A&A The Official John Ostrander Discussion Thread

I apologise for the mistake guys

 

John:

Are Kiffar simply human beings from the planet Kiffu, the way Corellians are humand from Corellia and Alderaanians are humans from Alderaan?

If Kiffar are aliens, what sets them apart from human beings?

 

Yes he does. He also makes me think of what Quin would be like if he was on the run from the Empire like in Jan's Tales story.

 

>>Are Kiffar simply human beings from the planet Kiffu, the way Corellians are humand from Corellia and Alderaanians are humans from Alderaan?

>>If Kiffar are aliens, what sets them apart from human beings?<<

I'd classify them at least as near human. They have a telemetric ability -- read images off of objects -- that runs through all Kiffar to a greater or lesser extent. None so strong as Quin and that effect was only heightened by his Jedi training.

-- John

 

Quin and Khaleen managed to concieve a child, therefore by default they must be of the same species. The Kiffar must have the same chromosomes of a baseline human for such a thing to be possible. The Kiffar are thus genetically human.

 

I'm not sure if such rules stand up in the Star Wars universe. We've seen a bunch of half-breed types before (like Shug Ninx).

 

What are Shug Nix's parents? His birth could likely be the result of genetic engineering. The SW galaxy is advanced enough the such a thing could be possible.

As to where the "rules" stand in the SWU, of course they do. This isn't ******* Star Trek, with their pseudoscience crap and half breed extravaganzas. Star Wars tries the best it can to conform to the physics of reality, and it only reaches into the realms of impossiblity for things like hyperspace and the Force.

 

(deleted, double post, sorry)

 

Quin and Khaleen managed to concieve a child, therefore by default they must be of the same species

that's not true even in the real world, though it's a very common misconception based on an outdated definition of "species."

As to where the "rules" stand in the SWU, of course they do. This isn't ******* Star Trek, with their pseudoscience crap and half breed extravaganzas. Star Wars tries the best it can to conform to the physics of reality, and it only reaches into the realms of impossiblity for things like hyperspace and the Force.

contrary to an older scientific understanding, different species can mate and produce fertile offspring. lions and tigers can crossbreed to produce fertile ligers and occasionally fertile tigons. whales and dolphines can mate and produce fertile wolphin offspring. cows and buffalo produce fertile beefalo. goat + sheep = geep. other examples exist.

as a result, the idea that any to creatures that can mate and produce fertile offspring must belong to the same species has been dropped from the scientific consensus.

Star Trek is cleared of the charge of pseudoscience - on that particular count, at least.

 

Shug's not the result of genetic engineering, at least according to the backstory literature for Dark Empire.
And anyway, you have got to be kidding if you really think Star Wars conforms to the physics of reality.

 

IMO --
SW isn't SCIENCE fiction. It's MYTH wrapped in spaceships. Spaceships that make noise in the void of space. Where laser or light beams stop at about two to three feet past the end of a sword hilt. And that crackles and acts like steel when contacting another similar light beam instead of just passing through it.
It's MAGIC. It's FUN. It's COOL. It's not especially reality although it does try to get at TRUTHS.
IMO.

-- John

 

err, well, yeah, that too ...

 

Man, so now we know that Quinlan looses his yellow markings and jumps to an alternate universe...or maybe, it's a clone...

This a little of the subject of this particular tangent, but while I was going through the back issues at a comic shop, I happened upon Grimjack #37&38. I had never read Grimjack before, but I've seen plenty of people post good things about it. So I decided to buy them just to see what the series was like. How have I missed this all these years!? Cynosure is exactly the kind of place I've wanted to live all my life. I have got to get my hands on some more Grimjack. You never cease to amaze me John. And I really liked Tom Mandrake's artwork.

On another completely different note. I recently moved to Muncie, Indiana and had to find a new comic shop. The owner noticed that I had the words "Doctor Who" written on the back of my shirt. Eventually, I brought up the audio play that you were woking on that fell thru and he told me that he had actually met you and your wife several years ago when you were in the area for a convention or something. So now I've met Jan Duursema, Tom Mandrake, Joe Corroney, Justin, Abel Pena, and a guy who met you, John. Small world, huh?

 

Getting smaller all the time, Joser.

I used to live in the Midwest -- Chicago, specifically -- and did all sorts of Cons in the area, including Indiana and up through Motor City. Might have been hard to miss me in those days!<g>

Glad you've stumbled onto GJ and liked it. The original series went about 80 issues, as I recall, and a graphic novel as well. If you're interested in following up, IDW is now putting out TPBs of the back issues, starting with the stories that were in the back of STARSLAYER (which is how GJ started). We've also just finished a NEW miniseries (the first NEW GJ in 13 years or so) that is a PREQUEL to all the other material. That will be out in TPB format sometime before the end of September, I believe. Tim Truman was the original artist on the book although i think Tom Mandrake did the longest run on the book. There are three TPBs of the back issues of GJ but I wouldn't buy the THIRD volume just yet; there was a printing mistake that dropped out two pages from it. Until we know how they're fixing it, I'd wait on buying it. I'll post here when i know what the publisher is doing.

Tom Mandrake is one of my fave artists to work with(and happens to be Jan's husband, btw). He and I have done a LOT of work together, most notably on THE SPECTRE and MARTIAN MANHUNTER over at DC. If you're interested in our work together, you might want to look at those books. Tom, Tim, and I also did a Western together called THE KENTS which can be found in a TPB format as well.

Probably a LOT more info than you wanted, right?<g>

Anyway, welcome to GrimJack and to Cynosure.

-- John

 

George Lucas himself has stated that Star Wars was made conforming as much as possible to conventional physics.

 

I'd like to see that quote.

 

Just a quick comment here because I don't want to interfere with the flow on the actual thread --

The thread on K'Kruhk's Hat gives me the giggles every time I look in on it. Everyone there is wonderfully demented. If you haven't looked in on it, you really should. I myself had no idea how freakin' sweet that hat was until I read the thread. I gotta make sure the hat is in the new series Jan and I are working on. Somehow.

-- John

 

John, you got mentioned by Gail Simone in an interview on Newsarama today!

NRAMA: Along those lines, do you think there?s been almost a reverential approach towards Barbara?s injury in that it was, metaphorically speaking, given to her by Alan Moore in a work that many see as one of the highlights of the ?80s for the character of Batman?

GS: Hmmm. Not really. I don't think The Killing Joke is regarded the same way as Alan's other work, not even by Alan. The hero of the Barbara Gordon story is, to my understanding, the wonderfully gifted John Ostrander, who chose to make something terrific out of a bad situation.


You pretty much created the "Oracle" personae, did you not?

 

I and my late wife. Kim Yale, did. She originally appeared in SUICIDE SQUAD and, for her first Few appearances, she was just a symbol on the computer screen. Even the reader didn't know who she really was. Then we revealed it was Barbara. Many people feel that the character has been more interesting and useful to the DCU as Oracle than she ever was as Batgirl and I don't disagree.<g>

-- John

 

For those of you who might be interested, my fianbcee' Mary Mitchell has posted a new SW sketch card on e-bay. Except Mary does her sketches in watercolor on what is essentially cardboard and the size of a baseball card. This one features Chewbacca and Han. If you're interested, here's the URL http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6555694657. I'm not pimping the auction; I'm just very proud of Mary and her art. Looking is free.<g> If I knew how, I'd post the image here but I'm not really all that computer savvy, believe it or not.

-- John

 

That is one of the best Han/Chewie paintings I have ever seen. I can hardly believe it was actually done on one of those little sketch cards. I want it, but I know I could never afford it!

 

That's pretty awesome.


John, do you know if DC is ever going to reprint your Suicide Squad run? It's something I've been dying to get my hands on.

 

I hear rumors in the fan press about a Squad TPB but nothing from DC. It would be sweet if they did. Not as sweet as K'Kruhk's freakin' hat, of course, but. . . .

-- John