The Official Legacy Series Discussion Thread

My first opinion when I heard about this wasn?t: ?Gee Yowza! New Star Wars! Wizard!?
Nor was it: ?OMG! They?ve kriffing killed it! NOOO! [gets angry] ARRRGH! [Hulks out, flame on!]?
It wasn?t even: ?Sounds interesting, I?ll give it a go.?

It was: ?I trust these two.?

In all honesty you pair are the best.

Jan. I?m a former art student, I?m doing other stuff now (university) and drawing and painting has become more of a hobby, but it?s your work I identify with the most in the comics and it?s more often then not your work I either copy to keep in practice, or use for reference when I?m drawing my own star wars pictures. I even copied small sections of Twilight in my A-Level coursework as examples of dynamic movement, you helped to get me an A!

John. One of the things I want to be is an author. I?m currently a failing one but never mind that, I?ve got plenty of time to turn things around. The first Star Wars comic that I ever bought was one of your stories because I couldn?t wait for the TPB to read it. For the first time since I was twelve, I was excited about a comic book.

Both of you. Your works inspire me and I trust you two not to mess this up because in all honesty I can?t see how you can.

Now I?m not saying you two are my be all and end all, and I?m not saying there haven?t been things I?ve read of yours that I didn?t enjoy quite so much. Some parts have been weaker than others but frankly that?s to be expected, not everything hits dead on the nail, some ideas work much better in planning than they do in execution, it doesn?t matter. If we didn?t have the not-quite-so-good parts the better parts and the truly brilliant parts wouldn?t mean so much.

I suppose the point is you two have never done anything I would consider as ?bad work.?

I?m excited for this because you are taking SW into virgin territory. I?m excited because of all the new characters and settings you?ll be introducing us to, all the ?strange new worlds? (to borrow the phrase) where you?ll be taking us.

Most of all I?m excited because I know this project is in the best of hands.

Thank you both with providing me many hours of exciting reading, many more of seeing, and thank you for bringing us even more.

Good luck with the new series, I hope it turns out as well as we hope it will.

 

When we were thrust into A New Hope, we knew NOTHING about the Star Wars galaxy. This is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT situation!

If I were to tell the story of America beginning with the founding of it in the mid-late 1700s, explore its beginnings with the likes of the Spanish in the 1500s, the Puritans in the 1600s, and continue the main storyline up until the War of 1812, when it seems America is going to fall, then suddenly burst ahead to 1969, how would you feel?

Exactly how WE feel with this.

Also, I'm not even a comic-book reader, so I shouldn't really even care, but I can't help BUT care. I tried to join a roleplaying group based on Star Wars, telling the story of what would happen if Anakin hadn't trusted Palpatine and the Jedi triumphed over the Sith, and it went into some really obscure crazed storyline some 20 or 30 years later, with Anakin leaving the Order and having children with Padme, the Republic being torn apart by pirates or something, and Anakin being involved in some dark prophecy that didn't make much any sense at all, and it gave me a dark empty feeling inside if this were actual Star Wars, but was soothed by the knowledge that it WASN'T.

This new comic idea gives me that same dark empty feeling.

So far, I've seen no arguement in these posts telling us why this is a GOOD thing, but I've read a very compelling arguement as to why it is a BAD thing.

Returning to my story of America example above, if I taught the story of America to someone in this style, it'd be disastrous and confusing, and the person would stop listening to me to go learn it elsewhere, except with Star Wars, you can't learn it anywhere else. If I BEGAN the story in 1969, then started exploring the past in prequels leading up to 1969, (ie, the way Star Wars did) it'd work!

The opinion I've made IS etched in stone because no one has said anything to prevent it from being so. I've heard nothing about this except how bad it could be and how it destroys the entire Star Wars storyline between this and the Dark Nest trilogy, as in people saying "What's the point in reading further? We all know its going to hell anyway and all our favorite characters will die with their efforts all being in vain and the Sith tear apart the galaxy" or w/e.

The Old Republic era of storytelling is completely detached from the Star Wars movies and book beginnings (Late Old Republic-Empire-New Republic-Galactic Alliance), and doesn't connect to them directly the way this one does.

 

I have to say, the ad makes me cringe (I don't think it's well-presented). The pages make me go 'huh'. But I know that's not the whole story. And yeah, I do trust Jan and John and the Dark Horse team to do this right.

Oh, and as of this post this thread has passed the Legacy of the Force discussion

 

Well, in some ways we have more to go on.

 

Well out biggest hope honestly is that you guys will give us some hints of what to expect from the series honestly. We certainly don't want you to spoil anything for the series but anything you'd like to say about the concept, themes of the story, or character inspirations would be appreciated.

Some are expecting a redemption story where Cade embraces his Jedi heritage while others expect him to be a happy go lucky pirate.

 

Or both.

 

So I take it you didn't bother watching Revenge of the Sith then, since you knew that it was all going to hell anyway and all your favorite characters would die with their efforts all being in vain and the Sith tear apart the galaxy?

Oh, and you say "I've heard nothing about this except how bad it could be and how it destroys the entire Star Wars storyline between this and the Dark Nest trilogy" Well I must ask what you've heard, because nothing like that has been released by LFL, DH, John, Jan, or anyone else. Where do you get all of this inside info? Supershadow?

 

To be fair, that had been more or less common knowledge for the past twenty years, and I'm sure everyone went into the theatre expecting to see as much.

 

Exactly my point, why bother with it if you already know what the result will be?

 

Well, we don't know what's going to really happen in LotF yet.

 

It also would help if some people knew how much would be similiar and different.

For some "EVERYTHING IS NEW AGAIN"

Would be cool, no Republic, no GFFA, only the bloodline of Skywalker and no other explanations.

Others want to know if its laden with continuity references and is expected extension of the future.

 

No, we don't know what will happen yet. But according to Andariel_Halo there's no point in reading LotF since LEGACY will ruin all of the continuity after DN.

 

"We fear what we do not understand." To all that have blurted negatively against Legacy, thanks for conforming to the old saying.

"Legacy ruins Star Wars." Totally untrue and totally biased. Sith were thought to be exterminated before and came back more than once. Sector-spanning Empires dominated the Galaxy more than once. The Jedi were nearly destroyed, more than once. Revan and his gang fought as hard or harder than the Big 3, but that doesn't diminish their accomplishments or erase their impact on the Galaxy. If you want to be truly pessimistic, stop being so damn short-sighted, because anything anyone accomplishes will be undone by someone or something at some point in time, and just because the Big 3 were the original heroes doesn't make them exempt from this rule. Besides that, we don't even know the full extent of what's changed in the galaxy. You assume too much.

"Time skips too far ahead." Thinking back to Bantam, was it really such a good idea to have an annual galactic crisis delivered in TV-show-esque manner? Del Rey takes a good approach, I think: 5 or so years in-between, because it would be both unbelievable and monotonous to have some new enemy cropping up every year, kidnapping babies and stirring up some havoc. To those are against Legacy being a galactic crisis story (if it is at all): are you forgetting that 100 years elapse between LotF and L? That's 100 years of possible peace, with zero crises. Sure, small-scale personal threats are fun reads too, but you must remember that stories are born of conflict. You can't have epic conflict if the galaxy's peaceful. What's so wrong with the comics being about a galactic crisis anyway? No, they skip ahead 100 years to tell a small-scale story they could've told within another era.

 

I mean. I really can't see what the problem is with the Galaxy being in bad shape by the time Legacy occurs.

Even if things have generally gone to pot between Lotf & Legacy, it dosn't mean there hasn't been as many as 50 or 80 or 90 years of comparative peace before things went wrong, lets face it, anything over 20 years is a massive achievment for the big three to have accomplished.

 

I completely agree. While I am opposed to this new comic book series, I honestly don't agree with it, and think it's a big big mistake. I know nothing of the authors' work and think they should have picked a subject that doesn't stray so far away from the Star Wars we know and love.

The title page completely alienates those fans who aren't into the EU (those who can't even dream of Star Wars without Luke, Leia, and Han, or Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Palpatine), and it frightens the likes of me, who are comfortable with the direction the novels are going, from the Thrawn Trilogy, to the Jedi Academy trilogy, to the Children of the Jedi/Darksaber/Planet of Twilight trilogy, all the way to the New Jedi Order series and the Dark Nest trilogy, etc, all of a sudden blasting 100 years ahead, it's a very frightening thought to many who are afraid of such sudden bursts in time.

I didn't say it would destroy the Star Wars series, and I guess I was exaggerating when I said it would ruin everything between the Dark Nest trilogy and Legacy. I actually feel that if this goes through, it will feel like things will get über dark after the Dark Nest trilogy to the point where everything we've known and loved is destroyed. It's an exaggeration, but it's the worst-case-scenario my insane mind has run off with. It IS ridiculous to have a new baddie popping up every year, but all Star Wars novels don't have to be some major intergalactic crisis! Many of the old Bantam books and the Young Jedi Knights series weren't big huge intergalactic crises, but the whole point here is the sudden rush 100 years ahead in time, completely losing touch with every main character we know and love, right when we're left at a cliffhanger with the end of the Swarm War (which would be solved in the Legacy of the Force, perhaps) but until then, we're completely in the dark, with needs to resolve.

Going back to my story of America example, it would be as if in describing our story, we skipped ahead right after the Stock Market crash and went right ahead to the Irani hostage crisis of 1979.

Anyway, I'm sick of this topic already. Don't reply to me on the message board. If you have something to say to me, e-mail me (phenomynouss@hotmail.com) or better yet, message me on MSN messenger (same e-mail)

 

Just to stir the pot...

Do we even know whether Cade will be the main character?

 

Okay, so since he's "sick of this topic already," does that mean we can summarily ignore the load of ignorant, unthought, and irrelevant nonsense he just posted?

First we know he thinks it's a big mistake. He's said that how many times now, and in the same words every time?

The title page is designed to catch the interest of people who aren't in the EU crowd, and don't know - or, in this case, even need to know - what's been up with Luke and co. all these years. It doesn't play into the story that much. To those who are "frightened by it," as he admits to being: you prove again that we always fear that which we do not know. Thank you for conforming so brilliantly to the typical idiocy of humanity, which assumes that UNKNOWN = BAD.

He has no reason to say "everything will go dark;" we know practically nothing about the state of the galaxy. For all we know, this could be relatively peaceful times. And, as has been repeatedly posted before - even 50 years of relative peace would be astounding. It's certainly never come anywhere close to happening in Earth's history; for that matter we've never had a single year without any conflict. So the supposition that all-out peace will suddenly break out because a couple heroes have been heroic is absurd.

His "America" example is flawed, because contrary to what he said, no one would ever start at 1900, then jump back to 1776 to explain the Revolution, then jump back again to 1860 to explain the Civil War. Why do people decide when they literally know nothing?

This is the one that gets me about this person's post of nonsense:

You know nothing of the authors or their work and yet feel free to bash them and call them morons for screwing up something you haven't read yet? You know nothing of what the character of Legacy is and yet decide you have the unilateral right to declare it as straying so far away from the Star Wars we know and love - despite the fact that it's been approved by Lucas? *is absolutely incredulous at this level of stubborn-headed nonsense*

I really don't understand that. As I've noted before, I'm no bandwagoneer, blindly screaming how wonderful this will be. But to say this without any basis? Fierfek, gar shabla di'kut! At least give it a chance, for the 25 cents you'll be spending on it...

- Keralys

 

I would be fine with war, strife, conflict, etc. Hell, even a new empire and a Jedi Order struggling to maintain its ranks int he face of war.

But...

Please, for the love of the Force, let us have a continuance of government. Hell, I am not saying make the Galactic Alliance invincible or the largest. But, seeing as how it is the culmination of all that our heroes have been fighting for, let the Alliance be alive. It can be weaker, face opponents, be under attack. But let it survive. A new galactic government every twenty years is getting way to old.

If Randy, John, and Jan let this government last in their new and exciting comic series, I for one will be a very happy man.

Am I alone in this feeling?

--Adm. Nick

 

Andariel_HaloÊ


You say that you mistrust this series because you have a "bad feeling about it" stemming from an experience yopu had playing a role-playing game.

Do you understand the concept of apples and oranges?

Fans and gameplayers can do whatever they want. They are not constrained by continuity nor do they have to have anything approved by Lucas Film Licensing. I'm a professional writer of over 20 years experience, with five years of writing SW (none of which you've bothered to read before deciding what I do is bad) and everything I do has to be approved by LFL at every stage of the work.

You don't read comics and thus have never read anything i've done but you are absolutely certain it's going to destroy SW. You complain about it being 100 years in the future because, frankly, that's not how YOU think it should be done. There are reasons WHY we're doing it that way which will become apparent as the story unfolds.

I'm talking to a brick wall, aren't I?

Well, never mind. There are a FEW people who expressed your opinion. The VAST majority here, at DH, on TOS, and on newsarama have expressed interest, from the intrigued to the ecstatic. Far from DESTROYING SW, it shows that SW is very much alive.

For the record -- we're doing LEGACY. We've thought it through. i'm sorry you don't like it but we're going ahead as planned anyway. It's not destroying SW. It's not messing up LotF. I know because I'm kept in the loop on LotF and I make sure it doesn't. We have respect for what they're doing.

There's really no point if continuing to discuss this with you as you're not interested in discussion.

Everyone else -- thanks for the kind words. We're not telling more about Legacy RIGHT NOW but there will be more coming out and fairly soon. It's part of a plan we have to market the book and keep interest going.

Thanks

-- John

 

I do have to agree that saying it will necessarily be horrible just because we know nothing about it is a bad thing especially as, while I do agree there are differences in the connectedness between say KOTOR and this, it may not be that much of one. It also doesn't close the door on any interesting things within the Legacy of the Force series, as yes we know that there will be a new Empire and that Luke and Co. will be out of the Galatic Spotlight. We however don't know the whys. Is it most likely death? Yeah, but with the case of Luke and Leia at least there's plenty of ways that this could be handled, whereas Han will die in one way or another, hopefully in a second book called The Unifying Force just so wildkarrde can be right.

While I'm still a bit apprehensive about it, I'm warming up to the idea as, a character's death doesn't really make them any less signifigant or harm their characterization as, Obi-Wan sacrificing himself didn't render all of his great deeds null and void, neither did Yoda's death render his 900 years of doing good. So, Luke's death won't though I'm not looking forward to it, but you aren't necessarily supposed to look forward to the death of characters, and the fact that it'll hit a chord with me if anything just says that the EU and Lucas did a great job with characterizations.

 

The Unifying Force... 2: The Stunning Conclusion the New Legacy of the Force, by James Luceno...

The final moments of the great galactic conflict are winding down, and it will come down to the actions of one man, one non-Jedi, non-Force-using man, to shape the galaxy forever. But it will cost him his life...



- Keralys

 

Geez, I've got to get back to those NJO books.

 

I have to agree. Changing govts every now and then is akin to some of the worst periods of the late Roman Empire where we had a new Caesar every now and then.

It's anarchy to keep having such nonsense I tell you.

 

Exactly.

That is the whole point of my argument. I am in favor of this new series. I am hopeful for its success. But please let it start with the Galactic Alliance so that the fans can actually go "Jeez, they finally made a government work!"

I hope that I have the opportunity to say that when this new series comes out.

--Adm. Nick

 

You know when I first heard about this, I wasn't crazy about it. I wasn't pissed, but thought it might not be the best idea for Star Wars. But after what, a little more than a week, the idea is starting to grow on me.

I was just being afraid. And I love John and Jan and their previous work and I do trust them. And I love Lucas and trust him. Why was I so afraid? Just because it's a major change. But who cares? Throw caution to the wind and let the chips fall where they may. With a good creative team it has a great chance of working out.

Oh and everyone complaining about Cade being too much of a "badass". Shut up. Please. All you've seen is a picture and a goddamn tattoo. So quick to judge. His name Cade "must" be rhyming with Blade so he is super cool. Just shut up please. (Ok, I don't mean that, everyone has a right to their opinion but I think it is silly enough to warrant a shut up.)

And John and Jan, you are too good to be so active on these boards and we as fans thank you. I'm sure even the complainers appreciate your involvement here with us.

 

I'm not bothered by Cade or anything about him.

I definitely understand the concern over the continued existence of the Galactic Alliance, especially when you think about the 25,000 year-reign of the Galactic Republic.

On a similar vein, I do hope that Legacy does not use X-wings and Star Destroyers. They are iconic and all that, but I would enjoy seeing them rendered obsolete by superior designs. Their continued usage are getting on my last nerve in the books, as it is obvious they are getting by on their iconism alone.