Insider 89: "Underworld: A Galaxy of Scum and Villiany" by Abel, Ryan, and Joe

"I'm currently putting the finishing touches on *new* Star Wars artwork for an upcoming feature article written by Ryan Kaufman and Abel Pena in Star Wars Insider #89.

This project gave me the opportunity to draw some of my favorite kinds of characters - bounty hunters, smugglers, mercanaries, crime lords and other assorted scum and villainy, the "bad boys (and girls)" of the saga. I was able to not only illustrate a few of my very favorite characters, but I was also fortunate enough to help create and work with brand new characters from the ever unfolding Expanded Universe. There are a few EU surprises and cameos to look out for in the artwork too so keep your eyes peeled!

Ryan and Abel came up with a very enjoyable and informative article so be sure to pick up this issue when it ships later this summer or sign up for Hyperspace today so you're sure not to miss out!

I'll post again in the very near future with some behind the scenes commentary for each illustration I provided for the "Underworld" feature coming in Star Wars Insider #89. Stay tuned."

Its from Joe Corroney's blog on TOS and it looks really interesting. I hope they talk about Black Sun members and other smugglars from obscure references.

Just adding names to the title...

 

Some of my favorite characters as well....

 

Abel and Joe = Good.

Kaufman = Let's hope any retcons in here come from Abel's side of the team. Also I really hope this doesn't mean we'll be getting some more Mandalorian nonsense.

 

Alright! Sounds promising let's guess which characters are going to be featured:

Jabba the Hutt
Boba Fett
Jango Fett (possible)
Aurra Sing (perhaps)
Xizor
Han Solo


any other ideas? Think it will add much to continuity or pretty much restate stuff we already know?

 

Hmmmmmm.... maybe the ever-elusive Blackhole will make yet another shadowy cameo....

 

Although the next stuff is probably planned out well in advance (and assuming there hasnt been one so far), id really love to see an article on the Duros - who like humans make up a huge proportion of the galaxy and can be found everywhere. They are just so cool. Or perhaps new info on the Duros in addition to other species of the galaxy in an article that details the main spacefaring races - kinda like a demographics of the Star Wars galaxy.

 

I wonder what happend to Vader's Legacy? Could it have been incorporated into the Sith Article?

 

It's in Insider 90.

 

Darn... did abel say that?

 

Oooh this one sounds good...

I'm hoping to find out more about Ailyn Vel

... or Sintas.

 

I'm hoping to find out more about Danielle Kieran.

 

I'm hoping for a decent timeline and org chart for Black Sun.

I'd also be thrilled by a reference to the Genhadron from KotoR. Awesome concept that should be followed up on, even if I can't spell it.

 

I honestly thought the Duggies were a family, until I came to Nar Shadda last, and heard Bao-Dur's quip of "I think he wanted us to give up the general to his poorly trained hunters instead of shooting us when he had the chance."

Epiphany kicked in quickly. I then realised the Durosian Dug family were actually thugs.

 

Sounds interesting. I will be looking forward to it.

 

Hopefully Nym and the Lok Revenants will be featured. And no doubt Cade, Jariah and co will get at least a mention. Maybe it'll tie in with the second Rookies webstrip?

 

Yeah, I love the Genoharadan. We really need to hear more about it.

 

Well knowing Abel and his marvel references I am quessing that we are going to also get Crimson Jack, and knowing Abel's love for recons I could seeing him trying to fix the whole Marvel Jabba the Hut mess.

 

Why do I have the feeling that this would be a tie-in of a sort for the upcoming EaW:Forces of Coruption expansion, and the new bad guy- Tyber Zann?

 

I'd like that too!

Apart from that, I smell...

... Mandalorians (Bloodlines!)

... Tyber Zan (Forces of Corruption!)

... Talon Karrde (just because he's cool, also because he gave Dani the money to buy the Century Hawk)

... Svivren (because it's a major trade/smuggling nexus as per MJ:BtEH, and the Ewok colony deserves more than just a single aside in an RPG stat!)

... everyone's favourite Sullustian/Ewok tag-team (Tempest!)

... and Jabba the Hut (random fanservice!)

-The Imperial Ewok

 

Karrde! How could have I forgotten him?!

What do you guys think the likelihood of some of the Legacy underworld figures making an appearance? I wanna find out why Queen Jool wears that corset

 

You know why she wears that corset.

Some pretty good guesses here.

Ryan really took the reigns on this piece, so my contributions to the project will be different than my usual style... which is kind of what I wanted after coming off of Vader's Legacy and Evil Never Dies, which were exhausting.

Also, bear in mind this will be the first feature I'll have published under the new direction of Insider, and word budgets are much more conservative than they used to be. This piece is shorter than the Story of Grievous, for example, which was shorter than History of the Mandos.

That said, Ryan, Joe, and I all had a blast putting this together. The writing style reflects the fickle subject matter, and Joe put together some really killer illos.

 

Hopefully Insider realizes that we want longer pieces and short stories. We love the sort of articles you do.

I still say you, Dan Wallace, and a few others need to restart the Adventure Journal. Maybe take it more towards stories and informative stats than RPG based.

 

Hey folks. This was posted over on my author thread and I figured it fit here too:

Thanks Ryan! But the man's too modest. Ryan was captain on this project and gave it the unique feel of its structure. It almost didn't make it through approvals! But we stuck to our guns and we think it turned out a really fun piece.

Well actually, it all came about in a rather odd way.

Originally Karen Traviss and I pitched a piece about something completely unrelated. All seemed well until LFL decided the timing wasn't right (which, in retrospect, now makes a lot of sense) and nixed the idea. However, it so happened that Ryan had been working up a proposal that touched on some of the stuff Karen and I had planned to cover, so we'd gotten to talking about our respective projects. So, when word came down about LFL's decision, Insider editor Frank Parisi asked if we'd be interested in doing a piece on the criminal underworld. The subject's not generally my cup of tea, but both Karen and Ryan were excited about it, so I figured what the heck. I can be a sucker for collaborations, especially with writers' whose styles differ significantly from mine. I figure it stretches me, bringing out aspects of my writing that are burried a little bit deeper.

At the last minute, though, Karen got too busy with other projects and had to pull out. That left just me and Ryan. Madness ensued.

Well Ryan got his DT-57 and a frag grenade and I pulled out my lightsaber, and Ryan goes, "I want to call it Underworld," and I go, "I want to call it A Galaxy of Scum and Villainy," and then we tried to kill each other, and then our editor goes, "Wait fellas! Why don't you call it Underworld: A Galaxy of Scum and Villainy?" And so we put our weapons and detached appendages away.

I've met with cowriters before when working on a project (Enrique Guerrero for the 20 EU Most Memorable Moments), but usually we do most of our collaboration via cyberspace. Once we had the green light, Ryan and I threw some ideas back and forth, then he banged out an outline
based on our emails broken into sections based on our stated preferences, and then we went to work. Ryan had the idea for a particular style and setting for the piece, and I was down with that, so those self-imposed parameters colored the entire piece. Afterward, we brought our sections together, and voila!

One of my favorite parts of a project is when I really get to grind out with Joe the kinds of compositions will be good for the piece. Joe always likes to go for broke, which is why it's so much fun to work with him.

Take care,
Abel

 

Thank you sir. Insider will do what the fans want, you just gotta let em know.

 

I'd forgotten that we had a thread on this...

I'm going to have to say that I prefer Underworld. Sorry Abel, but the phrase "scum and villainy" is getting to be overused.


Any word on whether there will be a tie-in Hyperspace piece?