Homing Beacon #127 - ROTS Comic Adaptation (OS spoilers)

Do you get this email? They're usually fairly bland, but the latest has an article on the comic adaption. There is one very spoilerish comment about a scene where Yoda and Obi-Wan view the destruction caused by Darth Vader. Wow. That sounds fantastic. I wonder what destruction this is. The Jedi Temple?

The scene sounds dark and spectacular.

 

Wow. Yeah, I would guess the Jedi Temple. THAT is going to be a powerful scene.

I always seem to get the Homing Beacons 5 days or so after everyone else...

 

I don't understand the rhyme or reason for getting those emails. They seem somewhat random. And usually don't have much of interest.

I wonder what 'destruction' means. If it is Darth Vader, I suspect corpses. Maybe small, Youngling corpses...

 

Hmm... this must be at the end... but I haven't gotten the e-mail yet.

 

I wonder if this is before or after the duel? Obviously we don't know yet when he takes the name Vader. But you'd have to think if Obi-Wan sees how evil he has become, he wouldn't bother trying to save him.

 

If it's before, I wonder if Obi-Wan decides he has to hunt down Anakin (Darth Vader now?), and that's how The Duel starts.

Or maybe it's after.

Here's the text:

While the stoic Jedi Masters that sit on the council may frown on unrestrained displays of emotion, Revenge of the Sith nonetheless contains the strongest emotional chords of any Star Wars film, most of them expressed by anguished Jedi characters. It was this drama that attracted author Miles Lane when he set to work adapting the sprawling, galaxy-spanning Episode III screenplay into a four-part series for Dark Horse Comics.

"I decided to approach it from an emotional angle rather than an action-heavy one," says Lane. "I felt I could better capture the heart of the material that way. It was hard, because it's such a dense, visual script and there's so much to it."

A lot can happen in four 22-page comics; a lot more can happen in a two-hour-plus feature film. Lane's script had to bridge the two artforms in a way that preserved the heart of the story, but also worked to the strengths of the comics medium.

"I think it helps that I'm an editor in my day job," says Lane. "I put on my editor's hat when I read the Episode III script. I tried to find logically where it could be broken up into four issues. Within that context, I went through it with a mental red pen and struck those scenes that wouldn't translate well into the comics medium. You have to be pretty strict in a way. I didn't want to get too emotionally attached to the material until I had what was left for each issue, and then I was absolutely emotionally attached to that."

The end result was a four-part script that emphasizes the dramatic arcs of the film. There is still action, but all the specific beats of the action scenes are condensed to their core by artist Doug Wheatley. "When you see Doug's artwork, it's amazing. It's jawdropping," explains Lane.

"Take the scene of Obi-Wan fighting Grievous -- that's greatly reduced in the comic, but Doug has kept the dramatic heart of it by putting the action in these really incredible, fluid panels. I've tried to keep the emotional aspect by paring it down to its essence: this is Obi-Wan trying to eliminate a deadly opponent, and he believes that once he does, it will bring about the end of the war," says Lane.

The one scene Lane could not wait to see adapted by Wheatley depicts Obi-Wan and Yoda discovering the devastation brought about by Darth Vader, the newest Dark Lord of the Sith. "Obi-Wan knows that his Padawan is responsible for this," says Lane. "It's like a parent knowing that his child has become truant but not knowing the extent of the damage until it was too late. I tried to factor that in, Obi-Wan knowing his child was responsible for all this in the blink of an eye, and as a Master, he is responsible for his Padawan. It was done really lovely in the movie script, so I took that and amplified that for the comic."

Lane has yet to see that scene depicted in artwork. "I'm torn between wanting to wait for it in the final book, yet wanting to see it now because it's my favorite. I've held off from seeing it because there's a part of me that wants to wait and be as surprised as the readers are when the actual physical comic is done," he says.

"But maybe I'll cheat and peek."

The Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith adaption comes out as a collected graphic novel as well as four weekly issues this April from Dark Horse Comics.

 

I still have my AotC single volume collection, and I'll be getting this one as well
I can't wait to see the use of colors!

 

Geez, it could be the devastation of anything... but these are the kind of spoilers I like.

But the comic sounds fantastic. I love how they're doing it from an emotional standpoint rather than a combat one.

Well my speculation, not suprisingly, is that this takes place after the duel... perhaps right before they go their seperate ways.

 

This Homing Beacon was the best email I've gotten in a while.

When I think of destruction, I don't imagine something quite that physical. The destruction he causes could also refer to the body count, or maybe even the potential damage that's to come when he's on the dark side.

The temple is as good a guess as any, though.

 

Can someone please forward me the Homing Beacon? For some reason I stopped recieving it a couple of years ago
My email's angrynotmad(((At)))gmail.com

 

You've got mail.

 

Thank you
Even tho I first saw the quote here.. it's interesting. Somehow I am left with the impression it's Anakin's doing before he put on the suit.