At WonderCon (currently underway in San Francisco), Dark Horse Comics director of publicity Jeremy Atkins unveiled new cover art by Jo Chen for the forthcoming New Jedi Order-era series, Star Wars: Invasion (see the original New York Comic-Con story here.)
We caught up with Dark Horse editor Randy Stradley to ask him some quick questions about the new series (below the cut).
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Tags: Comics, WonderCon
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If you’re anything like me, you need spinal photos of sauropoda on a weekly basis. May I suggest you try out the blog, Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week. For the past two weeks, they’ve shone their precisely calibrated spotlight on two Star Wars critters that meet their demanding criteria: krayt dragons and rontos.
Thank you, Internet!
Dubbed the All-New Cartoon Preview issue, the latest Toyfare (#135, cover date Nov. 2008) includes Star Wars: The Clone Wars as part of their round-up of all things awesome and animated. In good company, Yoda is, sharing page space with Marvel and DC’s upcoming animated fare, as well as The Simpsons, Family Guy and a host of new toon shows.
This issue also features an interview with supervising series director Dave Filoni as well as a spotlight on Clone Wars toys. It’s on newsstands now.
Steve Sansweet, Head of Fan Relations: This has been an incredibly ambitious three to four years. Setting up a new animation division in two countries, staffing it with incredibly talented people, and then producing something that is of such high qualities. There so were many stories to tell and areas to explore in this period that we call Clone Wars. The best way to do that was to use classic Star Wars storytelling in a new medium for us.
It’s my extreme pleasure to introduce you to four people who have been putting everything they have into the Clone Wars series and movie. Please give a warm welcome to Supervising Director Dave Filoni, Producer Catherine Winder, Story Editor and Writer Henry Gilroy, and Editor Jason Tucker.
Our panelists have worked directly with George Lucas to develop The Clone Wars. How did they turn one of the world’s most recognizable franchises into the world of animation? That’s what we’re going to try to find out today.
3 Comments » | Tags: Comic-Con, SDCC 2008
Events, The Clone Wars | Permalink
“One of the things we wanted to do in The Clone Wars is bring a new look, something different to Star Wars,” says director Dave Filoni. “George Lucas talked early on about having an anime influence. Well, rather than just have an influence, we flew all the way to Japan and worked with Production I.G., bringing one of their really great artists, Atsushi Takeuchi, right into The Clone Wars.”
9 Comments » | Tags: Celebration Japan
Events, The Clone Wars | Permalink
Where else but Star Wars Celebration Japan would you possibly expect to see this sight: A real life Ahsoka Tano joined on stage by members of AKB48, an all-female idol group dressed as Japanese school girls?
Early during the run of Celebration Japan, this is how the first Clone Wars panel started out. After the girls left the stage, the screen came to life with a special behind-the-scenes video introducing The Clone Wars. As with all Lucasfilm produced shows, the sound was cranked up to eleven, and the ground shook. No, really it shook, because as this intro video played, an earthquake sent tremors through the floor and made the ceiling lamps sway. The few seasoned San Franciscans in the audience — Lucasfilm employees sent to document the convention — gave each other knowing glances as the quake subsided. No one blinked an eye, though, and as the video wrapped up, Clone Wars director Dave Filoni took the stage. What follows is a transcript of his responses.
3 Comments » | Tags: Celebration Japan, Japan, Panel
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Star Wars Celebration Japan has begun! It’s Saturday morning in Japan right now, and at the Makuhari Messe convention center, crowds gathered early despite the oppressively humid heat, filling the hall outside the doors before Steve Sansweet, Head of Fan Relations, arrived in a dapper Rebel-sigil-printed robe to begin the ceremonies.
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This just in from the wire:
NEW YORK, NY – June 25, 2008 – LucasBooks and Del Rey, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, announced today that Del Rey will publish five novels to tie-in with the upcoming Star Wars: The Clone Wars feature film, premiering on August 15, and the animated TV series that will air in fall of 2008 on Cartoon Network and TNT.
The first novel – Star Wars: The Clone Wars – is written by fan-favorite Star Wars author Karen Traviss, and will go on sale July 26, 2008. Popular science-fiction/fantasy author Karen Miller will write the second novel, to be published in December 2008. Both books will add depth, color and background to the screen stories and characters, making them must-reads for every Star Wars fan.
2 Comments » | Tags: Books and Comics, Del Rey
Books and Comics, The Clone Wars | Permalink
Oh sure, you’ve seen the front cover to Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor. Everyone has. Dave Seeley’s great artwork showcasing Luke Skywalker. (The book, by the way, has swapped places on the publication calendar with Jim Luceno’s Millennium Falcon. So expect Mindor in hardcover in December ‘08, while Falcon is due out in October from Del Rey Books).
12 Comments » | Tags: Celebration IV, Del Rey
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So, Frantic is on Universal HD right now. Great flick. You know, the one where Harrison Ford’s wife is in danger. No, the other one. No, the other other one.
Anyway, looking at the imdb entry for the film, I noticed the photography of Ford on the back of the DVD package, and noted a striking similarity to a recently profiled Japanese cover on starwars.com. Check it out, it’s Hero’s Trial, from Japan, with a rather frantic looking Han on it.
5 Comments » | Tags: DVD, Japan
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