Lit Wendig and Aftermath - why the hate?

It wasn't the first new canon book...But it was the first post-ROTJ new canon book.

So it the first new canon book that replaced EU events (unless you count all the times the EU did that to itself).

 

Actually, the first new canon book to replace EU events would have been Dark Disciple - which was also extremely divisive. Unlike Aftermath, I think it actually deserved the hatred in terms of the actual content (though that's more a subject for another thread), but nonetheless, I don't think the connection is a coincidence.

Edit: Although I don't think the BBL element was really present there, actually. Possibly because even in the old continuity the Clone Wars were already a mess of retcons.

 

It would've been better if the Bantam novels had left the issue of Luke and Leia's parentage alone. Just acknowledge they knew who their mother was, didn't name her, and left it at that.

 

That's cool. I'm wondering if they just drew that picture based off of what they envisioned Natalie Portman might look like in the movie since it doesn't have any of that crazy make-up or costumes they made the character wear in TPM. '97/'98 would have been before the internet had yet to really take off so there might not have been very many leaked photos from the set around and they may not have known what Padme Amidala was going to look like yet when they made that comic.

 

True story: That's one of Palo's paintings. It's in the imperial palace to troll Vader.

 

Freudian slip, much.

 

Chuck Wendig's trilogy was yearned for as the continuation of Luke, Leia, Han and Chewy. An extension of the OT. Plus a prelude to the ST. Instead Chuck Wendig with "Aftermath" paved the way into the ST with a bumpy kilt-like three-line-story, dotted with many throw-away characters like Gallius Rax, Hostis Ij or characters who remained OC-like and without leaving much impression. Sometimes while watching TFA I spot that dark-haired and dark-eyed FO-Soldier at Hux' ship, who is shouting something. And then I ask myself: Is he from "Aftermath"? Have I to know him? People expected big clusters of OT and ST, but got only tiny corns of both trilogies in "Aftermath". And that's what was bugging me too.

 

Calling heels1785 and Huttese 101

Lol

 

Ehhh, Gallius Rax destroyed the Empire, he's not exactly "throw away."

 

I doubt that was Wendig's call to make; the new canon is clearly avoiding using Luke until the films reveal more of his circumstances, and it seems likely the Story Group dictated using original characters instead of the Big Three. Wendig himself has spoken of his desire to write a Luke story (hence the dedication to Luke S. in Empire's End), so he can't really be faulted for creating Not The Thrawn Trilogy. Presumably he made exactly the story he was hired to make, regardless of what fans expected. It took the old Expanded Universe fourteen years to get to Heir to the Empire; this need for all the answers right now is fortunately something the creators aren't bothering to indulge.

 

Hi Charlemagne,

When Rax was created in "Aftermath" just to die soon in "Empire's end" after Wendig did create a huge background-story for "Galli" just to kill him off later, how would you call it then? Rax acted for just one year. IMHO Gallius Rax is just like Dooku in EP. I and II.

BTW: Didn't you want to respond to my convo-question about the comic "Vindication" about Haazen and Dossa? I know, it has been a long time...

 

This. Plus the fact that Wendig's writing style is utterly jarring with his modern jargon and the fact that he has very little understanding of the Star Wars setting and the feel of the characters therein.

It just wasn't a good story or the right authorial fit for the NuCanon's alleged big post-ROTJ trilogy.

 

I think you may be overstating things a bit. Sure, Luke was likely off limits and for good reason, but there's no way that Wendig didn't have discretion to tell the story he wanted to tell. No one told him: "You will write this and you will like it."

No self-respecting author would operate like that.

That said, he most certainly can be faulted for falling far short in the trilogy that he wrote. I don't fault him for not being Zahn and those kind of comparisons are not especially useful anyway. I do fault him for telling a blah story in a writing style that was not conducive to the setting he was operating in with characters that were utterly forgettable.

 

I wasn't suggesting he was being ordered what to write, but presumably the Story Group laid out their pitch to him; "Hey, we want a cool new novel to kick-start the new era, we're not really focusing on the Big Three just yet, because that'll tread on the toes of the upcoming films, but do what you want with an original cast and a bunch of established supporting characters too." I doubt he would have just turned in a Big Three-less manuscript and the Story Group just decided to roll with it.

Personally I thought the characters were great, and refreshingly down-to-earth, and the writing style made it feel immediate and new. "Forget the old way."

 

One thing James Luceno confirmed which plays into Chuck is the fact he was told that they were to drop all Star Wars-isms for clarity.

For example, Star Wars has BATHROOMS now instead of freshers.



That stunned me when I realized it! OH THE HUMANITY!

 

And yet reports of the refresher's demise proved somewhat exaggerated on Rebels.

 

This statement makes me think you may not have even read any of the Aftermath books. People can say what they will about his writing style and that is all just personal tastes.

However one thing you can't really say about him is that he doesn't have an understanding of Star Wars and the feel of the characters. Wendig did not create the character of Sloane but he was spot on with her characterization after taking her over from A New Dawn and is the major reason Rae Sloane is such a popular character amongst the Expanded Universe fan base now.

He also incorporated many other characters and plot points introduced in other books and comics and brought them into the Aftermath series.

One thing you can't say about Wendig is that he doesn't know the Star Wars universe. He perhaps has done a better job researching the new canon than any other author that has written a book since the reboot of the EU.

 

I have all three copies sitting on my shelf (regrettably), so I don't quite understand why you would presume I'm lying simply because you have a different opinion than I do on the quality of Wendig's work. How juvenile.

You think he has a solid grasp of the Star Wars setting. I think he doesn't. And just because he was able to properly characterize someone who was in a previous novel does not in any way mean he's able to properly capture the feel of the setting. It just means he knows how to read John Jackson Miller's A New Dawn and can translate what he read into print accordingly.

His original characters are largely uninteresting, bland, one-dimensional, and lack the spark of the new characters found in other author's works.

 

[/quote] It would've been better if the Bantam novels had left the issue of Luke and Leia's parentage alone. Just acknowledge they knew who their mother was, didn't name her, and left it at that.[/quote]


Well, we wouldn't have gotten Luke running around the Galaxy with a Fallanassi Adept for three books, searching in vain for the identity of his mother. How did Akanah know that ploy would work on him anyways?

 

I have a lot more appreciation for Wendig when I realized where everything was going in Empire's End.

 

The Aftermath trilogy did a lot of much needed world building for the NU post-endor galaxy. Not going to lie, that's the primary reason I like the books.

 

I give it props for making me care about Jar Jar's fate.

 

You might just want to say then that you simply didn't like the trilogy. When you start trying to say that he doesn't understand Star Wars then that just makes your statements look a little silly. After all your definition of what Star Wars is likely isn't the same as what someone else's definition of what Star Wars is.