DrunkWooky's Star Wars Report for 03/12/2017

Hey, CHU, it’s DrunkWooky back with more Bantha Poodoo to report than you can shake a womp rat at!
Let’s start with the latest news and work our way backwards to my last Start Wars Report.
Much to my local comic shop owner’s chagrin, Marvel will be publishing Darth Vader vol. 2.

IGN reported and jedi-bibliothek re-blogged earlier today that Marvel will be bringing us the origin of Vader’s red lightsaber:

“In a phone interview with IGN, [Soule] described this new story as ‘Darth Vader: Year One,’ comparing his approach to Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s seminal Batman: Year One comic that showed the origins of how Batman went from rookie vigilante to the imposing Dark Knight we know today. ‘The book begins one second after the end of Revenge of the Sith. Darth Vader is in the armored suit that we see throughout the rest of his life, most of his life,’ Soule explained. “He is just awakening to that moment and that realization. So he has shouted ‘No!’ in the way we see in the film, and then it picks up immediately after that point. So we see him adjusting to that. We see him learning to be more machine than man. We see him going through some really, really cool early moments of his early mythology and history.’ One of those moments will be Vader constructing his first-ever red lightsaber. ‘The first arc is going to revolve around Vader’s construction of his red lightsaber, because at the end of Revenge of the Sith, he obviously loses his blue saber when he gets all chopped up and Obi-Wan takes it to eventually give to Luke down the road. So we end up with a character who is known as having this iconic sword, like his magical red sword, but he doesn’t have it yet. So what better way to start a big huge series than with a quest for a magic sword?’ Soule said.

That all sounds pretty cool to this Wooky. Soule has a reputation for being a rather hard-working writer in the industry, putting out enough series to rival the legendary Lemire. His Lando mini series is, in my humble opinion, one of the great overlooked Marvel Star Wars books. How can you go wrong with the Lobot origin story!?
Still, there is room for healthy skepticism here. A comparison to Batman: Year One seems destined to set expectations too high. I’ll stay cautiously optimistic. Stay tuned for an endless parade of Darth Vader issue 1 variants that this gullible push-over of a Star Wars fan is bound to buy.
Darth Vader (vol. 2) #1 is slated for a June 2017 release.

In news I shared with our resident horror guru, Tony Hammock, the Star Wars line will be going through its second cross-over since its 2015 inception.
Star Wars: The Screaming Citadel will kick off with the One-Shot (Part 1) slated for a May release.
The series will cross the Star Wars series and Doctor Aphra series over with each other and promises to explore some of the galaxy’s more horrifying locales.
From Jason Aaron on StarWars.com:

“This is very much a Star Wars gothic-horror story. It starts with Aphra and Luke together, which is a pairing we didn’t really see at all in Vader Down, and that really drives this story. That’s probably been the most fun part for me, so far — reading what Kieron did with those two characters together and then carrying on from that. It starts with them venturing into a very dark and scary situation on a faraway alien planet and winding up in the clutches of a sinister alien queen. There’s symbiotes involved. There are Aphra’s two murderous droids and best-friend Wookiee, and then, of course, the cast of my book. Han and Leia and Sana Starros come running into the fray, as well, and there are several new villains who are at play.”

Star Wars + Symbiotes + Horror? This is a place I have always wanted to go in the Star Wars Universe! To be honest, though, this cross-over isn’t coming out of nowhere. Gillen’s Doctor Aphra has been setting up her Symbiote “research” since issue 1. At this point, all Aphra readers are coming to know her as the Star Wars Universe’s Indiana Jones, and this cross-over looks promising.
The cross-over will continue with Star Wars Issue 31 (part 2), Doctor Aphra Issue 7 (part 3), Star Wars Issue 32 (part 4), and conclude with Doctor Aphra Issue 8 (part 5).
Enjoy Screaming Citadel artist, Marco Checchetto’s concept art below from StarWars.com and Marvel.com.


 
Now on to the variant quick-shots that have been piling up over the course of the past month:
Darth Maul #2 (02/22/2017) has an Aja variant and a 40th anniversary variant by Paul Renaud:

Poe Dameron #12 has a Bengal variant and a 40th Anniversary Variant by Lenil Francis Yu

Rogue One has a Wonderworld Action Figure variant and a Movie Variant that is actually pretty appealing:

John Tyler Christopher reported to me on Twitter that he won’t have a website exclusive for Rogue One Issue 1:

@DrunkWooky @comicsheatingup I don’t, but…

— johntylerchristopher (@johntylerchris) March 7, 2017
 

Damn. I was hoping for a K2-SO!
Until later, CHU, may the Force be with you, and keep sipping those Mandalore Mules!
DrunkWooky out!