Lit Star Wars #20: A Shattered Hope, part 2 (of 2) - The End Of Star Wood & Of Our Suffering

The Star Wars/Republic ongoing comic kind of did that, didn't it? You could jump in at any time, there's stuff like that Ki-Adi guy having a strange padawan and then Mace is the main character and then that Vos guy oh it's that Vos guy again, I know him from some months ago... you get the idea. It's kind of one story, but unlike KOTOR's 35 initial issue mega arc or Legacy's 50 issue run (we wanted to have 150, you know) you don't really need the back story. But you'd go back and read more about the same characters if you enjoy the arc you jumped into.

But funnily enough, I started reading Legacy with issue 8 or something like that because I didn't want to wait for trades anymore. Ordering the missing issues, of course, but reading #8 anyway, thinking about all the good old times when you simply read something out of chronological order because you didn't have a manual on how to read what.

 

It's highly erratic Zorr, without any hard and fast rule - some series are kept in print, others are not and it's murder to tell which will be which!

 

Marvel keeps their licenses trades like Stephen King's Dark Tower tie-ins in print. They actually do keep most of their books in print but what they do is continue to update their books as they do new print runs but bringing books up to date with trade dress and new covers.

Marvel has realized that many people want to follow creators as much as anything and they also want some sort of easy way to know what story they're getting. So when a creator exits or a title makes a large change to their remit (X-Factor used to be a detective agency...now they're a corporate sponsored superteam) they reboot and sometimes change the title slightly to make it clear that it may be the same group of characters but radically different circumstances.

They have also been doing releasing new #1's in waves as part of bringing many books under the Marvel Now banner. Instead of a reboot like DC did, what they did was to make it clear where the jump on point for new readers would be by setting up new status quo's in some books by starting over at #1 and putting them in the new Marvel Now trade dress, but they allowed creators to finish their runs on books before moving titles until the Marvel Now umbrella.

It's similar to Dark Horse using the series of mini-series set-up, but doesn't lock creators in to set numbers of issues. If Rick Remender has a thirty issue story he wants to do for X-Force, he does it and then the book was relaunched with a new creative team and called Uncanny X-Force and having a few similar characters but a new mission.

I think Marvel is just trying to make it easier for people to follow creators while still focusing on their brand and allowing people to know that if they want a certain authors run that book will have a distinctive look, trade dress, and sometimes name on the shelf.

 

Mmhmm, so hypothetically then, from what you've said patchworkz7 it sounds like, under Marvel, a series like, say, KOTOR might have had an initial run from #1 to... whatever Vindication was, #36 or so I think? Before relaunching at #1 for the "second" story about the Crucible, possibly having been rebranded KOTOR II #1 or something?

 

Well, the main creator never changed, so I don't know if that would happen, but at times when some major even happened (and it's been some times since I read KoToR), they might have restarted it from a number 1 to highlight the new direction.

It's hard to judge because we don't know how things will work with Marvel having licensed it. With the Stephen King works they followed a system very much like what Dark Horse does, which is that they released a series of minis even though the writer was the same, but I think some of that was also because they were working closely with Robin Furth and Stephen King and giving all parties (and the artists) time to recharge.

OTOH, while the minis followed on from each other, they detailed new adventures not seen in the books at different time periods in the timeline.

My point in the other thread was that while comic companies have and do rerelease books over at a #1 because it's shown to get more interest and sales, Marvel has tied that into how they handle creator rotation and even story thrust. When X-Force's original writer Chris Yost left they rebooted even though the characters didn't change much, and their remit changed only a little, but Rick Remender quickly sent them off on his own thirty issue story with that title rebooting when he left and the remit changed from the X-Men's black ops kill team to something different.

With it being rebooted as a Marvel Now title it was renumbered again to highlight a change in direction and new line-up.

 

Ah, I see. That sorts makes sense then, actually.

As for the decimals, like 2.1, 2.2, etc, am I right in thinking those are more like "extra content" that they decide to fill in later? (So, sorta like additional one-shots to expand a previous story with a bit of extra detail, or from a different char's POV, etc?)

 

The .1 books were, bizarrely, intended as jumping on points - being complete taster tales as it were, though who'll look at a comic marked as x.1 and go: I'll try that! - I have no idea!

 

I actually really wanted and hoped this series was going to do this when it was first announced and hyped as "building off of A New Hope only!" and "A perfectly place for people who have never read the EU to enter!"

I actually would have loved it if they had not only stuck to that premise, but made this explicitly Infinities while doing so. Have it only be stuck to what was set up in ANH, and only ANH, and then be free to go literally anywhere. Basically like a new version of Marvel. That seemed like the best of both worlds - you could do what you like in a crowded era without irritating established EU fans, all those supposed new-to-the-EU readers wouldn't know or care, and it'd be an original concept.

 

Over, the Stars Woods are.

A series that started with such promise at the beginning, squandered away. The final issue honestly is underwhelming and kinda "meh". Even a shot of my beloved Rebel Fleet wasn't enough. It really feels that Woods gave up in the end.

Oh well, hopefully Legacy ends the two decade plus reign of Dark Horse with an appropriate and fitting bang!

--Adm. Nick

 

This page just sums up what is wrong with this series, because we of course don’t actually go to that planet, because gods beware that might actually be interesting.

 

Lol this thread title is made of win. XD

 

Why is she giving her droid an infodump a history lesson?

 

She is a little "insane" having spent a long time undercover and only ever telling the droid her true feelings.

 

Indeed, says it all, no? Nick's amongst the most optimistic of us but even that couldn't salvage the series for him!

 

Wood has said since almost the beginning he was leaving with issue 20. So he had plenty of time to properly pace the thing. They've known for at least a year the loss of the license was coming.

Normally I'd give some latitude for a lack of lead time, but in this case Wood always knew he intended to leave with issue 20 whether someone else continued it or not, so it's fair to treat this as one would any comic/series that had the full run to get the point across.

 

All I know is that not only was this the last Star Wood but he's also off X-Men...and that means his final X-men story just stopped. I still don't know what the hell it was all about. But it's over. I was really on the edge of just canceling my pulls but laziness and momentum kept me going.

 

[insane laughter]

 

What is with the letters section for these issues? "so well-written", "consistent great storytelling", "deep and rewarding storytelling"? Seriously? Did these people read Empire or Rebellion? They covered a similar time period and didn't have the same problems that this title had. I would appreciate the continuity nods if they actually had something to do with the story, instead they're basically just shout-outs to the history of the Star Wars galaxy. Otherwise, why would we get an extended monologue about the Gree, the Kwa, and the Rakata Empire? IG-88 even talks about getting Phrik plating.

Spoiler

Issue starts with repairs to the Falcon, while Seren Song hides in the Corellian shipping lanes. Both accept a transmission to meet above Oaka Prime, which has ties to their childhood history. IG-88 tracks them there and attacks. They defeat the wise-cracking droid by using Luke, who uses the Force to pinpoint the IG-2000 and shoot it out of the sky. Song destroys her ship and boards the Falcon while they decide to return to the fleet. The intel gathered by Song includes Imperial survey results which can be used to pinpoint planets that are available for future Rebel bases due to being ignored for Imperial use. The comic and the series concludes with Song pointing out that she finds Solo "dashing", which Leia reluctantly agrees to. Han celebrates this small victory as "THE END" concludes everything.

There are actually some cool moments here. IG-88 leaving his ship to fire on Song with a personal blaster to disable Song's Y-wing, Song mourning the loss of her droid as her only friend (we don't get enough "droids as people"), and an external repair to the Falcon involving Leia due to the only other spacesuit being a discarded woman's small. Even this storyline has a satisfying conclusion, really. The intel is interesting and worth tracking down, the reason for the Big Three to work together makes some sense, and we get some decent banter compared to what has come before. However, three issues to deal with this is not enough, and concluding on this is all the more puzzling.

I understood that this series was supposed to be "well-plotted", but it's anything but. It starts off with the most high-stake story involving commando missions, Vader being replaced, and Leia discovering and confronting a Death Star designer. It ends with a personal mission to recover an undercover agent? Also, literally nothing brought up in the early issues comes to play in the final issues. Every introduced character disappears after almost a couple issues with absolutely no bearing on the story. If the point was to reestablish the status quo after every few issues so that new readers can easily access it, then well done. If not, then this was a poorly plotted, uninteresting mess.

 

Marvel usually relaunches a series with a #1 after the main writer is done telling their stories and it switches to a new creative team. They also sometimes do it after major events or line wide rebrandings.

That main Star Wars series for example probably won't go past 32 issues. Maybe up to issue 50 but I know marvel isn't a fan of higher numbers because A) it intimidates new readers from coming on board and B) issue #1s tend to sell a lot better and attract attention

 

I doubt it.

This series as well as the all-new all-different but exactly-the-same-titled Marvel series is, I believe, aimed to people with the "Finally! a Star Wars comic!" mindset.

 

It doesn't matter whether any of you like Wood or not or this series or not, but this series along with Legacy II is the end of the old EU. With its finishing, an era ends and not just comic book wise, but EU content wise, management wise, everything wise. The Clone Wars series Son of Dathomir is the first comic to come out of the new canon Lucasfilm group whatever. So its fitting that Dark Horse ends the EU and sends it off with its new official comic book. Alixen made a post on another thread that tries to defy the EU Legends status, and the fact is that regardless of what we think or say, we don't have a say in what is official canon and what is not. You can have your own canon and like your own stories but it doesn't mean squat.

I liked Brian Wood's 20 issue run, it wasn't perfect but it was pretty in comic form and the story was decent and nothing for nothing. When TCW was initially cancelled, this was the only thing keeping me sane. None of the other stuff was doing it for me, unless you want me to add Marvel animation which was and is pretty good. For the Star Wars front it was dark, and this series kept me going and gave star wars a bit of hope, cause you see unlike some of you switch hitters, Episode 7 and the spin-offs aren't that exciting for me. Avatar 2, Avenger: Age of Ultron, Independence Day 2 are going to be original movies, but Episode 7 is re-tread to a lost time that I could do without. The 70's happened, I lived it and its over. You need a new formula. Anyway, Woods star wars run was succesful and hopefully Marvel can do an even better job because they are going to re-write the area into their own official story that is approved by the Group.

 

Wait, wait, wait, they're making an Independence Day 2!!??!?

How did I not know about this!!

*rapidly runs to Google to find out more*