Lit Star Wars: Kenobi by John Jackson Miller

Bah. The cover and the book are two different things entirely. I can quibble one and look forward to the other.

 

Is that truly how far we've fallen?

I'm not inherently sick of Photoshop covers like many of us, but I do really miss the more abstract stuff in general, and the Scalf image in particular. I would've loved to see just a touch of Guiness in there.

 

Obi-Wan would no doubt agree. The old soak.

 

LOL i'm not going to throw away and trace of criticism I have for this just because we're finally getting an Obi-Wan novel.

I agree though the cover isn't the worst we've ever had. Better than Crucible at least.

 

I preferred the old cover. A wider shot, and it really sold Obi-Wan's sorrow. In this one he looks like he's ready to kickass, and while I obviously haven't read the book, it seems like the former tone would be more appropriate. I don't believe the ignited lightsaber is necessary at all; after all, is Obi-Wan not supposed to be giving up that part of his life? Would it not make more sense to keep his lightsaber sheathed?

 

Especially as the novel is supposed to explain how he got from where he was in ROTS to ANH, from Jedi Master and General to Crazy Old Wizard and Hermit.

 

Personally I felt the bold red impact lettering on the original cover "stood out" more than the fairly thin "Kenobi" on the new one, which is focusing much more on Ewan McGregor's face than the title itself. Not that the new one is a bad cover as far as photoshops go, but it still feels more generic, whereas the original had a certain je ne sais quoi that was very unique that existing photographs that are simply reworked for a different purpose than the one they were actually shot for can never completely emulate.

Welllll, if I wanted to be an anal minded literary buff, I could argue the paratextual stylistics behind the cover frame the entire context of the reading experience and consequently influence however trivially the interpretation readers subsequently arrive at.

But I won't argue that, as, yeah, it's just a cover, and with JJM writing the story will still be good.

 

I actually don't think the cover is that bad compared to the previous one. I could do without the trend toward "One character staring at you from the cover" in general, but it's obviously going to pop up in a single-character-focused novel. I could also do with fewer photoshopped covers, but as that genre goes, this isn't all that bad. It's nowhere near the greatest example of the cover craft, but it's no Crucible.

 

Yeah, disappointed they didn't use the original promotional art (which was great), but meh, it could be worse. They could've made it like FotJ's covers, as someone else mentioned, and it doesn't look horrible or odd, and its not blatantly obvious that they just copied someone's head onto another picture (such as the Apocalypse cover), this one just looks... generic, I guess. Well, its not like there's no shortage of prequel Obi-wan images and he turned out great (compared to grumpy looking Anakin), and guess it'll look better on the shelf. Just hope they don't try to market it as a Clone Wars novel or something like that, since the cover looks more General Kenobi rather than soon to be old hermit Ben Kenobi, at least there' s a Tatooine background.

 

Why does he have his gauntlets on?
Is there a mandate to tie every single piece of EU into TCW somehow?
The other cover was miles better.

 

What's the deal with the braces? He won them or something?

 

There's still time for another cover redesign, next time with a close up.

 

I actually like the fact that he still has his TCW armor. It ties in well with the awesome Sideshow Collectibles Ben Kenobi statue.

 

If only the dust-jacket was two sided. Then we could have both covers.....

 

Love that statue! It's just dripping with an untold story. If I had $400 spare dollars... but now I can get this book instead.

I really loved the preview art, but I like this cover too.

 

Not the best, but hey, it's Obi-Wan, it's hard to mess things up with a champ like him.

 

I agree I'm also a fan of the collage. I like seeing faces fraught with fear and awe. At god only knows what spine chilling thing! Now it's just , well, let's not even get into that last series. The Force.... of Something...

 

BRING ON THE AWESOMENESS THAT IS KENOBI

 

This plot... reminds me vaguely of Nomad.

 

I look forward to reading what Obi-Wans thoughts on Tatooine are.

 

And you'll get to do exactly that. He has quite a few!

 

"Man, it's really, really hot. I need a drink."