers me again, and I'm gonna say this

a lot, but I think my point is valid. That I

have no problem with them piloting the Adat walker.

I mean, after all, we're gonna see what they're

gonna do in Return of the Jedi. My complaint

is, once again though, is that in Empire, they're

familiar with the creatures, but you would figure

at this point they would know a little bit more

about them if in this... Between cool. They're

gonna be piloting them. I have no problem with

it because I love the ad at walkers I know what

they're supposed to be a reference to the you

know with Hannibal and the elephants many many

years ago So I've wanted an added Walker since

I was a kid. I had the toy I definitely enjoyed

you know when I got to those missions and the

arcade games It's a great design and there's

something about I mean at the end of the day.

It's Robotic elephant with lasers and for tusks

Wouldn't ask for anything more Yeah, so we get

the add -at scene and then the bottom of it is

like Liz like wait, where's Luke? Luke is walking

down a long corridor and we see a blue Text Luke

Ben Ben is that you? You know Luke, listen to

me carefully. Run. And you see Luke Skywalker,

Darth Vader, both of them lightsabers out, ready

to go. And damn, that's where this one ended.

And I thought it was a great ending. I think

there's a few things in this that just really

don't... Like to me Chewie is more of the monster

than he is the calculating sniper That's only

because of what I I'm Remember seeing in episode

4 that has nothing to do with Anything, you know

anything other than that So but no Star Wars

number one Jason Aaron John Cassidy absolutely

loved it What about you sir final thoughts on

the Star Wars number one? You know we kind of

complain about the ending for episode four But

if this is how episode four should have ended

and you could tell that this is what? You know

Aaron and Cassidy if they had their way if they

had more power back then This is where you drop

the mic and you walk away for a while you top

this ending This is how which I mean seriously

the more I think about it I'm okay with how episode

4 ended, but this is pretty much saying this

is what really should have happened. And yeah,

they're gonna fight again and again. So we're

just gonna add a couple fights. But I just love

the fact how Luke still has that cockiness it's

gonna take. And now I keep forgetting... The

timeline between four and six of how Luke ages

because for us I think it's like three years

in between a Star Wars movie, but I keep the

game with the timeline is supposed to be Wherever,

you know part of the galaxy they're at Yeah It's

gonna take time for him to mature. He still thinks

okay. I got the lightsaber. I'm okay, you know

We're gonna see him make those mistakes here

We don't know what well, of course, we're fans.

So we know he's gonna make a mistake We know

he's not gonna listen to Ben regardless But I

kind of wonder what would have happened like

why Ben Wasn't in Luke's head in episodes 5 and

6 like Ben would just walk in You know ghost

Ben anyway, or holographic ghost Ben. So this

is gonna be interesting hearing Ben's Thoughts

and Luke's head and you know, is he gonna make

the same mistakes in this in -between call? And

would this change anything and well, that's what

you want issued to as For everything else though

Well chewy again, it's interesting to see the

wookie for Force choke as I said with the force

unleashed so that's what I thought it was a reference

to that video game as for Vader just Tossing

his stormtroopers like they're just metallic

pieces as a kid. I did that a lot I used to just

I had a shitload of stormtroopers my friend said

and all we used to do was Because we had a dollar

store and those things are like 30 cents on the

dollar for the stormtroopers because there were

just so many of them because yeah Yeah, the toy

stores pretty much knew that nobody wanted the

stormtroopers because they used to have a sale

for like ten of them for a dollar and that's

what we do so we used to have this little pit

while they were building houses in our area and

we used to go there and throw them down the pits

or we Throw rocks at them where we take firecrackers

and tie it up and pretend like Vader is gonna

blow them up So I kind of see what he's doing

with the stormtroopers now. Nobody has any love

for these things because either a They are people

that got recruited or, I guess, according to

episode two, they're clones of Django. One or

the other. It does explain why they can't shoot

straight, because if you clone the clone of a

clone, they're not gonna, you know, their cognition

is not gonna be that great. That's why I finally

got the answer that they're not the best of anything

other than them just being disposable army men.

So questions are answered a lot and other than

that though, this was a great first issue. Yeah,

it really really was. It's one of those things

where it really sets the tone for the entire

series to this point. So we're gonna take a quick

break come back with Princess Leia after this

let's say you're looking for a podcast your favorite

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Welcome to star Joe's podcast. I'm your host

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We're the star Joe's we host a podcast called

star Joe's podcast where we talk about your favorite

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.com, and remember, the Force will be with you,

because knowing us is half the battle. Why you

stuck up half -witted, scruffy -looking nerf

herder! Alright folks, before we get to Princess

Leia number one, I did look up on Wookiepedia,

not Wikipedia, Wookiepedia, the events of Empire

take place three years after A New Hope. The

events of Jedi, Return of the Jedi, take place

one year after the Empire invaded Cloud City

and Empire Strikes Back. So that's the timeline.

So basically for these Star Wars ongoing, they

have three years. If the ongoing does very well,

I hope it does. If the ongoing does very well,

Jason Aaron has three years to tell stories in

between. A new hope. the events of Empire Strikes

Back The only thing I'm gonna say is okay, so

he's got three years. That's a lot of fanfiction

Smart because these stories now were close to

you know 24 pages a pop so Unless he wants to

expand it the only thing is is that there's also

shadows of the Empire now I played the game.

I read the book back in the day Unless he wants

To rewrite that story. I don't know because then

we have another in -between in -between call,

which is fine I just don't know what they're

gonna be able to do. Although the only good side

about all this we're gonna get a shitload of

Vader and We're probably gonna get some more

Palpatine. I've always been curious what Palpatine

has been doing during this little in -between

call is he Ruling Coruscant is he ruling other

planets? So and then again, there's Yoda I think

we're gonna find out about Palpatine once we

start start talking about the Darth Vader comic

series Because the Darth Vader comic series written

by Kieran Gillian without by Salvatore Larocca

That doesn't seem to be a miniseries that seems

to be a full -on full -fledged ongoing Like Star

Wars is Princess Leia is the only one that is

confirmed to be a five -issue miniseries And

I think that's a good thing Because you can see

what Vader has to come back from after his defeat

at the end of A New Hope Princess Leia, there's

only so much emotion you can put into a comic

book So for Princess Leia number one We don't

even get Star Wars. We don't even get a galaxy

far far away. We get the main cover Which is

her with her blaster? And a helmet I don't even

think she's coming out of hyperspace because

that that's a weird cover for me What about you

on the cover? I? Don't know if you're familiar

with the 60s film Barbarella. That's what I've

heard of it. I don't think I've ever seen it

Yeah, this this kind of looks like it's you know,

Carrie Fisher's head, but Jane Fonda's body.

As for her, I mean, I'm not even sure what the

silhouette in the background is supposed to be,

but I guess they figured, well, what is Leia

all about? What was she like? I would, you know,

it would have been interesting to see what her

life was like in Alderaan before it went boom.

But you know what? Well, we kind of do see that

here. I mean, we don't see the life on Alderaan

before, but we get the impression through this

other character, Evan, of, you know, what her

life was supposed to be like. I'll give Leia

this. She grew up quickly, in a way. I mean,

she had to. She's the last of her kind, if that's

the case. Although my other idiotic question

always has been, if she is the last of her people,

because, you know, She's the only one who unless

somebody else left Alderaan, you know, like kind

of like, you know, Superman or, you know, Supergirl

had left before Krypton went boom. Why is she

still called Princess Leia if, you know, Alderaan

is no more? Well, she corrects that. We'll get

to that here in this first issue. But it's the

title of the book. I mean, don't ever. Who's

going to read a comic that says Star Wars? Senator

Leia or ambassador Leia or you know the whole

point is Her family that she grew up with her

adopted family was royalty on Alderaan so she

in turn Became royalty so we have Princess Leia

book one It is time. It is a time of both hope

and mourning Within the rebellion, while on a

secret mission to deliver stolen plans for the

Death Star to the Rebel Alliance, Princess Leia

Organa was captured by the Galactic Empire and

forced to witness the battle station's power

as it destroyed her home planet of Alderaan.

With the help of a farm boy pilot and a fast

-talking smuggler, Leia escaped her captors and

completed her mission. using the plans the Alliance

was able to destroy the Empire's ultimate weapon,

having proven themselves a formidable enemy to

the Empire, the Rebels are in more danger now

than ever, leaving with little time to celebrate

their triumph or lament their loss. Now this

one starts off with Leia presenting the medals

to Han and Luke. You know, I really want to know

why doesn't 3PO, R2, or Chewy get a medal? Well,

I think the reason why R2 and C3PO don't get

medals, and not because they're metal. It has

nothing to do with that. It's some Futurama where

they're going to break out the folks on anything.

I mean, let's be honest and fair. I don't think

C -3PO, because if he is human -cyborg relations,

I have always saw him as somebody that technically,

and same thing with R2 -D2, they're modest. I

mean, they're artificial intelligence, but they're

just glad to do the job. I don't think they really

care about entitlement. I think they're just

happy that they're part of the team and they're

being treated as such. Truly, if I understand

with Wookiees and their pride, They're just happy

that they're accomplishing something, and that

they can survive the battle. That they are warriors

through and through, and it's not so much to

gain a notch on their belt. If, you know, for

them to survive another day, you know, that's

a great honor, and they also respect the life

dead and then some, and... For me who has played

the Star Wars Knights of a Republic games to

death They really honor and respect that life

that but when you get to go to Kashyyyk, which

is wookie world you do get to see other wookiees

and You do get to walk through their homes and

you do get to Talk to them about their culture

and you know, once you resolve an issue that's

below their tree houses You get to talk to them

some more. So They are I've always felt them

to be like, you know hairy Native Americans because

they're all about the land but they are they're

all about the land and the hunt and So that's

what I feel about chewy and yeah um before we

go too much further here i should say as i said

earlier mark wait as i'm writing on art and inks

is the dodson's terry and rachel dodson on colors

is jordy belair uh letter is vc joe carmanga

carmanga uh... c looking for covers here nobody

on covers so i guess nobody did the cover uh...

maybe uh... maybe does did it i guess a just

right off the bat these the these first three

kind of panels here with the award ceremony even

even after that the core characters here that

we see outside of three p o and archie d two

all four of them look like crap to me Yeah, you

know what this is like? The animation from Star

Wars the Holiday Special. That's what that Han

Solo looks like. And that's really saying something.

I mean, Leia, she... She looks like she has her

boobs popping out like Power Girl. I mean...

She's looking at us like she's saying like, yeah,

these are real and they're fabulous. And Luke

is wearing... skin -tied stripper leather pants.

Don't even get me started. Yeah, and Chewie,

this looks like a combination of bad anime with

Han. Oh god, Chewie looks like a, and I don't

mean to be insensitive when I say this, Chewie

looks like a darker, thinner, anorexic version

of Sweetums. The Muppet Sweetums. Ah, yeah. I

can't even look at these panels. The only one

that looks as okay is R2 -D2 and C -3PO, but

that's not really saying much with them. Now

the new characters, like classic characters,

I have a problem with in this book. The new characters

like Evan or whoever the hell else, you know,

some of the, some of the storm... Rebel pilots

look alright. But this is basically a story of

Leia wanting to you know show that she is more

than just being you know royalty. She's more

than She's more than she's worth apparently And

you know So we have that going on You know and

Mark Wade I usually like Mark's writing but This

whole awkward teenage thing with Luke and Leia

Like this whole scene here where she's like,

why are you looking at me looking at me like

that? Like what? strangely Anyway, like you said

there's much to be done 3po r2 this way You know,

wait Leia. I I was looking at you kind of strangely

The thing is I mean like it He's scratching his

head like don't get me wrong Luke was you know

Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in the film Was

a little bit like this, but the way that Wade

is writing him in the way the Dodson's are doing

his art He he's only missing about two million

pimples on his face Just this is saved by the

Bell Star Wars. That's pretty much what this

is I Understand what they're trying to do, but

they needed a female Writer and artist on this

one. I don't even know if that would have worked

I mean, I think that people have always thought

of as Leia as a role model because she's not

the damsel in distress. If you give her a blaster,

she'll use it. If you give her plans, she's not

gonna sit back and be all Princess Peach or Princess

Toadstool, whatever the case may be. She's gonna

go in there and she's gonna fight. That's what

I think we love about Leia. Yeah, in episode

six, she'll wear the slave costume, but you know

what? She'll wear it for a few minutes and then

she's choking. You know, Jabba the Hutt again.

So, I mean, you can't demean her or dress her

down because she's just gonna come back full

-fledged and kick your butt. That's the Princess

Leia that I think we all can respect. And I think

the problem is, is that now we're gonna make

her all pouty and teenager -y and... These characters

are not meshing with me and they're trying to

make Leia sexy which is I don't want her sexy.

I want her kicking butt Yeah, I mean the inconsistency

on the art and I don't mean to focus on this

folks But I have to because it's the way it looks

the inconsistency with the art on her neckline

and her her little cleavage line there where

her Breasts separate it just in every panel.

It looks different and it looks horrible It's

like they sent her to a really really bad plastic

surgeon folks That's all I'll say about that

as we go along we run into It's a trap we run

into Admiral Ackbar now. I don't know. I know

this takes place after the events of a new hope

but Don't know if I like seeing Mr. It's a trap

this early. Well, here's the thing He is a if

I've done the research because I've been years

account on Marion What's interesting about Akbar

is that it's another proud race of people that

Everybody's always been curious. Here's the thing

though either on the bus you're off of it because

a lot of people like to Imitate the voice or

they like to parody him like they have on robot

chicken. I have been fascinated with this creature

and There's a reason why he was created and of

course, you know, it's a trap is the most iconic

line read ever But what I love about it is that

after Episode six sometime in the early 90s there

were these juvenile Books that were you know,

we got six of them of what happens, you know,

it was the cause thing. We're gonna get the episodes

seven eight and nine and he of course has a big

part and what Luke wants to do is he goes to

Act bars home planet because he said well you

helped us during Jedi, you know during that battle

with the Death Star we're gonna return the favor

so we learned a little bit about The Kamalurians

and their homeworld and their you know, the way

of life and it's interesting So I am always curious

about this character The problem is is that it

feels like a cameo and the other thing too is

that when he shows up here He looks okay, but

there's also a point where he's a little bit

too bug -eyed for me I mean, he's probably the

only best design thing in this book yeah he is

the out of the classic characters he is the best

designed um As the book goes on, you know, the

princess wants to do more, the, you know, council

or the head guys in charge don't want her to,

you know, they want her to be a princess, they

don't want her to be a woman of action, yada

yada yada, and it's this whole message of, you

know, choose your path, choose your role. All

this and all that and you know, I don't get me

wrong. I like that storyline. I'm interested

I'm glad we're seeing what we're seeing here

and I like seeing the outside perspective of

Evan or Evine or whatever the hell her name is

And how she and Leia interact with each other.

I thought that was really cool but overall It

just I I don't know, I think you're right. A

woman should have written this story. I mean,

Mark Waid does an amazing job with the writing

when Leia and Evon are interacting. But now that

I'm rereading this, I've been watching that new

Transformers cartoon series, Transformers Robots

in Disguise on Cartoon Network. There's a character

on there called strong arm and strong arm is

the she's basically the female version of prowl

Always has to follow the rules always has to

check the regulations always has to do this always

has to do that So that's really what Evan kind

of reminds me of it's like well you have to you

know permit permit me to you know Terminate your

side to protect and blah blah blah and I Couldn't

get into these characters. I mean I want us a

21st century We know that we don't want the dam's

own distress and that's fine We want to see but

we also don't want to see the pouty woman. We

don't want to see The the bickering between the

two I want to see There's only so much character

development and I'm not seeing it or feeling

it in this book you know if the Dodson's had

if Even wasn't an actual human character and

she was a droid character Painter gold maker

look like Joan Rivers and BAM dot matrix in Star

Wars. You know, that's really what Evan is there

for Oh, it is that is yeah, you know It's to

be the dot matrix type of character What I do

like about this is how it ends and how Luke and

I think it's Luke and Wedge Yep Luke and Wedge

are chasing after them because they've basically

stolen the ship and they're gonna go after whatever

they're gonna go after I thought that was really

cool. I lied. Now, there's a series that we need.

We need X -Wing. That's the next Marvel mini

-series they need to do with Star Wars. X -Wings

and TIE Fighters. The war. And just have nothing

but, you know... you know get get stormtroopers

that have personalities in those TIE fighters

and get Luke and wedge and and Biggs and all

that so maybe Biggs died I afraid if he don't

it's been so long since I've seen episode 4 I

don't remember but That was a cool ending for

this is it is is them. You know chasing Leia

and I liked that But the overall story here Am

not too impressed and I have read the second

issue. I have not read the third issue. I know

the third issue is out but I'm glad this is only

gonna be a five -issue series. I have no desire

to ever go back to reading any of this I mean

unless we have to for a pullback Seriously, you

know if they're gonna do spin -offs for a while

Here's my short list if you're doing a five -issue.

I would love one on Wedgetilly's I would love

a five issue on him. I would love one on Akbar.

I would even love one on that creature that was

sitting next to Lando. I'd love one on Lando,

you know, but I mean, but I would love to see

them do a comic book version of how Han won the

Falcon in that card game. Right there. There

you go. That's what we need. I'm sorry, but you

know, We've never seen Leia with a lightsaber.

I don't know if we're gonna see her Well, we're

gonna see her in episode 7 8 & 9. I don't know

at that point We're gonna see her with the lightsaber,

but I would love to see her with the lightsaber

I'm not I think I mean in if they do in the comic

sure cool, but in the movies I think she's too

goddamn old. I don't care at this point. I mean

I'm gonna be mom Martha in in you know, I I just

don't care but this to me feels something like

out of a really bad Powerpuff Girls episode.

Oh wow. Alright, on that note folks, we're gonna

take another quick break and come back with Darth

Vader after this. Alright folks, last up is Star

Wars Darth Vader. Now this one they didn't skimp

on a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars Darth Vader! That was interesting because

I just expected to see Star Wars but I love that

they added his name to this. What's Vader? Well

I know, but I'm just saying. they skimped out

on this entire opening this whole you know a

long time ago in a galaxy far far away and then

start I'm surprised they didn't do this in the

leo book I guess I'm kind of not surprised but

I still was anyway book one Vader it is a period

of Insurgents, rebel spaceships striking from

a hidden base on a moon of Yavin have won a shocking

surprise victory against the rightful reign of

the Galactic Empire. The Empire's ultimate peacekeeping

force, the Death Star, was destroyed due to an

unforeseen design flaw. Without this deterrent,

the rule of - Law is in danger Chaos looms for

the 19 years after the vanquishing of the Jedi

and his painful rebirth on Volcanic Mustafar

Sith Lord Darth Vader has faithfully served his

master But now he has failed the Emperor and

must pay the price What do you think of the cover

for this one? Okay What are the kids in the 21st

century say? Vader is taking it like a boss or

acting like a boss. Yeah, I mean first of all

That pose him just standing with the leg up and

holding the lightsaber on the side like that

Like it's almost like a gangster holding a gun

sideways Say but but it is I mean, there's no

other way to say I'm not trying to come off a

stereotypical racist But I'm just saying yeah

that no way that he's holding though the thing

I mean if they What else can I really say but?

This has, it looks like he, the more I look at

it now, as I did when I first read this, he's

coming out of the chamber like he did in Empire

Strikes Back where he's kind of like in that

healing chamber because like when the helmet's

off, right? Yeah. And the smoke is all, you know,

around his ankles. This is probably the greatest

image of Vader. He doesn't have to say anything.

He's just standing there and yeah, this is what

a cover should be for Vader. Yep Absolutely and

Let's talk about this opening with the first

couple panels again You get that opening that

prologue, you know the da da da it starts to

fade off as usual I guess we're gonna be panning

down to tattooing because there's a two sons

and we can see it's Jabba's palace and I guess

we should kind of give it away at the end of

You know issue one of Marvel Star Wars Vader

was at Jabba's palace and he's standing you know

over the rancor pit but here we just see that

opening where it's the two sons job is palace

and vader just you know walks in no matter how

he does it whatever he does he walks in the gamarine

guards are just kind of like standing there no

dialogue we see vader in the shadows he walks

up to one of the guards slices that piggy and

just Keeps on walking and we can see Vader and

we can see his shadow emerging, you know towering

Vader Finally get the BIP now interesting side

and I'll say in a million times more when I play

Knights of a Republic you get some gamma running

guards and You know, they look like warthogs,

of course. Well interesting side note because

there is Twilek that you'd befriend in the game

that's a friend of a Wookiee and they do bring

up like why doesn't the Wookiee rip the arms

off of the gammerian guards and eat them and

she simply tells you that They're very gamey

and they're smelly and they're not really edible.

So the fact that the rancor kind of ate it I'm

surprised And the way that Vader's just slicing

this thing and you can kind of see the guts of

whatever the case maybe it's not too appetizing

So, I'm not too surprised either, but we get

Bip Fortuna, of course, that... He's got an interesting

history to him as well. If you've ever read the

book, Tales from Jabba's Palace, and for those

of you who haven't, and I haven't read it in

years, he also is not too fond of Jabba, but

we get... I mean, for me, it's Bip again. It

looks like Bip from Return of the Jedi. It's

just for those who don't know it's kind of that

creature that looks like as a snake that's strangling

him No, that's just the way the alien looks like

and it's still one of the creepiest aliens I've

ever seen So as we're going along here we get

you know Vader has an audience with Java And

he tells him to dismiss the audience and everybody

files out uh... and we find out that darth vader

is there for himself you know his his official

you know he says i will return here tomorrow

in my official capacity this is a personal issue

and it's and land to my satisfaction now i'd

love how he points at java because every time

i care i don't care who the characters even as

i mean if you look at this panel Salvatore Larocca

has done an amazing job with Darth Vader. He

just looks super impressive. But every time I

see this, this right hand index finger pointing

at the screen, it's like the Empire wants you.

It's like those old Uncle Sam images. So Vader

is there and... He's standing over the rancor

pit of course as usual That's the most iconic.

I think what I love about this panel It's the

most iconic shot that he's just standing Over

the rancor pit and we just see in the background

the familiar creature. I mean even Boba Fett's

there Mm -hmm, and then you got a gamma reading

guard. Of course, you got the the sand crawlers

Well, he's standing over the pit but then he

backs up because he sees his footprints He backs

up and sees all that. Java says, are you brave

or foolish? That is not the question, Hutt. The

question is, are you? I just love how these two

interact. I wish we would have seen this in one

of the movies. Wish we would have seen a rancor

versus Vader and that's what I was kind of hoping

for in this comic I mean even if he did go into

the pit come on He's got the saber and he's got

the force he would turn this thing inside out

So that's what I think we're all kind of hoping

for to see Vader versus a rancor I do love how

Vader uses his lightsaber and deflects all the

blasts and beams and everything else. I love

the art in this It's just so damn good Not only

is it good, but we see Java pretty much doing

what he always does. He's just like bowing You

know, we see his jowls and you know We see his

tongue sticking out and of course we get him

in a choke hold or the force choke hold And Java

getting choked is nothing new No, but it's just

missing a chain. Yeah, but here's the thing though

Jabba has been talked about for years, because

he was talked about in episode four, he was talked

about in five, and by the time six came around,

people were like, oh, wow, we gotta finally give,

you know, the public what they want, they want

Jabba. We had no idea what Jabba would be. Now,

there was a movie many years ago, and I watched

it on MST3K called Racket Girls. And there's

this gangster called Mr. Big. And everybody's

scared to death of Mr. Big, but what's great

about it, you never see Mr. Big. You just see,

like, a shadow, and you never see him... You

know, you always either see him from the back

or you see a shadow. It's kind of... Yeah, it's

kind of like Dr. Claw. It's kind of like Dr.

Claw. And I figured, okay... By this point, maybe

what they're gonna do is they're gonna treat

Java like dr. Claw But then they were showing

designs like one of them he was gonna be a giant

Caterpillar like we see would not like the worm

thing but like he was gonna have like six arms

another thing he was just gonna be kind of like

you know, I say shows crumb or There were so

many different things of what they were good

or job was just gonna be a person but we see

him as this gigantic worm and Over the years

we've learned about the huts that they're not

just these giant, you know talking slugs Especially

Jabba's had his own comic and it was one of the

most interesting comics I ever read so there

was a point where he is Sliding around it again.

I think it's because the puppeteers I Know because

of the budget and you know what they could do

back then. He's just sitting around doing nothing

job. It could move Jabba's got a powerful tail

to boot and Jabba has also been known, you know

to eat people so I was kind of hoping with this

comic they could articulate him just a little

more than just like Sitting there and bellowing

and whatnot. He's still intimidating. He always

will be But once you choke him, I guess that's

his Achilles heel He still hasn't gotten the

fact that he's got to put something around that

neck but Vader doesn't even have to do that because

Vader even says you called me a Jedi you know

nothing mind tricks are not of the dark side

and you see the choking scene you know he says

we prefer we prefer force and I just really do

love all of this art all of the this is so amazing

you know and he tells him you know what what

he needs, or well, he goes to tell him what he

needs, then we get, you know, one day earlier,

the Imperial Palace at Coruscant. And we see

the Emperor, and Vader, and the guards, and...

Well, you know, we just see the Emperor, we see

a really badass version of the Emperor. I mean,

this looks like Ian McDowell, like nothing ever

happened to him. I love the fact that it's old

-school design. Well, right, and this is at a

time, if you count in the chronological events

of the films, this is at a time after he obviously

has been disfigured by Mace Windu. So, I mean,

you know, this is, you know, the Emperor as we

knew him in, like, say, Jedi, so... Very, very

cool. What I also like is we're getting the flashbacks

of what happened during episode four. Now, for

those of you who've ever watched the robot chicken

Star Wars special, you know, we have Seth MacFarlane

that's in the senator's room or whatever, and

I guess Ad Libby or whatever are making fun of

Vader just like floating through space, you know,

and this TIE fighter after, you know, the Death

Star goes boom. It's a great skit. But I always

wondered really what was gonna happen between

the Emperor and Vader after, you know, Vader

got control of his TIE fighter and, you know,

found the Emperor again. Well, we finally get

that scene and it ain't funny. And I have to

be honest with you. We just get these close -ups

of Palpatine and he's made it very clear. You

get one more chance. Don't fail me again. I'm

stronger than you and you know it. And... Get

the royal guardsmen now if I understand this

correctly with the guardsmen I think I do they

kind of start off as Stormtroopers or at least

like the best of the best the stormtroopers the

one that can actually shoot and when they shoot

they won't When they shoot they will not miss

so only a select few do get to move up in the

ranks and become Royal guardsmen towards the

Emperor we never get to really see them in battle

other than it was like another action figure

You can buy back then but I'm kind of and we

really don't need to see them in battle because

the whole point is They are the you know, they

are the you I don't want to say useless But that's

the term we're gonna use there are the useless

guards for the Emperor. They are his way of showing

Hey, look, I need protection because I'm a wimp

when in reality he's not I would just like to

see some sort of attempted assassination with

them and to see what he's going, what they're

going to do. I mean, we know what he's going

to do, but still, I was just always kind of curious,

unless, like you said, it's just another trick

to say, like, he's a people, man, he really isn't.

And we know what Palpatine is capable of doing.

So and that's the other thing too because he's

using dark force powers So that's why he ages

because he's you know, it's drain his life force

on the other hand It could just be another trick

because the other hypothesis always been the

Emperor that we saw in these movies was a clone

and that the real one is off somewhere else Well,

that's what fans have been stating I don't buy

it either. Yeah So we get another flashback to

the Vader Obi -Wan fight to the x -wing to Vader

there to Luke Now wait is that is this a flashback

where Well, we're getting flashbacks where Obi

-Wan and Vader are fighting and of course we

get the TIE fighter, but Right, but what I'm

saying is, after the TIE Fighter scene where

we see Luke and Vader in the same room, is this

supposed to take place after the showdown in

the Star Wars issue? Yes, I think, because don't

forget, is that after the Star Wars issue, they

were working on a second one, I mean, they were,

you know, they did state, because issue one did

come out in January, and the Darth Vader issue

did come out in February. But I guess they were

just trying to give people a taste of what issue

two is gonna all be about once Vader and Luke

met. Now I think issue two came out a couple

weeks before, because I think there were two

issues for February. There was issue two and

then the start of Vader. So I think one came

out before the other. Yeah, um... They are doing

double issues for for each series throughout

each month so um yeah Darth Vader number one

came out after Star Wars number one and then

number two came out before whatever so but yeah

no okay I get it now so this is them you know

lightsaber to lightsaber even though we don't

see lightsaber to lightsaber here because they've

already taken them down and you know he says

you killed master Kenobi and wait this lightsaber

I know this weapon this once belonged to And

we see you know Luke kind of fly off and You

know later says the boy Obi -Wan gave him my

saber You know Well, which is true. I mean, and

that's something that I always was hoping because

here's the thing though It's not like how between

and Vader didn't have a conversation, but I was

always wondering and They nailed this and they

finally answered my question. Why didn't they

ever have that scene about Obi -Wan giving, you

know, Anakin his lightsaber to his son? I mean,

I understand they were waiting, you know, like

whose father and whose son, but Vader still knew

that Obi -Wan took the lightsaber and gave it

to Luke and Vader had to create a whole new one.

So I like this idea because it finally answers

some questions that at the time I thought was

just a giant plot hole. Yeah, no and I agree

I think that's amazing So this is all all this

stuff that has happened is you know Vader has

been talking to the Emperor, but the flashback

is Vader and Mark Wade showing us what Vader

what's going through his mind yet He's not gonna

tell the Emperor about any of that um because

he says you know is there anything else to report

lord vader no emperor and he walks off we go

to one day later um you know we see above a fet

and some sort of weird wookie uh that is not

chewy um no and i i thought it was there's a

dark wookie in uh force unleashed and i thought

it's supposed to be a reference to him and i

can't remember it's not zanzibar i've because

that's the good wookie in in unleashed one but

in the second one there's a rogue wookie and

i thought he's supposed to be a reference to

this one could be um so vader hires boba fat

The bounty hunter he knows the ship the Millennium

Falcon, and he wants the passenger alive You

know he says all that you know do not fail me

You know we get to that and he says I've been

delayed on this planet long enough and All my

present business is concluded And apparently

he killed a bunch of sand people. Well, didn't

he do that in episode two? So, you know, it's

payback again. He's never let that go. And I

love that. And you see, here's the thing, though.

And if any callback to the original series, I

love this callback because Anakin could never

let go what the sand people did to his mother

in episode two. He'll never forget what they

did. That's why he turned to the dark side, because

he's all about vengeance. So again, and. Think

the other thing was is that when Hayden Christensen

is given the monologue of how he killed the sand

people I never bought it. So I guess now it's

finally making up him as Vader, you know and

just giving you know It's a whisper a business

being concluded. So I love this ending. Yeah,

we didn't really talk about the creative team

but the creative team going down on the on the

end credits here we have karen gillian as the

writer salvador not salvator salvador la roca

is the artist edgar delgado is the colorist oh

my god a spider -man guy on a star wars book

that's awesome uh... the cover artist is eddie

granoff although i love his covers i really love

his covers um... darth vader number one Simply

simply amazing absolutely love it If we continue

to cover any of the Star Wars stuff, it'll probably

be Darth Vader Most likely for the most part.

I know I'm on board for Vader. I Love the Darth

Vader series. It's my favorite out of the three

You know you were talking about covers earlier

and they they did for all three of these For

Star Wars for Leia for Vader they did do various

Like a lot of variant covers for for each of

these number ones and it just it really surprises

me how much that they've actually done with with

these three books with the covers specifically

for let's just get this one out of the way right

away for Leia she has one two three four five

six seven eight 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 covers

for one number one Okay, so there's a couple

here. I want I do want to mention there is Actually

the art for this for this episode of the podcast

actually comes from all three of these these

uh... the star wars titles uh... if you scroll

all the way down and you look at the toy packaging

cover i had uh... i had steve megatron do uh...

all three toy packagings from each of the each

of the titles is the podcast art uh... simply

simply amazing uh... how these uh... have just

come out it really really is you know so with

Leia we've got the toy packaging we've got the

the actual photo of Carrie Fisher I like that

one we've got the animated looking one we've

got You know a bunch of other ones. We've got

a few action poses with her. I also like the

ones that Are it it's a second kind of anime,

but they have captions on them. You're my only

hope I love that one. I Think that's really cool

I almost wish that the The second cover down

there below the real number one, the one with

her and the star. It's basically the same thing

as what we have, except it's just the galaxy

behind her. I wish that was the actual cover

to the number one issue, not what we actually

got. For the Star Wars one, do you want to say

anything about the Leia covers? The Leia covers,

I have to say one thing. I like them. Don't get

me wrong. I mean, they're still... Well done

covers and it's still a well done book The problem

is is that? The Princess Leia series can be for

some it's not for me But the Star Wars if we're

going to those covers right now. I Got where

do I begin with the covers? I'm looking all of

them right now They just I think my favorite

one though for the covers right now. I I love

the second one where you know you got Luke, Han

and Chewie just hiding behind some trash and

you know Han going shh and Vader just standing

over them and a bunch of stormtroopers. The issue

one it feels like a movie poster. Three, Luke

just on a speed bike just blasting through the

stormtroopers is amazing and then finally with

four right now Vader or kind of? Oh, no, no,

no. We're only talking about number one. Not

all four, no. Okay. The various ones for number

one. And again, I wish, like, why couldn't, okay,

the main cover is a white background with the

X -Wings, the TIE fighters coming out of hyperspace,

and the hyperspace is made up to look like Vader.

If you scroll down on number one, you get...

a so that's why a second printing cover maybe

i should have waited to get the second printing

cover is the second printing cover is the same

cover except it's in space and it looks so much

better um with the other covers for star wars

number one again i like the one with the captions

the force is strong with this one i like that

one i do like the toy packaging you know the

whole classic action figure um they even have

i think yeah they even have a uh a price tag

on that like like an actual sticker price that's

kind of cool um with darth vader though darth

vader number one's covers that right there is

where my my money will go if i was gonna buy

other covers for this Again never tell me the

odds Love that with the Falcon which I don't

even know why that was a very I know it's a variant

cover But I don't know why that was a variant

cover for Vader because I mean they could have

found something More Vader like to use for that

I do love the one of him, you know pushing down

on the deaths on the Death Star on the lightsaber

I like that one Again the toy packaging Thought

that was great. The one that's the very last

one here. It's a variant edition. It's Him Like

I actually wish I had this cover like I mean

sure I know I can get the you know I can sit

here and copy the image and whatever else but

The very last cover is the Darth Vader mask in

like a reddish hue with Jake Lloyd Coming out

of the breathing part of it It's almost like

Darth Vader is chewing him up and not gonna spit

him out and then there's this giant chain Like

right there on his neck on on Vader's neck. It

looks so you know as Vader would say impressive

most impressive Yeah, I don't know why they didn't

have that for episode one You know for the movie

poster and said they just had like Jake Lloyd

standing and you had the shadow of Vader But

we're going to the Vader covers right now because

I get what you're saying. Just number one Yeah,

just number one. It's very simple. It's a tie

between I guess the the miniature Vader the toy

packaging. I don't know it's It's okay. I just

I just like it because it's the toy packaging

and I think it's cool It's not spectacular, but

I think that's yeah I think the final one where

Jake Lloyd is in the you know, I guess the Kate

yeah that that that to me is What it should be

and as we're going back to layer real quick for

all the the covers Her variants for the number

one I would definitely have to go with For some

reason, it feels like Barbarella, but I like

what she's up against R2 -D2. And of course,

we have the other one where it's her classic

gown where it's a slit in the gown, and we have

like 3PO and R2 -D2 in the background. And finally,

I don't know why, but there's just something

about, again, like the mini anime characters,

like Leia has that smug on her face. Wish they

would have made them Lego covers not not anime.

Yeah, but it's a great cover So I have to give

them that I mean Just just think about this if

they had taken all the anime covers that are

not the can because I know the anime cover is

different I'm not talking about the caption covers.

I'm talking about the actual anime Adventure

time crappy looking characters If they had taken

those covers instead of making them anime they

did Lego And that would help LEGO sell more Star

Wars sets. That would have been awesome. I'm

sure they're going to at this point. I could

see another LEGO Star Wars. Overall, I'm going

to give Darth Vader a 5 out of 5 stars. I am

going to give Star Wars... I give it a 4 out

of 5 because I'm just not sold on Chewie as a

sniper. Princess Leia I Liked the first issue,

but it gets a three at best out of five I just

I don't know when I went back and I read it I

didn't enjoy it as much as I did the very first

time I read it I guess what about you for ratings

for issue one of Star Wars I have to give a solid

five because I enjoy the fact that they're going

to try to We know it's gonna be failed negotiations,

but it kind of feels like fanfic of episode one

where we have a young Obi -Wan Kenobi and Qui

-Gon Jinn trying to have negotiations with the

Trade Federation, and I guess if we would have

had the original characters, it would have been

a little bit more entertaining. Luke using the

lightsaber to slice and dice, and of course,

you know, Luke encountering Vader for the first

time. Not to mention the fact we're gonna see,

you know, Leia solo and Chewie in a ad at Walker.

For Leia, again, I did like the cover. Leia could

be for a lot of people. I like the fact that

Leia is still strong in a way. She doesn't want

to be queen. She wants to fight for the, you

know, for the rebels. And I understand why You

know, we could figure out, you know, her friend

being Dot Matrix or not. Leia could be for a

lot of people. Unfortunately, it's not for me,

but in fairness, I'm gonna give her three and

a half. It's got an audience somewhere. And as

for Vader, Vader also gets a solid five because

it is fanfic, but it's probably one of the best

fanfic I've ever seen with him in Jabba's Palace.

The only thing, I was almost gonna shave off

points because I would have loved to see him

go one -on -one with the Rancor. but maybe one

day we'll get him fighting something but then

of course we're seeing his statures and limitations

because at the end of the day he's still answering

to Palpatine and Palpatine is so intimidating

and they do bring up what mistakes Vader made

it's kind of like doing your you know your uh

six month evaluation okay you know you get a

satisfactory here you get a disappointment there

because you know you made this mistake i like

how that's brought in and palpatine's got the

office and they do bring up the fact well you

know you let Obi -Wan Kenobi give your lightsaber

to Luke uh you didn't you know save the Death

Star from being destroyed by the rebels i love

those close -ups of Palpatine so and then Vader

turning to Boba Fett. You know, as he did in

Empire Strikes Back, this one's a little bit,

you know, more interesting. So, yeah, not a bad

series so far. Yeah, no, I'm absolutely loving

the series. Really. Darth Vader is by far the

best one out of all of these. Especially when

we get to issue two and three and even issue

four. Oh, my God, the things that they introduce.

Into this series. Oh So good Just so so good.

I Can't wait for that. All right, folks. Where

can the people find you online sir? Hunnic outcast

is over at iTunes It's over on Spreaker and of

course, we're on geek cast radio network and

the syndicated shows Twitter at Hunnic outcast

and Facebook comm slash Hunnic outcasts All right

Well, that's gonna do it for us and that's gonna

do it for Marvelous March this year I know Marvelous

March was a little late and we ran it in April

And we ran over into May because this is Monday

May 4th May the 4th be with you because this

is Star Wars day ladies and gentlemen Next year

for Marvelous March. I don't know. I'll start

planning that probably around Thanksgiving most

likely hopefully I can actually get it out to

you guys in March I may take some of the Event

stuff that Marvel's doing this year and cover

it next year because right now I am NOT thrilled

with events With the big two companies I could

give a crap less about converge divergence or

diverging convergence or whatever the fuck DC's

calling it and Secret wars I read the free convict

day issue. I Wasn't that impressed with it It

just wasn't So, but Star Wars Darth Vader, we

will definitely be continuing on that path of,

you know, down to the dark side and talking about

Vader. We will actually, probably what I'm going

to do for Star Wars is since we don't really

care that much about the Leia story, I'll probably

just drop that and what we'll start doing is,

since we already reviewed the number ones here,

what we'll do is next time around when we want

to do one or when we want to get... some podcasts

done. We'll record Star Wars and Darth Vader

number two as a podcast and, you know, number

three for each series and so on and so forth.

So we'll have two comics to review within each

podcast, but it'll just be the number twos of

each series. And I think Star Wars and Darth

Vader will interplay more with each other than

whatever the hell Lay is doing. I don't know.

I you know what I'm gonna say because now these

come back or if you don't do it here I'll probably

do it on mine. I'd love to discuss Howard the

duck Because here's the thing why didn't I discussed

Howard the duck issues from the classic 70s?

But I really I was like, okay Marvel, you know

Disney bought Marvel when they're gonna make

a movie and a comic out of anything because they

own the property now and i was kind of skeptical

what they were going to do with howard the duck

i'm impressed with the issues yeah you know i've

got so much going on with the pull bag you know

coming up in may here we've got batman month

going on um i'm not even doing anything for green

lantern this year is green lantern 75th anniversary

i had a whole month of stuff planned in july

I've got too much other cool stuff to work on

for the pull bag than to have it bogged down

by superhero bullshit. So, may the force be with

you folks, thank you for listening to the pull

bag. Head on over to geekcastradio .com to check

out this and all of our other episode posts,

as well as all the other episodes on Geekcast

Radio Network from all the other podcasts, whether

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