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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Comics Star Wars #21-25: The Last Flight of the Harbinger

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Karl0413, Apr 18, 2016.

  1. Karl0413

    Karl0413 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 11, 2015
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    A new arc is coming. Marvel’s Star Wars #20 will wrap up the current story, and issue #21 will launch a fresh adventure for our heroes and their foes. “The Last Flight of Harbinger” is set to introduce an elite group of Imperial stormtroopers who will prove to be quite the foil to the Rebels. Writer Jason Aaron is joined by artist Jorge Molina in bringing this special seven-member squad to the page. StarWars.com caught up with Aaron to discuss the upcoming arc and how it begins — he says we’ll see a glimpse of the stormtrooper squad at the end of issue #20 before spending more time when them. “We really get to see the whole group in action with the next issue. It [issue #21] is both a standalone and the beginning of the next arc. It really focuses in on this new group of stormtroopers. We get to see them in action on their own little mission that also sets the stage for where we’re going in that next arc. At first it’s a mystery as to who the leader of the group is, but it will eventually be pretty obvious that it’s somebody we’ve met before.”

    That somebody is Kreel. Sergeant Kreel, a.k.a. Agent 5241, was last seen working in Grakkus the Hutt’s arena. He crossed paths with Luke there and even helped him prepare for a fight with a little lightsaber coaching, but that wasn’t the last of Kreel’s story. Aaron says, “When we last saw him, he was talking to Darth Vader, and it was hopefully clear this was a guy you were going to see again, a guy who was going to get back in the game in terms of being an Imperial agent.”


    Kreel will lead the squad and we’ll spend time getting to know why they’ve all chosen Team Empire instead of Team Rebellion. The motivation of the troopers was an important aspect Aaron wanted to explore. “The main thing I wanted to do was give more of a face to some of the stormtroopers. We’ve seen lots of them in the series, but they’ve all been pretty interchangeable, faceless bad guys. We haven’t gotten to know them. That was one of my favorite parts of The Force Awakens, getting to see and getting to know a real character who was a stormtrooper and somebody who, of course, has a conscience and changed his ways and joined up with the good guys. This is the opposite of that. It’s us peering inside the heads of somebody who is very gung-ho for the Empire and then the question, of course, is ‘Why? Why would you sign up to fight for the Empire?’ That’s something we’ll answer over the course of the story. We wanted to put a face on those enemies and also create a formidable group of bad guys because they’re up against our heroes,” Aaron says.

    In some part, the members of the stormtrooper squad were inspired by the clone troopers. Aaron says, “Part of the inspiration for this group comes from the ‘Bad Batch’ characters who are from the unproduced episodes of The Clone Wars animated series, which I think you can still find the animatics for online. They were a ragtag bunch of clones working together in one small fighting force, so this in some ways inspired by and maybe linked to that.”

    This fighting force is very capable and versatile. “[This is] a group that’s used to being dropped into all sorts of different circumstances and far corners of the galaxy. You drop these guys in, they can operate on their own, they can get done whatever sort of mission you need them to do. There are guys within that group who have different functions. There’s an explosives guy, a sniper, and a scout, and a big burly bazooka guy,” Aaron explains. StarWars.com has an exclusive early look at the squad below, though note that these are work-in-progress designs.

    http://www.starwars.com/news/elite-stormtroopers-are-coming-in-star-wars-21-exclusive
     
  2. Sinrebirth

    Sinrebirth Mod-Emperor of the EUC, Lit, RPF and SWC star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 15, 2004
    Oh wow. This could be as good as Legacy 4 was as a standalone.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
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  3. spicer

    spicer Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Nov 14, 2012
    Heh, Legacy 4 Joker Squad was the first thing that came to my mind as well. In any case, the trooper designs look so wicked, they may as well use them in a video game ala Republic Commando...although only after we get Republic Commando 2 [face_praying]
     
  4. Karl0413

    Karl0413 Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Mar 11, 2015

    How about Imperial Commando instead? [face_mischief]
     
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  5. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

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    Jul 19, 1999
    Oh, come on Karl, dis be for the General thread mon.
     
  6. JediKnight75

    JediKnight75 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 15, 2011
    This looks really fun. I love Imperial centric stories and if they make this Stormtrooper sqaud likeable I'll be very pleased. I enjoy sympathetic Imperials; as long as it's clear they are on the wrong side.. It adds more depth to the conflict. I hope this squad is well developed and its members become multi arc antagonists
     
  7. Karl0413

    Karl0413 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 11, 2015

    Sorry. [face_blush] We can get one of the mods to merge the threads.

    GrandAdmiralJello or AdmiralNick22, can you guys take care of it?
     
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  8. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    Cheers, I do really like the look of the concept, so thanks for posting the info.
     
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  9. starfish

    starfish Chosen One star 5

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    Oct 9, 2003
    Just make this into the thread for issue #21 eh?
     
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  10. A8T

    A8T Jedi Master star 2

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    Jun 9, 2014
    My initial thought is they did not look very 'starwarsy' and appear more like something out of Halo or the Ironman with its plethora of high tech. On a second look though they are actually quite neat designs and I wonder how it will turn out.
     
  11. Sixes

    Sixes Jedi Master star 2

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    Apr 5, 2016
    Interesting that he says he took the inspiration from the unproduced Bad batch TCW Arc. Having seen them on Youtube it was a really interesting take by Filoni and the crew on their own version of the 'Clone Commandos' and it worked really well.

    Another thing is the faceless aspect of these troopers unlike Bad batch, although its early concept art i wonder if well see are first helmet-less Storm-troopers in these new issues.
     
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  12. vstarvan

    vstarvan Jedi Master star 2

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    Aug 11, 2013
    Reminds me of the Bad Bach from the Clone Wars story reels. Maybe these are NuCanon successors to clone commandos?

    EDIT: Just noticed that Bad Batch was the artist's inspiration
     
  13. Taalcon

    Taalcon Chosen One star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 12, 1998
    We've already seen one of them sans-uniform in an earlier issue of Star Wars.
     
  14. The_Forgotten_Jedi

    The_Forgotten_Jedi Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    May 12, 2010
    Please include female stormtroopers, please include female stormtroopers... [face_praying]
     
  15. spicer

    spicer Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Nov 14, 2012
    First things first: a proper sequel to Republic Commando. If Imperial Commando is a suitable (sub)title for Republic Commando 2 then so be it.
     
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  16. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

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    Jul 19, 1999
    How do you know they aren't already in those design images? ;)
     
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  17. Sixes

    Sixes Jedi Master star 2

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    Apr 5, 2016
    I suppose so.
    Although will the writers try to write and 'humanize' by showing them working as a team and overcoming problems together like Bad batch or will they just be shown as an uber death squad.
     
  18. The_Forgotten_Jedi

    The_Forgotten_Jedi Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    May 12, 2010
    I'm hoping they are. Really don't want stormtrooper armor with gravity field projectors on them. I just don't have that much faith in comic artists not to sexualize female armor of any kind.
     
  19. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    [face_laugh] OK, I was being more subtle about it, but yeah, that is what I was alluding to in the previous post.
     
  20. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

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    Sep 2, 2012
    The new canon's managed to avoid it with Rook Kast, and Sabine Wren - maybe that'll continue?
     
  21. The_Forgotten_Jedi

    The_Forgotten_Jedi Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 12, 2010
    I know, just couldn't pass up the opportunity to reference a quote from EGTW. :p

    True, but after Rae Sloane's appearance in Kanan had a couple of inconsistences from the other images we have of her, I'm not going to give comic artists the benefit of the doubt for the moment.
     
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  22. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

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    Sep 2, 2012
    What were the inconsistencies? Remember the first pic of her is as a cadet - people change a bit over time:
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  23. The_Forgotten_Jedi

    The_Forgotten_Jedi Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    May 12, 2010
    I was thinking more about the contrast between this image and the one from the comic.
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  24. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

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    Sep 2, 2012
    I think the last image was from the A New Dawn excerpt in Star Wars Insider. The comic image seems to have Young Rae's hairstyle, at least.
     
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  25. ifleninwasawizard

    ifleninwasawizard Jedi Master star 4

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    Jun 2, 2014
    This new arc looks pretty cool. Aaron continues to branch out and get more interesting.
     
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