Author Analysis: Tom Taylor

Just thought I'd jump in here and clarify a point. Though I'm not sure what the inclusion of a more powerful interpretation of Luke has to do with a discussion of Tom Taylor's writing style, that particular aspect of the Invasion story line is a result of my request. See, I had seen the posts here on TF.N complaining about how weak and/or absent Luke was in the NJO, so I suggested to Tom that he give Luke his due.

So, if Tom is portraying Luke in a more positive, powerful light, it's mainly because I asked him to do just that. In response to comments from fans.

But, to get this thread back on track, what do you think about the level of humor Tom maintains in his stories? Or the touching, human moments he drops like bombs when you least expect them? When his characters speak, do they sound like Star Wars? Discuss.

 

Randy you're awesome and so is Tom. Have yet to see how Bloodlines is but Invasion has been evolving pretty well.

 

I really like his humor. It's usually subdued and natural, not too forced. He uses it to bring out the character in his, er, characters. Dray's insanity and Caled's self-deprecating joke after he holds Finn's lightsaber the wrong way come to mind.

Also, when Finn mindtricks one of the Senate guards in the most recent arc of Invasion and tells him to take the day off and go buy something nice:

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That made Yet Another Jedi Mindtrick Scene into something memorable. And adds so much to the otherwise nonexistent character of the guard.

 

On Tom Taylor's humor: to reiterate, I've only read Bloodlines, but I thought the dialogue was fantastic in that. A few great one liners, some fantastic narrative, and I really loved the characterization (like, how Boba and Jango actually felt like different characters, despite being clones). As I said earlier, he really knows how to bring out the best qualities of the characters he works with.

Looking forward to the next Fett comic.

 

*cough*

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What one author does doesn't excuse another. I sorry I don't agree with you that this is just an awesome series. I can't praise the way Luke has been used in this series.

I wasn't going to make another post in this thread but I simply feel that I have to respond to this.

I'm not sure how Tom Taylor writing a more powerful Luke Skywalker, and my issues with it, isn't a critique of his writing? I've been forever critical of how Michael Stackpole writes Corran Horn, many people are critical of how the Mandalorians in Karen Traviss books are written. Lots of folks are critical of how Luke has been written in LOTF & FOTJ.

And yeah, I'm critical of how Luke is being presented in this series. How he is being written. I even pointed to pages and dialog to give examples of what I don't like.

I actually went back and read through some of the other Author Analysis and guess what, this is exactly the type of feedback contained within those.

So now your coming here and telling me that you told him to write it that way. Well I guess that proves I'm not a mind reader. Foolish of me to take the author credit of the comic at face value.

Randy, I appreciate that you come on these forums and interact with us, I do. That said I'm not going to just blindly praise you, Tom or anyone else for that matter. I think you will find if you look through my posting history here that I give a lot of credit where I feel credit is due. The flip side of this is that I won't be shy when I don't like something either

I think Tom's main strength lies in how he writes his original charcters. When he writes someone like Fey'lya, I don't see very much resemblance to the character I've gotten to know. In fact I think Tom Taylor really dumned down Borsk Fey'lya in the Revelations arc to a point that I don't even recognize the character.

Dray's humor doesn't do anything for me at all. I've found it simple and childish, but then I find humor is very hard to convey through writing. For instance "That was a big boom....I've seen a lot of big booms. I'm qualified to make that statement." That line is an example of a failed joke to me.

So many of the characters seem to have a similar sarcastic wit, something kinda common in Star Wars to be sure. But then not everyone thinks Jim Carrey is funny either. There is certainly a level of subjectivity on the reader's behalf that needs to be considered.

I actually enjoy a lot of H2's sarcastic humor in "your" Dark Times tales, but I find Prowl to be far too similar a character. Heck, I guess timeline wise it could even be the same character. If they are suppost to be then forgive me.

As for the Galfridians, I've grown to like Finn. I think the story telling decision to pair him with Dray was a good choice since the pair are such opposites. Kaye and Nina's Jekyll and Hyde persona's have yet to really capture my imagination.

There is something very Mary Sue'ish about them that makes me not want to root for them, not trust them. Probably something thats not being looked for with their role as co-main protaganists with Finn. And sometimes I will, and do, enjoy these typical without weakness or fault style of characters but something about these two hasn't worked for me just yet.

Granted I could

 

Randy_Stradley : Just thought I'd jump in here and clarify a point. Though I'm not sure what the inclusion of a more powerful interpretation of Luke has to do with a discussion of Tom Taylor's writing style, that particular aspect of the Invasion story line is a result of my request. See, I had seen the posts here on TF.N complaining about how weak and/or absent Luke was in the NJO, so I suggested to Tom that he give Luke his due.

So, if Tom is portraying Luke in a more positive, powerful light, it's mainly because I asked him to do just that. In response to comments from fans.

Thank you, Randy! I, for one, appreciate that! I certainly have enjoyed Tom Taylor's portrayal of Luke in Invasion (and in Luke Skywalker and the Treasure of the Dragonsnakes). I think he writes Luke very well. You can tell that he likes and respects the character. It's great to see Luke more active and true to character in Invasion than I feel he was shown in the NJO books. I'd like to see Tom Taylor do another story with Luke as the main character someday.

But Luke is just a very small part of Invasion. I have really enjoyed Tom Taylor's story and his original characters. I was not a big fan of the NJO books, but I really like Tom's take on the Yuuzhan Vong war. There have been so many twists, turns, and surprises. I look forward to many more Invasion arcs in the future.

 

Randy Stradley - what do you think about the level of humor Tom maintains in his stories? Or the touching, human moments he drops like bombs when you least expect them? When his characters speak, do they sound like Star Wars?

That's indeed the best thing in his writing; it's fun - and it has the perfect balance between menace and lightness; and here I speak about two so different storeisa as Invasion and LSatTotDS; the latter a small masterpiece!!!

And yes; they SO sound Star Wars; Luke is spot on in the Dragon Snake book, on of the best Luke-characterizations ever - and Yoda is maybe even better!!! While from Invation insantly comes to my mind when Leia's speaking to Anakin and when she's interrupted she announces; "I'm talking to my son. The war can wait!" Not to speak of Han's: "You.Want.To. Practice.Your.Jedi.Mind.Trick."


But thank you for giving Luke an active role in the war!

 

Umm, yeah, totally what I meant

On Luke again, I feel like he probably should be portrayed as really powerful. The term "Mary Sue" gets thrown around a lot, but I also feel it's one of the most incorrectly used terms on the internet. I don't feel like Luke being portrayed as a very powerful Jedi is "Mary Sue" treatment. Doesn't Invasion actually advertise that Luke is in his prime at this time? We've seen what other really powerful Jedi can do, and Luke is said to be one of the strongest.

 

There are some nice humour moments; I enjoy Finn's training where Luke drops a bigger rock to levitate, Draay's moments of madness are funny, I quite enjoy Prowl, Borsk is as paranoid as ever.

I was initially not too keen on Nina actually managing to easily take control of the Vong slaveship since the technology was supposed to be so alien that only halfway through the war did anyone manage to undestand enough to pilot one. But Tom's nicely tackled that issue in the recent arc.

 

I know this thread is about Tom Taylor, but I have to also say - and I'm sure he won't mind - Invasion would be much diminished without Colin Wilson's excellent art. I know his style isn't to everyone's liking, but I'm very much a fan. His designs have improved NJO greatly by giving us a far better idea of what things look like than before. Perhaps we need artist threads too?

 

I really like the ships he shows. He is a real Fleet Junkie, too bad other comic authors dont show rare ships like the Republic-class star destroyer. The new designs are great too.