#I’m just reading his solo comics and direct tie-ins

[daydreamerdrew]

Iron Man (1968) #14

[oldadastra]

Letter to Lucasfilm

So, I’ve written a letter to Lucasfilm. It could be better, but this is what came out this afternoon. I hope others who are writing will share what they are putting into the mail. I was trying to be concise, but it still ran to several pages. Find it in its entirety below the cut:

***

Lucasfilm, Ltd. Attn: Fan Mail PO Box 29901 San Francisco, CA 94129-0901

December 30, 2019

Lucasfilm/Disney:

I am writing to express my anger, shock, disappointment and deep sadness with the final installment of the Star Wars saga, Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.

I was ten in 1977 when the original film was released and have loved Star Wars ever since. I was thrilled by the reopening of the saga in The Force Awakens, and delighted by the excellent script, rich visual storytelling, nuanced character development, and thematic direction of Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi.

Disney took on a sacred trust when it acquired Lucasfilm. Star Wars is deeply important to many people, and if you couldn’t do justice to the characters and themes of the saga, I’d argue that you had no business being involved in these stories. There is so much Disney/Lucasfilm got wrong in Rise of Skywalker, I’m struggling to gather my thoughts or express them coherently, but here goes:

Ben Solo. You created the most compelling character in the new trilogy by destroying the happy ending of the original trilogy. I was willing to go along on the ride Abrams and Kasdan began in The Force Awakens, because the fate of Ben Solo felt like it mattered. The questions raised in the new films: the nature of good and evil, the degree to which one’s family legacy defines a person, whether a one can atone for past sins; all of it felt alive and urgent in the person of Ben, a character I loved like one of my own children from the moment we so traumatically met him in The Force Awakens. His story was the beating heart of the new trilogy. His story is the one that mattered. His life was the one to be saved.

Ben solo was never an exposition device, cool villain, or disposable baddie to me. He was Han and Leia’s only child; loved, targeted, broken, lost.

The Rise of Skywalker redeems Ben Solo in the final act of the film, only to destroy him. Was it always your plan to kill the last Skywalker in the final installment of this story, to render the overarching message of all nine films as tragedy? If so, I wish I’d known this was your intent; I would never have engaged with these stories and made an emotional investment in them. If tragedy was your goal, that was certainly your choice to make, but I’d argue that you owed it to the audience and the cast to do a better job of it.

For example: You give us evidence that Han and Leia’s child was targeted by evil old men from before his birth. It’s a disturbingly explicit allegory of grooming and child abuse.

You give Ben Solo a backstory which implies he is guilty of vile, Anakin-style crimes against other young people, coding him as a school shooter, and then chose to exonerate him of this crime in a comic book, where the general audience will never know he was innocent. It’s a form of character assassination.

You consigned Ben Solo to the darkness for almost the entirety of three films, then denied him his voice in the final acts of his own story. “Ow?” The only words the redeemed Ben Solo will ever speak. Apalling.

You brought back Palpatine for this film (arguably rendering the message of the first six films meaningless), identified the Emperor as Ben’s tormentor all along, then denied Ben the opportunity to fight his enemy in the final act of the film.  Rise of Skywalker literally throws Ben Solo into a pit, and forces him to climb out alone and unaided while Rey is whispered to by “all the jedi,” offering her words of encouragement. It’s grotesque.

I’m getting lost in rage and sadness again here, so let me just say that even if you inexplicably didn’t care about the last Skywalker in the Skywalker saga, you have done a grave disservice to Adam Driver in your treatment of his character in this these films.  Perhaps you’ve heard of Driver’s non-profit organization, Arts in the Armed Forces? He’s deeply committed to the importance of stories as a way to make meaning out of the inexpressible. Did he really sign on to this project thinking that the final message of his character would be to say that even if you are able to come back from the darkness, your final act must be to die? That imperfect children don’t deserve compassion, forgiveness, life? You owe Mr. Driver an apology, but you can never really atone for what you’ve done to him.  

You ended a nine-film, forty-two year saga with all the Skywalkers dead, and a Palpatine the last one standing. You spent three films tormenting Han and Leia’s child, only to kill him in the final act.  What you did to Ben Solo (and frankly to us, who loved him) feels more like a horror story than anything else. In my dreams, I walk right into your offices and flip over tables.

There’s a lot more I could accuse Rise of Skywalker of bungling, but I assume you are hearing this feedback from others besides me, so I will summarize:

Rey Palpatine. Was is all about the midiclorians after all? By making her Palpatine’s granddaughter, you deny Rey everything that made her special; you deny her agency, and you negate the beautiful message I thought you were trying to communicate in the first two films with Rey Nobody: that the force belongs to us all, and that anyone can be a hero

The erasure of Rose Tico. It’s difficult to interpret this as anything but a capitulation to a loud, racist, and misogynist element of the fandom. It’s a very bad look, Disney. Please pay attention to the message you are sending.

Character development in general and a truly horrible ending: Rey goes back into her child-like costume, Ben Solo spent much of the film forced back into his stupid mask. Ben disappears at the end with no one to mourn him. Rey ends the film alone in a desert wasteland.

Rise of Skywalker is the most bleak, hopeless, and depressing Star Wars film ever made. As days go by, it’s becoming clear that it was also poorly written and edited. These stories matter to us, and we pay close attention to them. Disrespect us at your peril.

I don’t expect anyone will ever read this missive, or care at all about what an old shepherd on a mountainside thought about the execution of your multi-billion dollar movies. This is a personal exercise in catharsis as much as anything.

But here are a few notes in a language you might understand. I made some quick calculations about how much money I’ve spent on Star Wars over the past four years, and I’m sharing that with you now.

Movie tickets:  I’m one of those people who sees movies I love more than once (I saw Empire Strikes Back eighty-one times in the theater!). I saw The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi at least ten times each. I’m not counting the cost of tickets for my extended family, whom I brought along to a number of screenings, or tickets for birthday party guests we treated to these movies. My teenaged daughter came along for all the screenings I am including, so I calculate I spent about $360 on tickets. We also bought tickets to Rogue One and Solo, so it was actually more, but you get the idea.

Books, tie-ins, DVDs, merchandise: I invested in The Art of the Force Awakens and The Art of the Last Jedi books, as well as at least one SW Visual Dictionary. I bought DVDs of the films of course, and CDs of John Williams’ beautiful scores. I bought and read a number of books; Boodline and the Leia novel, The Force Awakens novelization and Junior novelization, Aftermath, and a couple others whose titles escape me. At least seven action figures. Toy light sabers for me and my daughter. Posters. T Shirts. I know I’m not remembering everything, but it adds up to an expenditure of at least $347 in books and other Star Wars merchandise.

Star Wars Celebration: I splurged on passes for my daughter and I to attend Star Wars Celebration in Chicago this past spring. It cost me about $400, and a last-minute family emergency meant we were unable to attend, but the tickets were non-refundable, so it was money I spent on Star Wars nonetheless.

Total: $1,107

A laughably small amount to you guys, I’m sure. Perhaps a contrast is useful:

Total amount I have spent (tickets for my daughter and I on opening night) on Rise of Skywalker: $22.

Total amount I plan to spend on Disney Lucasfilm merchandise in the future: $0

I invested quite a lot of my time in Star Wars over the past four years. I’ve written thousands of words in essays, appreciations and analyses (mostly on Tumblr), where I amassed a modest following of just over a thousand people. I’m sure I occasionally bored my friends and family by going on and on about Star Wars. This kind of ‘work’ has no dollar value of course. I will say that it was great fun while it lasted, though I feel foolish in retrospect, remembering all the times I came to your defense, arguing that the saga was in good hands, that you had a plan; that you were going to tell a good story.

Sadly, I don’t think you can fix the damage you’ve done to the Galaxy Far Far Away with The Rise of Skywalker. You made this film, made your choices, and put it out into the world. I have no control over where you go from here, but as a person who has loved Star Wars since I was a child, I beg you to take some time to reflect before making another Star Wars film.

You’ve broken so many hearts. Mine was one.

Andrea ____

...my full name and address, blah blah, I live in Vermont

[sasskarian]

The Mostly-Complete Rise of Skywalker semi-liveblog and reaction list that literally no one asked for

I really dig the parallels between Exegol and Korriban. The way both places felt massive and cramped at the same time, all ominous and tomb-like. Both of them are desolate, devoid of all life. They both feel barren, but not just barren. Korriban feels like history crumbling beneath your fingertips. Exegol feels like a place that’s actively trying to wound you with its desolation, like it’s sucking the life out of you to try and renew itself. (Which, given that Palpatine is there and what he does later, yeah, that tracks.)

When Palps tells Kylo to kill Rey, you can see the micro expression in his eyes. The way the muscles in his face tighten up for a second, the brows drawing down in an expression of disdain and repulsion. If we could have seen his mouth, I’d lay money down on there being a sneer flash across his face for a moment. And damn if Adam isn’t a good actor for being able to portray something that subtle.

There were definitely a few moments where Chewie bitches at Poe for the stunts he’s pulling, including a very definitive accusation of “Rey would never do this to me or the Falcon,” or something along those lines. (This is when Poe snarls, “Yeah, well, Rey’s not here right now, is she?”)

Kylo reaching out into the Force. We’re supposed to think he’s trying to reach Anakin/Vader, but I don’t think that’s what happened at all. I think that he reached for Rey specifically, possibly as a self-soothing gesture. The need to feel her alive, reassure himself. And because of Rey’s feelings and connections to his own family, he’s clearly struggling with his more monstrous acts, and with seeing Luke and Han as intrusive thoughts.

Rey failing the training course because of him makes perfect sense. Notice that this is also when she gets angry.

The Kintsugi vibe given off by Ren’s helmet repairs are fascinating.

Given the way Pryde keeps focusing on Hux during the meeting, I feel like he suspects Hux.

I find it interesting that Finn seems to be the peacekeeper in the OT3. Poe is definitely a hothead, even though he’s matured since TFA and TLJ. And Rey snaps back at him, indignant that he’s snapping at her. And Finn is the one doing the “Guys, guYS, we don’t have TIME for this” routine.

I like the quiet horror of Rey recognizing Exegol’s name. Whether it’s Force shenanigans, or from reading Luke’s books, or from the vision, whatever. The recognition followed by horror is Good Fucking Acting.

I wish that there’d been a little more of Luke or Leia reassuring Rey that a name is just a name. That the legacy is what you make it. And that as the children of Anakin Skywalker, they know that better than anyone. I feel like that would have been a good tie-in and highlight for the way the surnames are treated in the movies. Ben shunning both Organa and Solo, Rey having a last name at last but one that carries the same kind of stigma and Dark past.

I… kind of wonder if Ren surrounded himself in atrocities as a means of self-punishment. We know it’s canon that he keeps being pulled to the Light, and that every time he does, he tries something Dark. Maybe it’s his way of reminding himself how far he’s fallen and that he can’t ever go back home again (which we know is bullshit, but hey, abuse fucks your brain up, and Snoke was abusive af). Like, again, I know it’s mostly just in the comics so far, but we see him a lot saying, “I never wanted this,” “I don’t want to do this.”

The Pasaana dance in the festival seems pretty clearly modeled after tribal dances, and that makes me wonder if powerful dances like the Dha Werda and the Ancestor Dance shown in the film send ripples through the Force. And what that might be like.

I… kind of like the idea of Ben and Kylo struggling for control? I need to finish reading TLJ and read TRoS when it comes out, but there are things Kylo does—the almost-gentle banter with Rey, the way he reaches out in TLJ when she’s on Ahch-To, warning her about Palps—that doesn’t make sense from a purely Kylo perspective. I mean, I’m also an angst gremlin who enjoys the idea of Kylo losing more ground to Ben Solo, and having serious identity clashes.

The bond between Rey and Kylo has grown exponentially. Each movie, it gets bigger and more powerful. In TFA, it allowed her to look into his head. And he wasn’t able to really bring himself to hurt her. In TLJ, it bridges impossible distances of space, even so far as transporting physical objects across the distance. And in TRoS, we see that it’s gotten so strong, it literally blocks out the rest of the physical world. You could argue that the darkness in the bond is what’s overshadowing it, but I don’t count it that way. Rey’s surroundings on Pasaana are slowed down and muted, as if only Ren is her focus.

The trio is so drift compatible, it hurts.

The way the trio grabs for each other, though. It was beautiful. Disney may have decided that Poe/Finn wasn’t a thing, which we all know is a damn lie, but this movie ships the OT3 so hard. The way Poe catches Rey as she falls, the way they both turn at almost the same time to look for Finn. The casual touching.

Childish though it was, I did enjoy the “mine’s bigger” joke with Rey’s lightsaber vs Poe’s flashlight.

Rey shows an affinity for Animal Empathy. Ren has used Stasis more than once. I could even argue that there’s been some subtle Battle Meditation going on throughout the series. And I kind of? Like that we’re seeing some of the more obscure and subtle Force powers.

Also? The snakey slow-blink? I love.

Rey seems to have some psychometry abilities. And I love it.

The way Rey says “I’ll be right behind you” isn’t what it sounds like. It has a lot of layers to it. (Just like Han’s “I know” in ESB) It’s declaration of intent (“I’ll handle this”), it’s a request (“Trust me”), and it’s consolation and reassurance (“I’ll be fine.”). The way all that is conveyed with five simple words is. Ugh. My heart.

As Finn gets stronger in the Force, I’m enjoying seeing his instincts kick in. He senses Ren’s approach, which is a nice completion of the parallel to TFA when Ren sensed him as the traitor.

I don’t know who’s read the Rise of Kylo comic, but the way she slices his ship to bring him down is a direct parallel to the shot he made when he escaped the destroyed Temple. (I love all the tie-ins, honestly)

Rey was doing okay with trying to pull the transport down until Kylo stepped in to push her. The most likely scenario is less “force lightning is genetic” (because that’s crap) but more that anger clouded her mind and she already had a direct Force ability going.

When I asked my roommate why she thought Rey couldn’t sense Chewie’s life force, she gave me an interesting theory. Well, a few, but one I think makes a lot of sense. The first was that Chewie was already off-world and thus too far away (later debunked by her sensing him as the Destroyer is in orbit). Or that maybe the transports were shielded against Force Abilities, but given that they’re so rare in this era, I don’t think that’s the case. I agree with my roomie in saying that it’s more likely that Rey burnt out part of her senses and basically put herself in shock due to the feedback of casting a powerful and traditionally dark side ability for the first time.

The first couple of times I watched the movie, the entire Threepio arc bothered me. Why didn’t they just plug him into the navicomputer, the way they’d done before? Why the angst build-up? Then I remembered that they left the Falcon on Pasaana, and it’s possible that L3 is more equipped to talk to Threepio’s forbidden memory banks than a post-TCW era ship that’s almost certainly out of date.

…Zorii and Poe have A Past. I’d put money on them having banged like screen doors in a hurricane at least a few times.

“Who are you hanging out with that spEAKS SITH?!?”

I? love? Babu?

“Does she do that to us?” had me in tears.

Oh my God, the sheer #aesthetic and foreshadowing of her duel with Ren. The red fruit (cherries?) spilling across the floor, the stark color against the too-bright white. The way Vader’s helmet thunks on the ground like a sour note in a song, the way the pedestal shatters with their combined strikes. Vader falling from Ren’s worship (as the truth is revealed that it was Snoke/Palps messing with his mind and he never heard Vader), the dark glass shattering the same way the darkness in Ren dies with him.

Finn is… kind of a gossipy biddy and I love it. The way Jannah hands him the part and he just flat out abandons the work to talk, the body language as he hoists himself up to sit on the ledge. I love it. He’s precious.

I wonder if the Death Star echoes in the Force. So many brutal deaths in those halls. So many restless ghosts.

…okay, I’m not sure how to feel about the dagger lining up with the fallen DS’s architecture. Because like. There’s so many layers to that? That suggests that Palps had the dagger created after Endor/RoTJ. Which suggests that he may have had the Wayfinders created then too (though it seemed pretty comfy in the Vault, so maybe he already had them?) (Also, there was one on Mustafar. Was it planted there? Did Vader know about Exegol? I need more information than this!) And like. The Death Star is sitting in a violent sea. It’s going to degrade eventually. What if the horizon line had changed? What then? It seems flimsy, for all that it was dramatic and cool.

The sheer aesthetic in this movie, though. The symbolism is everywhere. Like Rey taking the skimmer. I love the aesthetic choices of her struggling against these giant, furious waves as a fantastic visual analogy of her struggle against the emotions churning away inside her. And how Despair and Fear and even Anger threaten to overwhelm her and drown her, but she keeps holding tight to that little skimmer the same way she’s clinging to Luke’s teachings and Leia’s love and faith in her. Their belief in her.

“You don’t know what she’s fighting.” “And you do?” I wonder if, as a Force Adept, Finn can sense the bond between Rey and Ren, and that she’s struggling against it. As well as the Palpatine name.

Theory (that may or may not have been explored in the Legends EU): Any place steeped in enough Dark emotion can become a place of visions like the Mirror Cave and Dagobah’s Cave. Rey comes face to face with her worst fear on the Death Star.

Speaking of, I wonder if some small part of Rey enjoyed the vision of her and Kylo as Emperor and Empress. I wonder if that’s where the abject horror comes from.

Speaking of more aesthetic, the on-screen contrast and history of the window where Vader and Luke dueled, and the shot of Palps’ throne over Rey’s shoulder. Sorry not sorry but I’m going to be forever in love with the cinematography in this movie.

Ren seems… almost exasperated that she’s still drawing her saber on him. That has fic potential.

That. Entire. Fucking. Duel. That entire battle. Just… oof. OOF. My heart. It blew everything in me wide open. Looking with the eyes of a writer and SW expert instead of the wide-eyed “my hEaRt!” first reaction, I saw So Much. Like Rey and Ren trading battle stances. IDK if anyone else noticed, and it’s happened before (the throne room battle in TLJ, notably, but also their duel in Ren’s quarters). But here, it’s so clear. They gave and took from each other as they fought, and that broke my heart. It threw me back to KotOR II’s echani battles, and the fight between Sun and Mun in Sense8. Here, unlike TLJ, they weren’t fighting in tandem with each other. This was back and forth. Rey starts out saber up, in what looks like shii-cho. Kylo, like always, starts out in Ataru, with heavy, powerful strikes trying to bludgeon down her defense. Rey switches to an offensive, then to fast, agile strikes holding her lightsaber Ahsoka style. Kylo then switches to shii-cho, and Rey enters Ataru, with the aggressive offensive. The way they switched between each other was fantastic.

Near the end, Rey starts giving up. You can see it. Her movements get sluggish, like she’s just going through the motions. Like she’s so tired of fighting the bond in her head, her reluctant pull to him, like she’s just. So Fucking Tired. She’s resigned.

Kylo Ren dying by his own lightsaber while Ben’s mother called to him. That symbolism. That symbolism, though.

The way he looks around, like he’s in shock. The way the battle just stops, and he’s sitting there, dying. You can see the change in him, as Ben wakes up and Kylo dies. There’s so much shell-shock and disorientation, like someone who’s been asleep for too long, waking up confused. And I’d like to believe that Rey healing him poured not just healing but maybe a little Light into him, and that, along with Leia reaching for him, is what gave Ben the strength to rise over Kylo and overpower him. (See also, my love of internal power struggles)

“I did want to take your hand. Ben’s hand.” Excuse you, I did not sign up for this feels trip.

Rey running away. I have… conflicted feelings on? Did she run away because she was grieving? To escape her own history? Did she run because she gave into the dark and struck down Kylo in anger? Or because she was tempted by Ben?

I know everyone says that Han was just a memory but I prefer to believe that Han’s just too stubborn to be a proper Force Ghost. And Disney and Lucasarts can pry Force Sensitive Han Solo out of my cold dead hands.

Luke, materializing out of the air and catching the saber. My heart screamed. Especially when he chided her (and himself) that a lightsaber deserves more respect.

“Leia didn’t tell me.” I think… I think Leia was trying to, without saying the words, “Rey, you’re a Palpatine.” She said, “Never be afraid of who you are.” And oh, God, that’s something Leia would know. In the EU she struggles with being Anakin’s daughter, with the legacy of Vader hanging over her. She struggles with it so much. And finally comes to terms with it. So if anyone knows what that’s like, it’s going to be her.

­­­"She sensed the death of her son at the end of her Jedi path." So... she had nearly thirty years to plan for it. Yoda says, “Always in motion, the future is.” I don’t believe for a single instant that Leia Organa shrugged her shoulders and said “Welp, guess my kid’s gonna die.”

Luke KNEW Ben would go to Exegol. He knew and no one will ever convince me otherwise. “Take both sabers.” She’d need one for Ben.

I wonder if Lando looks at the Falcon and sees all the little pieces of Han.

So. The arrival order at Exegol threw me for a while. Rey gets there, in Red 5. Using the toasted Wayfinder. Then the Resistance arrives, following her trail. We see Ben arrive in a TIE fighter. But… how? Rey’s trail was given to the Resistance on what I can only imagine is an encrypted wave data burst. We know it was technically given to Lando, so that the people joining the battle could find them. But Ben’s in a TIE fighter. Did he get the message from Lando? Were the coordinates already programmed into the TIE via the Final Order? Did he memorize the path from before (given that he’s a stellar pilot like Han)? Did Rey give it to him?

I hate Palps being a one-trick pony in the movies. We see him in TCW having other abilities, and mad saber skills. But in the movies, his schtick is the same every time: He seduces people to the Dark and makes them feel like they don’t have a choice, usually by dangling, “Look, you can SAVE THEM” in front of everyone. And then once he has them, he keeps them by constantly belittling them and reminding them that there’s nowhere else for them to go, because they burnt all their bridges. (Ex: Vader being reminded of what he did to Padme, and Kylo being reminded via Snoke of his own actions)

WEDGE. WEDGE ANTILLES. WEDGE.

Rey felt Ben’s approach, and you can see the change in her body language.

THAT IS THE MOST HAN SOLO THING I HAVE EVER SEEN AND IT’S NOT EVEN HAN SOLO. Watching the changes in Ben (vs Kylo) is so fucking great. He’s lighter, he’s faster. He skids (Han/Death Star), shoots behind him (Han/TFA), and the Solo Shrug. Ugh. Seeing Leia and Han blended in Ben with the Solo swagger, and Leia’s grace is fantastic.

Also: he looks so Soft. And so much younger.

I wonder if they’re communicating through the bond? He knows she can see him, because he nods at her to give him the saber. And unless I didn’t see correctly, she mouthed/whispered his name. And again, we see the connections between them in the fighting style. They’re still acting and reacting like extensions of each other.

The way they meet, the relief on their faces. Relief that melts into stubbornness and determination. Also, the way they take up their sabers in the same stance, the same expression. It’s delicious.

We were ROBBED of seeing the Jedi around Rey. ROBBED.

I’m STILL SALTY that they weren’t there for Ben (that we can see anyway).

Ben proceeded to completely shatter my heart. When he pulls Rey into his lap, he looks around like he’s waiting for someone to tell him what to do. He’s actively seeking guidance and help. And because we don’t have an in to Ben’s head, we don’t know if someone told him what to do or how to do it, or if anyone comforted him. But we do see his face go from disbelief to despair to acceptance.

The face touch. Stop breaking my damn heart.

When the Core ships arrive, I’m almost positive I saw The Razorcrest and the Ghost. I need to check the disc where I can pause it, but I’d put money on it that I saw them.

The way the trio grabs for each other at the end is more movie-shipping-OT3. Finn holding the two people he loves most in the world, right where he can see them. Poe taking Rey’s hand. They don’t know what happened in the Citadel, but I’m pretty sure Finn can feel how tired Rey is, how wounded she is. And they’re There For Her.

Rey burying the sabers on Tatooine has so many emotions attached to it. Tatooine, where Anakin Skywalker was born of the Force, where Luke spent his formative years. Luke and Leia resting together in the Force, as their student moves on and tries to find her way in the galaxy. And the parallels and tie ins from TFA to now, like Rey building a dual saber from parts of her quarterstaff, the sand sliding, and the OT callback to the protag being silhouetted by the twin suns, were satisfying.

Rey’s saber being yellow is something I find… interesting. If you look at the newer movies, whenever a blue or green saber crosses with a red one, the light sparks and blending of the plasma fields look yellow. And Kyber crystals (in the new canon) aren’t colored. They take on a color when the jedi awakes the force in them. So for her color to resonate yellow as someone balanced in light and dark makes a lot of sense.

I have… Opinions on the surname controversy that I’m still trying to sort through. And I definitely have Opinions on Ben sacrificing himself (mostly that the entire sequel trilogy spent two and a half movies harping on about balance only to kill off half the balance and leave a Force Wound in their protag)

***

Was Rise of Skywalker a good movie? Eh. That depends a lot on your criteria.

Was it a successful Star Wars movie? That also depends on your criteria.

But for me, it felt like Star Wars. It felt like an ending to the Skywalker saga. Did I get everything I wanted? No. Am I salty about parts of it? Absolutely. Are there plot holes I could drive a Death Star through? You betcha. Were we robbed of a better, more cohesive movie based on the leaks from JJ’s crew? YUP.

But I found things to enjoy. I got things I wanted (OT3! Force Sensitive Finn! Bendemption! Lando! Hope for the galaxy!), didn’t know I wanted (Master Leia! D-O the anxiety droid! Generals Finn and Poe!), and things I definitely didn’t want.

[ibmiller]

Hey so you seem to know stuff about Steph (obviously) and mid-2000s Batman stuff, do you have any ideas about what might've changed if War Games hadn't happened? This is something I've been poking at but there's a lot of major events going on in the comics at that general point in time and it gets confusing, I'm pretty sure Tim and Cass wouldn't be in Bludhaven for instance (would Tim even be back as Robin?) but I can't guess at much else and I'd like some more knowledgeable input

Thanks for the question!

I think the question of “what would have happened without War Games” is really a question of “what would have happened if DC hadn’t decided to go grim and edgy in 2004-2006″. To me, that means a couple of things.

1) Identity Crisis doesn’t happen, or if it does, they don’t push to have it include rape, heroes becoming murderers and brainwashers, and deaths calculated to be as nasty as possible. In terms of the Batfamily, I’m speaking specifically about the death of Tim’s father.

2) Infinite Crisis isn’t as destructive, both in-universe (with Cass not going evil), or out of universe (with Greg Rucka getting fired from Wonder Woman - I just did a runthrough on Comichron to see what his sales were like, and there was definitely an artificial boost from the various tie-ins he’d gotten, but it seemed like they could have let him do at least one more year on the book). One Year Later is a huge mixed bag, with an attempt to push both lighter, more fun and hopeful directions (with Paul Dini and to some extent Grant Morrison in the Batman stuff) and really dark, grim stuff, with the weekly miniseries “52″ covering both sides of that push.

Obviously, these are some of the events you’re talking about when you say that comics from about 2004-2007 were quite confusing. As someone who simply doesn’t read anything with “Crisis” in the title, I’m not a huge help to you on that front (outside of reading wiki summaries :) ), but I do think that there was a real problem from the end of War Games to the beginning of Grant Morrison’s “Bat-Epic” (in roughly 2006-7). You do have some fondly remembered things, most noteably “Under the Hood/Under the Red Hood” where Jason returns, but outside of the fact of his return, I think more people seem to fondly remember the animated version of that storyline, rather than the actual story. What DC chose to do with Jason for the next 4 years was kind of frustrating, too.

I would be very curious to know how much the architects of War Games knew about Jason’s return. People say that Hush, in 2003, foreshadowed Jason’s return, but so much of War Games was hammering home two things:

1) Batman is super sad because Jason is super dead and will never come back

2) Stephanie is too much like Jason, including being dead

In terms of the nitty gritty: If you remove War Games, you probably also have to remove Identity Crisis when it comes to Tim’s storyline, because so much of what they built for that character had to do with him being sad and alone because Steph and his dad die, and there’s all the drama of him being Robin because his father finds out. Honestly, once his father found out, his father was almost certainly dead, because DC wasn’t cool with people knowing Batman’s secret identity back then (these days they seem much less hardcore about it, though they don’t give it out like candy). So I think Tim’s father wouldn’t have found out, and Tim wouldn’t have quit, thus Steph wouldn’t have been Robin. All of those massive changes were just put in to service the overall story of War Games and Identity Crisis, and make Tim sadder. 

Cass had some fun stuff going on in Bludhaven, but her character was kind of aimless due to creative shifts (it’s been a few years since I did my blitz through her solo series, and I didn’t make careful note of issues or dates, so I’ll be interested to see what Cass fans have to say about my impressions here). It’s actually an interesting question if the writer during War Games, Dylan Horrocks, would have quit if War Games hadn’t happened, since it seems to me that he was deeply unhappy with having to write that story, and it contributed to the problems which led to him leaving the title. Many Cass fans are a bit torn about Horrock’s run, so I don’t know, long term, if they would have been excited about that, or would have preferred Gabrych to come on when he did. I don’t know who pitched the end of Cass’s series being the revelation that Shiva is her mother, but a lot of that seems directly tied into the fallout of War Games (with dead Steph appearing in a dream), so it’s possible that either they wouldn’t have chosen that direction for Cass, or it wouldn’t have been as harsh an ending as it turned out to be for the title.

The other major Bat-title that I know about from that time is Birds of Prey. That period was smack in the middle of Gail Simone’s amazing first run. That book was profoundly impacted by War Games - the Birds’ main base, the Clocktower, was blown up, and they moved out of Gotham and started having more international adventures again (as they did in the Chuck Dixon run). This was all part of the “Make Batman be alone again” plan, and was stupid - but Simone did a wonderful job, showing Dinah (who’d mentored Steph a few times) mourning, and Babs using Steph’s story to scare Misfit into not claiming the Batgirl title for herself. The Birds title didn’t often impact the main Batman line, and it’s unlikely that much would have changed in terms of the storylines Simone wanted to tell. But the framing likely would have changed significantly - she might have not set as many stories outside of Gotham, and she might have been able to write her favorite Batman (the hugger) a bit more.

Without those two stories, I think Tim continues to be Robin, and Steph probably continues to be a fun girlfriend, but not really growing or changing that much (both Jon Lewis and Bill Willingham liked using her, but didn’t really seem to have any plotlines devoted to her that weren’t editorially dictated). Without a Chuck Dixon, Bryan Q. Miller, or James Tynion, Steph was probably just going to keep being a supporting character, instead of getting a chance to be a solo or lead. This one fact, actually, is a large part of why, even with how stupid the event got, I’m somewhat glad that War Games happened, because Steph got three months as a lead, solo character, and fans really rallied to her, and even more after her death felt so unfair. Without that, I think her fans would have continued at pretty low levels - people loved her, but they didn’t see her as representative of something really key - the outsider who desperately wanted to be in. Without War Games, we don’t get the redemption story of her Batgirl run, and we don’t get fans who cheered when James Tynion brought her back as Spoiler in Batman Eternal.

[secretlystephaniebrown]

Hey, it seems like you might be someone who can point me in the direction since we already have similar interests in rvb. I'm trying to start getting into dc comic books, but i don't really know where to start. I know I wanna read about batmans "apprentices", like batgirl and nightwing and all that,and i know that i dont really want something focused on batman, but idk which run would interest me. Do you have any series suggestions or people who would be able to give a better answer? thanks!

Okay.

Batman Recs Minus Batman

Honestly a good place to start properly is Batman No Man’s Land. It starts off establishing how Gotham has been functioning without Batman, and introduces you to a large, extended cast of characters, including the introduction of the Best Batgirl, Cassandra Cain. 

I’m not a Dick Grayson or Barbara Gordon expert, so I’m afraid I don’t have great recs for them, but I’ll @renaroo​ here for further suggestions because she’s a walking comics encyclopedia. 

For Jason Todd, the comic version is fine, but Batman: Under the Red Hood’s movie is really one of the best pieces of Batman media ever created, so I’ll just throw you there. It’s still emotional and beautiful. Many people enjoy Red Hood: The Lost Days, but I’m more iffy on it personally. 

I haven’t read the entirety, or even most of Tim Drake’s Robin, but I’ve heard good things, and the issues I’ve read (the ones with Stephanie Brown in them, mainly) are pretty solid. You’ll encounter Tim a lot in everything else though; he’s a popular character, and crossed over a lot. Tim’s also in Young Justice and has been in various parts of Teen Titans, but there’s been so many Teen Titans series I wouldn’t know where to start linking you. 

Cassandra Cain’s Batgirl run is another series I would HIGHLY recommend checking out. Cass technically has two runs, but I can’t in good conscience recommend the second one; it’s… not great. 

For my main girl, really the best place to start your reading is Cass’s Batgirl. That’s some Peak Stephanie Brown right there in that comic. Because Steph didn’t have her own solo series for years, her appearances are harder to track down. She did eventually get her own solo series as Batgirl, and while I have my critiques of it, it’s a perfectly fun read. 

Damian has had a few runs, Batman and Robin is a great one, and Robin: Son of Batman picks up where it left off. Currently running, Super Sons is a really great look at Damian, and it introduces you to his counter part, Jon Kent. 

Harper hasn’t had a solo yet; she’s had scattered appearances in various things, but I don’t have any solid recs for where to find her, so I’ll page @goodluckdetective and @feministbatman, the Harper Row experts. 

Duke Thomas, the newest addition to the main kids, is apparently getting his own solo series soon, but he was the lead in We Are Robin, and it’s a great introduction to him in another Batman-lite series. 

That’s it for the apprentices; I’ll throw in a few more here who are more partners. 

If you liked what you saw of Renee Montoya and the Gotham PD in No Man’s Land, I’d then suggest you check out Gotham Central; very Batman lite as a whole, this series focuses on ordinary people, and it’s beautifully written and has some great tie-ins. Renee’s story is further followed up in 52 (which is also a good place to pick up other great stories, like Booster Gold, and is an introduction to Kate Kane).

Kate Kane is introduced in 52, like I said. She’s had a book before and after the Nu52, with her Nu52 book being actually liked, although I didn’t read it. But one of the mostly highly praised arcs of hers is Batwoman: Elegy, which I just bought myself but haven’t read yet.

Selina Kyle has had a variety of books over the years, but I’ll throw a bone to a few runs in particular. Ed Brubaker’s Catwoman is FANTASTIC on so many levels, and then the later part of her Nu52 run (I’ll guess that it starts here bc the art looks familiar) was really well done too.

Anyone else have suggestions?

[lgwhatculture]

Star Wars: 10 predictions for the future of the franchise

Star Wars has been moving at full speed under the guidance of the house of mouse, and as we enter the fifth year of Disney’s ownership (yes, five. Can you believe it?) the promise of more Star Wars has really come true. With a number of projects either out of the gate or in development, I’m going to predict what everything means for the future of the franchise and how these many stories in a galaxy far, far away will turn out. We’ll be looking at both the big picture and the smaller story details in the new Canon.

All images belong to Lucasfilm / Disney.

10 - Han Solo will be the weakest Disney instalment yet.

Not to start on a negative note, but let's get this out of the way. Did we really need a solo Han Solo movie? Is it really that important to see how Han and Chewie met? Or how Han won the Falcon? Not really. In a galaxy far far away, there are limitless stories to be told, and we can't help but feel like this is unnecessary. Plus, with an A-List cast on-board, it's not quite captured that same feel as the other films, which usually cast unknowns and shoot them to fame. Donald Glover and Woody Harrelson are sure to do great, but Danerys herself, Emilia Clarke, is especially hit-and-miss outside of her title role. Here's hoping I'm wrong, but I don't believe the film justifies its existence or cast.

Don't even get me started on Katherine Kennedy’s comments on Han ‘gaining his name’. If Han Solo is simply a title, then we'll be in the unique position where a film actually detracts from the original instead of enriching it.

9 - Episode VIII will be unique and take the lore in a new direction

Now onto a more positive note, The Force Awakens was a great start to the new trilogy no-matter what you thought of it, and there’s plenty of questions fans are asking in regards to the excellently titled eighth instalment, The Last Jedi. If the very-vague trailer is anything to go by, There’s something happening with the classic Sith/Jedi dichotomy. See Luke’s ominous quote:

“I only know one truth. It’s time for the Jedi to end.”

So, there’s a change coming, and with VIII showing a more spiritual Luke, I can only imagine the more religious side of the Jedi will be discussed, and perhaps the actual meaning of ‘balance to the force’? The ‘chosen one’ and ‘prophecy’ are concepts we are familiar with, but the actual idea of Anakin or Luke bringing balance to the force makes little sense as both obliterated their respective opposing team. Not really, you know, balance. Perhaps the future lays in the idea of ‘Grey Jedi’. Previously a Legends concept, but one could argue it was brought into the new Canon with Ahsoka in Rebels. A Grey Jedi aligns to either side of the force, and perhaps Luke’s new mission is to bring the two warring factions together rather than apart. Kylo Ren certainly could be pulled over to the light side, so maybe we are seeing a paradigm shift in the franchise, towards more nuanced performances rather than outright good and bad. If Disney wants to continue the franchise for a long time (read: forever) then good vs evil is going to get pretty dull pretty soon.

8 - Rebels won't end with the cast dying

Star Wars Rebels replaced the beloved Clone Wars, and at the time the general consensus was that the latter show was going to be a more ‘fun’ show by comparison to the darker Clone Wars. Fans were soon wrong when the series became universally loved, and even served as a sequel to Clone wars in many ways. The show has gotten darker, and approaches it’s final season this year.

The problem we are faced with is that the core cast do not appear in anything beyond the show they have been created for. This was also a problem when we were introduced to the Rogue One cast, and [spoilers ahead] they are now all dead. Yeah, forecast isn’t looking too sunny for the crew of the Ghost. So the likely option, especially since the Ghost is seen in Rogue One, is that the characters are killed in a sacrificial act just before A New Hope begins. Even though show-runner Dave Filoni stated the battle of Scarrif wouldn’t be shown in rebels, we’re not sure we believe him.

Despite the likeliness of death, we think the characters all being killed off is not going to happen. Something more interesting. We believe Zeb, Chopper and Rex are easy enough to blend into the existing universe without dying, and for it to not feel strange that they never appear again.The theory that Rex is the bearded rebel soldier in Return of the Jedi works perfectly as a nice retcon for a fan-favourite character to tie Rex into the story. The others we are not so sure about, though Ezra and Sabine are both young enough to be carried over to the next show, much like Ahsoka. ‘Next show?’ you ask. Well. Cue next point.

7 - The next animated show takes place between episodes VI and VII

With Rebels ending, another show is bound to take it’s place, and no better slot is left to explore that the gap between episodes VI and VII, in other words, the gap between the classic and new trilogies. It’s a murky period ripe to be explored, and there’s no better opportunity to explore this period than through a new show. While Clone Wars was an anthology, and Rebels an ensemble, perhaps the new show will have a single protagonist to follow to set them apart. If this is the case, there is no better person to follow than Luke Skywalker himself, starting with the end of Return Of The Jedi, and following the opening of his new Jedi academy. Looping back to the last point, this is maybe where we could see Ezra return to the fold. Not only that, but we would see the development of Ben Kenobi into the Kylo we see in The Force Awakens. It’s actually a crime that this period has not been seen outside the books, and it’s only a matter of time before light is shed, especially in the wake of Episode VIII likely revealing all the key secrets that are keeping a series like this from being made.

If many of the questions from Episode VII are not revealed in VIII, this is a great place to answer them to give fans peace. How did Maz Kanata get Luke’s sabre? Who are the Knights of Ren? Answering questions like these would automatically put this show in the good books.

One final point, were this to happen, Mark Hamill is a renowned voice actor for animation, and with his respect to the fans, he’d be sure to be on-board for voicing Luke. Make it happen Disney!

6 - Battlefront II will fix most of the problems of the first, but will still not be as good as the PS2 original.

Bias aside, the original Battlefront game was great. It’s sequel, legendary. The 2015 reboot, not so great. It was shiny, and looked amazing, but fancy visuals don’t exactly make up for a bare-bones experience that included less than the 2005 masterpiece. The sequel looks to be fixing this. All three eras. A story mode, many more heroes, and the promise this is ‘three times bigger’ than the 2015 game means hype is pretty high Dice and Co can deliver on the promises and pull through on the evident potential of the 2015 game.

Despite all these big claims, we can’t help but feel like there’s going to be a ‘spark’ missing. All too corporate and perfect, not enough fun factor. Can a game be perfect and still not be fun? Yes, but maybe that’s a problem with the video games industry more than the game itself, or Star Wars as a brand. Only time will tell. Moving on.

5 - The next spin-off will be an Obi Wan movie, with Ewan McGregor.

Stay with me. There has not been a ‘star wars story’ [still don’t like that subtitle] announced since originally way back when Disney told us their plan to dominate the world. The Josh Trank Boba Fett movie fell through, so there’s currently a blank space after Episode IX, sitting at a 2020 release window. At this point, Ewan McGregor will be 49, and while it’s still a little young, makeup can surely get him ready for filling in the gaps between III and IV, documenting the life of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s years in hiding, and how he became Ben Kenobi.

We’re thinking a smaller, more personal films. Kenobi is one of the most well-rounded characters, and seeing a more character based story on Tatooine would be great to see. Why the name ‘Ben’ is used is a story that has not been discussed in-canon, and maybe it’s a story worth telling. Logan showed how a big franchise could make a western-inspired, quieter character piece, so perhaps it’s only a matter of time before McGregor and fans alike get their wish.

4 - Doctor Alpha will appear on Rebels

If you are unfamiliar, Dr. Aphra is the new hit character of the Marvel Star Wars Comics. Originally appearing in the Darth Vader comic, she now is in her own comic, the first original character to have their own run since the canon purge.

Aphra is a rogue archaeologist, hired by Vader to find Sith artefacts. After the two parted ways, she is now on solo adventures. Whether you like the character or not, she is a nice new creation for the comics, and falls very much in line with Marvel’s current marketing push for a younger, more diverse cast of characters.

Given Rebels is ending soon, perhaps we could see this character appear in another medium? Disney’s new canon has been spectacularly watertight when it comes to feeling like a ‘connected universe’ through and through, and a comics crossover would show how much Disney care about their franchise on every level. Comic tie-ins are frequently forgotten about, so tying two mediums together would help both and show more people a great new character.

3 - More legends material will become Canon

Just to clarify -

Legends - the old, pre-Disney continuity, otherwise known as the Expanded Universe (EU). It featured lots of content, and thousands of characters, most of whom now no longer exist in Star Wars. Many fan favourite moments and stories were erased, but then Disney started listening. Rebels re-introduced the most popular EU character of all time, Grand Admiral Thrawn. The blue boss has been a huge success on the show, and now the floodgates are open for an array of other characters and stories to be re-canonised into the new lore.

While some characters have already been used for influence, such as Jacen Solo into Kylo Ren, there’s plenty of other fan-favourites who should make the jump. Take one look at anywhere Star Wars related on the internet, and you’ll find fans are very passionate about the very long lineage of the sith. Darth Revan is perhaps the most wanted character for sheer awesomeness, but almost any great villain would be a valuable addition to the canon.

One wildcard would be Luke’s partner, Mara Jade Skywalker. A partner to Luke indicates he may have a child (Rey) but the inclusion of Mara Jade also means there’s a big explanation to do as to Mara being hand to the emperor and a sort-of bad-guy. Yeah. Lots to fit into a movie, so maybe she’s best left to the EU.

2 - Forces of destiny won't do great

With more Star Wars things going on at once that any sane person can keep up with, you may not have heard about the other animated Star Wars show: Forces of Destiny. It’s a 2D miniseries with a lighter tone, featuring multiple characters from multiple eras, all on lighthearted adventures. It looks like a more simple version of Star Wars than we’ve seen before, but Rebels and Clone Wars ex-show-runner Dave Filonni is running the show, so maybe there’s more to be seen here than meets the eye.

Perhaps the biggest point of debate so far is that the show has only shown female characters in it’s trailers. It’s not a problem, as Star Wars has been a very white, male franchise, so diversity is great, but focusing only upon female characters as the trailer implies, makes it seem like this may be ‘Star Wars for girls’. Star Wars can and does appeal to girls, especially now more than ever because of it’s growing cast of strong females, with Jyn, Rey and Aphra only arriving in the last three years or less. Having female characters is not the problem, pandering to an audience is. People, regardless of gender, will watch Star Wars, because it’s Star Wars, and changing the tone to fit a demographic never goes well, especially when things like Jar Jar or the Christmas Special happen for exactly that reason. Perhaps not, perhaps we haven’t seen enough to judge, and perhaps I’m wrong. Discuss your opinions in the comments below.

1 - Luke and Leia will die in the Last Jedi.

Episode VIII. Bring the tissues.

Okay, just look at that title. The LAST Jedi implies either my earlier assumption that a big change to the lore is coming, or Luke will bite the dust. Maybe both. The problem is, for the hero to complete their journey over the trilogy, they have to lose their mentor and be forced to go it alone. It happened in Episodes I, IV and VII. While it would be nice to have a change in that pattern, the story just doesn’t work as well, and it’s important to remember the original cast are not getting any younger, as my unfortunate next point demonstrates.

In December 2016, the world lost Carrie Fisher, and Star Wars fans mourned for the passing of their hero Princess Leia Organa. It leaves an awful problem for the future, for Carrie has filmed two of three films in the trilogy, with two options for what happens next. She either is written out of the next film, or she dies in this one. Either option is awful, but Lucasfilm being pretty calm and collected after her death, and the comments about not needing CGI re-creation makes it all too clear that she most likely dies in The Last Jedi. It’s going to be a hugely emotional performance as her last, but to watch her character die, possibly alongside her brother, means the film could be an emotional sucker-punch, tainting the film’s reputation for all the wrong reasons.

What do you think in regards to any of the points? What next for Star Wars as a whole, or any of the projects mentioned. What are you looking forward to the most? Let us know in the comments.