First time here? Get caught up with the mission statement, Episode I, Episode II, the Clone Wars movie, the first season of the show, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, Clone Wars Legacy, Episode III, the lead-up to Rebels, Rebels Season 1, Rebels extras, Episode IV, the in-between and Episode V. Alright, guys. Welcome back. Just like we've talked about the supplemental material that occurred between Revenge of the Sith and Rebels, that which came between Rebels and A New Hope, and most recently the material that occurred between A New Hope and Empire, we return once more to discuss the myriad of material that covers the year between the end of The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi, which is...oh, just one 230 page YA novel, it turns out. Hopefully in the future we can explore this tumultuous period for the rebellion in more detail, but for now let's take a quick mostly-spoiler free peek at the third and final "Journey to The Force Awakens" YA novel, Moving Target.
Moving Target Co-authored by Jason Fry, who avid readers will note this blog has tended to fawn over, Moving Target may seem initially like the weakest novel of the three (indeed, Nestle apparently thought so, as there's no animated version of this work to accompany the ones created for Smuggler's Run and Weapon of a Jedi), however it's merely because action takes a back seat in favor of a character study of the iconic princess without a kingdom. It's the most heavily referential of the works so far, reaching back into the canon not just in reference to the films but also the events of Smuggler's Run (the rescue of Ematt by Han and Chewie is mentioned) and Leia's history thus far with Nien Nunb (explicitly referencing their adventures in the Mark Waid Princess Leia comic). Bookended by a framing device of Force Awakens era Leia dictating her memoirs to PZ-4CO and discussing the recklessness of Po Dameron with Ematt, the meat of Moving Target involves Leia bringing an unknowing crew on a dangerous decoy mission and wrestling with sacrificing unknowing innocents for the sake of a grander goal. Ultimately, the novel satisfies, even if it doesn't thrill and excite the way Weapon of a Jedi did, and one does questions how much of the novel will actually echo in Force Awakens the way we already know elements of the other two works will. However, especially as it's the only bridging material between the final two OT films, Moving Target is definitely worth a look. Well, I realize that was fairly brief, even for a mid-week column, but I couldn't ignore the work and still feel right as a completionist. Come back Friday as we discuss the final film in the original Star Wars trilogy, and our final Friday column before the big debut (though I'll tweak our schedule and discuss the bridging material on Friday December 18th, since I'll have enough people calling for my head after my Empire opinion without being "the spoiler guy", and discuss Force Awakens the following week), Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi.
The year is 1980. The Miracle on Ice just hit Lake Placid, Pac-Man fever hit arcades everywhere, and cinema reached new highs and lows with Raging Bull and Xanadu respectively; meanwhile, the biggest hit of 1977 was about to come back, telling the continuing story of Luke, Han and Leia with a new screenwriters (Leigh Bracket, who wrote The Long Goodbye for Robert Altman & Lawrence Kasdan, for whom this was his first screenplay) and a new director (Irvin Kershner, whose most notable works besides this were Robocop 2 and Never Say Never Again, so this didn't quite pan out for him). What audiences were treated to was something darker, more Greek tragedy than space opera, with blurred lines between good and evil, open-ended conflicts and of course the most famous cinematic twist since Charles Foster Kane breathed his dying words. Though it garnered mixed reviews and won only one Oscar for Best Sound Mixing (how the hell the iconic Imperial March loses out to Fame is beyond me), it's since developed a devoted following and near universal adoration, ranking in the top 100 films for Filmsite, Empire Magazine (which ranked it #2, only below The Godfather) and the UK's Film Four (whose list it topped, besting The Godfather). Filled with nearly as many iconic moments as the original film, as well as introducing new fan-favorites like Lando and Boba Fett (introducing for its day, we've already chronocanonically met them), The Empire Strikes Back is referred by Star Wars fans, continually held up without question as the greatest Star Wars film of all time. So, the important question to ask is, does it hold up? Is it deserving of such praise?
Well, let's just address the fact that this column started on September 4th, three months ago to the day that this goes live, and now we're almost at the end. Two weeks until The Force Awakens. One more film to cover. It's been a hell of a ride, with a lot more content consumed then originally planned, a lot more readers than I could have anticipated, and I'm so thrilled you all joined me on this journey. I say all of that now, because I'm well aware my readership is about to take a steep, steep decline in one sentence.
The Empire Strikes Back doesn't really hold up.
Hear me out, it's not that I didn't enjoy it. It's still an enjoyable film, and it clearly functions well as a component of a larger story. Yet, compared to the original, previous installment, for all the darker, more mature elements Empire brings to the table, it's also a more stylistically bland, far less self-contained, and ultimately less eventful and significant film than the first (notice how little screen time it gets in Eclectic Method's excellent saga summary), more purposeless in its storytelling, less concerned with getting from the beginning of a story to the end than getting from point a to point b in order to set up the final chapter.
As heretical as it may sound to the OT reverent, Empire Strikes Back almost has more in common with that other middle film, Attack of the Clones, than it does New Hope. Rather than tell a singular story, half of the film is devoted to our hero (this time Luke instead of Obi-Wan) taking off to a strange new world on a mission of discovery, while the other half sort of meanders about with a duo we're supposed to believe love each other by the end because...Han says so enough? As poorly written as it was, George at least tried to create romantic scenes between Anakin and Padme, rather than have the origin of his trilogy's sole romance be a mix of It Happened One Night disdain and Goldfinger-esque "playing hard to get" (I'm just saying, there's enough fodder for a SJW's think piece there). Ultimately after a whole lot of nothing happens in the middle, the group is finally unites when our hero falls into a trap trying to rescue the romantic duo (as opposed to Clones, where the romantic duo falls into the trap trying to rescue our hero), and an epic, climactic battle unfolds so intense and pulse-pounding you forget how little occurred in the middle, somebody loses a hand, it gets replaced with a robot one, and then...it's over. Just like that.
Ok, ok. This is gonna seem like I'm being unfair. I know by this point in a column, I'm usually half-way through a synopsis. But with something as revered as Empire, you feel compelled to ardently defend any opinion other than that it's the all-time greatest Star Wars film (except Randal in Clerks, who never actually explains his preference for Jedi). To get on a Star Wars blog and say Empire doesn't live up to it's reputation is like walking into a room full of Latin majors and saying The Aeneid is overrated (which, by the way, it is, but that's for another time).
I also recognize some folks may prefer the staggered narrative and provocative but picayune plot points of The Empire Strikes Back over the singular, linear nature of A New Hope. I appreciate that some folks just enjoying seeing characters they came to love in the previous entry with a little less sheen, a little more grit, stepping a bit outside their archetypical roles. Yet, there's hardly enough character development in the film to make up for it's lack of substantive plot.
I could break down the plot of the film, but what is there to really say that hasn't been said? In a nutshell, you get an incredible battle on Hoth, followed by a fractured narrative divided between engaging if a little slow training sequences of Luke on Dagobah, where he encounters Yoda; and Hand and Leia on the run, pursued by Imperials, bounty hunters, space worms and lacking a single moment of any consequence to the overall arc of the film. Hand and Leia eventual arrive on Cloud City, where Lando Calrissian greets them warmly (but secretly has been colluding with Darth Vader, who for some reason waits an awkwardly long time to actually capture them, rather than pursuing them as soon as C-3PO discovered their presence). Luke senses their danger and takes off, despite not finishing his arduous (and a little bit tedious; even the most ardent Star Wars fan has to admit the fairly cool "cave" sequence also slows the pacing down to a screeching halt) training, culminating in Han being famously frozen in carbonite, Luke battling Darth Vader and receiving the ultimate familial revelation, and...a really underwhelming ending of Luke with a robot hand, Lando in Han's clothes, and not one fragment of any narrative conclusion.
Whereas A New Hope (and the forthcoming Return of the Jedi), are essentially structured in halves to propel the narrative, i.e. Part 1: Get the princess, Part 2: Blow up the Death Star, Empire is rather bookended by terrific moments, with languid purposelessness trapped between. The Empire Strikes Back isn't a dreadful film, and therefor can't be subjected to the meticulous critical ridicule I've applied towards, say, the prequel films. Yet, nor is it so phenomenal that I can heap more unabashed adoration upon it as I did A New Hope. Rather, its honestly a tad bit dull, shockingly dreary compared to its companion films, and strikingly empty, admittedly full of sound, spectacle and fury, but ultimately signifying...I mean, a great deal to a great many people, but honestly very little to the saga as a whole. Luke was trained to some degree by Yoda, who informs Obi-Wan there is another hope besides Luke. Han gets betrayed by Lando Calrissian and frozen in carbonite, taken by Boba Fett to Jabba the Hutt. Luke fights vader, gets his hand cut off and finds out Vader's his father. He gets a robot hand. That's it. That's literally all that occurs in the film that has any ramifications on the future of the story. The rest is just spinning the wheels, or perhaps more relevantly, racing the pods.
I'll admit, after "knowing" my entire life that Empire was the greatest Star Wars film, and arguably the greatest sci-fi film of all time as so many had hailed it, I was stunned to find how many points felt empty or seemed to drag, and how little joy I'd gotten from the film compared to the lively rush I received from its predecessor. In fact, watching it now, I find it shocking so many complained about a film like Avengers: Age of Ultron being a near-joyless affair that ultimately had little to offer beyond setting up the sequel when the film they tout as an "all-time great" is nothing but set-up for a sequel, with absolutely zero resolution to any plot point they introduce after Han cuts open a tauntaun. Alas, it appears the, at the time, rarity of a "gritty, serious" take on something so fantastic astonished in its day and bears still the remnants of that great reverence in an aura around it, and it takes some song objective viewing (perhaps only in such a scope as this project's undertaken) to notice the cracks in it's veneer.
Is the film worth watching? Of course It's still a good film, after all. Even for all its faults, The Empire Strikes Back has some incredible moments as its bookends, and the "I am your father" scene is one of the most iconic moments in American cinema. It's absolutely worthy of your viewing time, it's just simply that it might also be due for a reevaluation to determine whether it truly deserves the high praise it's routinely lavished with.
Well, thanks for checking in as I alienate a large portion of the Star Wars fanbase, folks.If you're not too furious, please check back next week as we take a look at the final film in the franchise so far, Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi.
Three years pass between the Battle of Yavin, wherein the Death Star is destroyed, and the start of The Empire Strikes Back. It's clear from the second film a lot has transpired in between the two, and the majority of the new canon's expanded universe seems devoted to filling in those gaps (one full novel, two young adult works, three short stories, six graphic novels and counting). For the sake of this post, we'll only be discussing completed stories, in so far as the individual arc has been concluded. To date, the includes the first two arcs of both the Star Wars and Vader comics, as well as the Princess Leia and Lando miniseries. However, seeing as the Chewbacca miniseries will not concluded until late December, and the Vader Down crossover event even later, it didn't feel right to judge them as incomplete works. Overall, there are some weaker titles mixed in with some that really capture the tone of the series and expand the universe, but it's clear that the Lucasfilm story time was heavily involved in the development of these tales (particularly the comics and the YA novels), leaving a trail of breadcrumbs along the self-described "Journey to the Force Awakens" that may make the works less thrilling in hindsight once the secrets have been revealed, particularly if things like Sarko Plank and Caluan Ematt turn out to be more Opie sea creature than Qui-Gon Jinn.
Anyway, enough delay. We've got a lot of works to (spoiler-free) cover, so let's dive right in.
Smugglers Run
With a prologue and epilogue set before The Force Awakens serving as a framing device (Han setting down in a bar to tell a story about the Millennium Falcon), we launch into a story set immediately after the ending of A New Hope, with Chewie even clutching the medal we never see him awarded (explained, by the way by Chewie's interior monologue). Han's originally reluctant to take on the mission Leia assigns him, wanting to cut and run to clear his debts with Jabba, but when the Wookie hears tell of Caluan Ematt, whose Shrikes were seeking out new base locations when he found himself stranded on Cyrkon in need of rescue, he demands they take it. With an enemy in the form of a rather imposing imperial, Commander Beck (there's more females in this YA novel than in the entire film that precedes it), and engrossing locales like a domed city and a flying cantina, Smuggler's Run is a brief but enjoyable read, and while without mentions of the Force or any such mystical elements, the story has a very Firefly-esque quality to it, fitting a Solo-centric novel and keeping the action fairly gritty and grounded. Smuggler's Run is definitely worth a read, especially if you're as fond of the swashbuckling smuggler as I am. (Nestle also produced a motion comic for Smuggler's Run that functions as an abbreviated version of the story told from Beck's perspective, which can be found here.)
Princess Leia
Mark Waid, whose work includes the classic Kingdom Come and the current Black Widow title, takes on the titular Princess (who was also apparently a Senator, which throws out all my understanding of galactic politics), and delivers a thrilling tale of adventure as Leia goes off in search of the surviving Alderaanians. Kicking off immediately after the medals are handed out for the Battle of Yavin (At the ceremony, by the way, there's already a giant statuary memorial to the Organas, meaning they either managed to build a statue very quickly, diverting effort from dealing with the Death Star, which would be the greatest waste of resources and time since Batman decided a flaming bat was necessary; or they've had the statue on the base all along, meaning the Organas are so deeply, deeply entrenched in the philosophy and structure of the rebellion to be idolized, so Tarkin, while not justified, was more Harry Truman than Ho Chi Minh. Just sayin'), we get to see that though the rebels passion for the cause is strong, their feelings towards Leia is far more tepid and mixed. Setting out on a mission to rescue toe remaining Alderaanians scattered throughout the galaxy, Waid delivers an exciting tale full of lavish set-pieces, clever allusions to lore both Star Wars and other, and a surprising amount of character development for it's tragically short 5 issue run (I personally would have been down for an ongoing series of Leia tracking down her lost people). Princess Leia is definitely worth checking out, and bodes well for the Marvel titles going forward.
"One Thousand Levels Down"
Appearing in Star Wars Insider 151 (which is worth seeking out just to silently giggle to yourself as they writ about that promising new filmmaker Josh Trank, who was finishing up Fantastic Four and was set to do a standalone Star Wars film at the time. How little we knew then), this short story follows two Alderaanian children who'd immigrated to Corruscant years prior. Out of concern for civil unrest, the Empire was rounding up any former resident of the planet, causing the kids to go on the run. It's certainly not a terrible premise for the story, and the actual narrative beats are engaging. However, the story is hampered by just how uninteresting the characters are. The young boy is underdeveloped, and the sister, our main protagonist, is poorly written. We've seen, in most recently in Mark Waid's Princess Leia but even with characters like Asajj Ventress, that you can do the archetypical "icy" female character who surpasses their emotions and humanity to get the job done, but we need those hints they're human. We don't get any of that in the lifeless Ananda, who, I hate to say it, just seems cold and bitchy to the point where you don't quite care if they survive or not. Yes, "One Thousand Levels Down" is an interesting read, but its not an enjoyable one, and not at all necessary as such.
Heir to the Jedi
If ever there was a Star Wars novel that embodied the term "inconsequential", Heir to the Jedi is it. While the choice to write the novel in first-person, from Luke's perspective, is an engaging enough idea to keep you captivated at the start, the novel wanders aimlessly between seemingly unrelated events, like keeping you waiting for the inevitable Chekhov's lightsaber Luke uncovers in the first part of the book to return only for it to go unmentioned for the remainder of the story, making the entire initial adventure completely inconsequential to the rest; and this is ultimately true of each subsequent tangentially connected story within Heir to the Jedi. It feels more like a novelization of a video game, so frequent are the diversions and fetch quests that exist solely to pad out the narrative. Yes, we're treated to brief flickers o Luke's Jedi training, and he puts the lightsaber to use for the first time (decapitating an alien, which doesn't constitute "combat" apparently, since this novel (according to Wookiepedia at least) precedes The Weapon of a Jedi, the story of which is Luke's first lightsaber combat), but ultimately the novel meanders tediously, introducing characters too dull to make an impact, deflating promising moments (aliens that can drill through skulls, a Rodian descendant of a Jedi knowing about Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars) with a lack of purpose, and sticking to a narrative device that results in a limited scope and even more limited vocabulary. Much like Huulik's lightsaber, Heir to the Jedi feels like a relic from a forgotten time (the Expanded Universe, which the novel was originally intended to be a component of), ultimately purposeless, drifting through the cosmos amongst the other works. Take a pass on this one.
The Weapon of a Jedi
My admiration for Jason Fry has been made abundantly clear in my Servants of the Empire entries, and I'm pleased to report his talent hasn't diminished at all in tackling the OT (Original Trilogy) timeline. True, The Weapon of a Jedi lacks the heft of the Servants novels, but we get some great insight into Luke's mastery of the force, and some fun acknowledgement of things past, like 3PO chastising R2 for his "imagination" when R2 suggests 3PO swap heads with a battle droid, as he did in Attack of the Clones but can't recall due to a memory wipe; and things to come, as the menacing Sarco Plank, perhaps the coolest villain introduced in the novels thus far, is set to return in some capacity in The Force Awakens. With the intriguing concepts of a Jedi temple on Devaron (which you may recall is the temple where Savage Opress committed his slaughter in Clone Wars) and Luke's promise to return to the young Farnay (and 3PO's confirmation that he did in fact), I sincerely hope we see a return to this setting and the characters either in a direct literary sequel or as a sidetone within the upcoming films (though wouldn't it be totally wizard if Devaron is where Luke disappeared to perforce Awakens). The Weapon of a Jedi is definitely worth picking up, if not for the great pacing and satisfying story, then solely to wet your appetite for the upcoming films through Luke's conspicuous absence in the novel's prologue and epilogue. (Nestle also produced a motion comic for The Weapon of a Jedi that functions as an abbreviated version of the story told from Farnay's perspective, which can be found here.)
Star Wars Book I: Skywalker Strikes
The Marvel titles Star Wars and Vader run concurrently, and intersect frequently, so it's highly advisable to read both simultaneously, issue by issue, in the order listed by Wookiepedia, similar to how Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel were structured in their heyday (for example, the first three issues of Star Wars technically occur before the first issue of Vader). So how does Thor writer Jason Aaron's Star Wars book hold up? Pretty good. The first volume mainly focuses on an attack on a weapons compound and Luke going off on his own, so the story is terribly substantive compared to, say, Princess Leia or Kanan, but it's an enjoyable enough ride that helps to answer some questions about when certain revelations came to light between Episodes IV and V, most importantly the reveal of just how Vader discovered the extent of his lineage. There's also a surprising amount of twists Star Wars packs in without ever feeling like its stretching or ignoring the timeline. Everything about it fits organically, and its certainly a satisfying continuation of the story, if not a terribly remarkable one thus far. It is worth checking out, however, particularly when paired with its companion piece.
Darth Vader Book I: Vader
Kieron Gillen, author of one of the best Secret Wars titles (Siege) takes on the Sith Lord with brilliant blend of compassion and menace, presenting us with an array of colorful new characters, including a torturous protocol droid reminiscent of HK-47 from the no-longer-canon Knights of the Old Republic; as well as a Tank Girl-esque "rogue archeologist" who seems to be an almost-Imperial Ahsoka, which one can assume keeps her in Vader's good graces. One can't know for sure, however, as Gillen does brilliant work of taking us deeper into understanding who Vader is without ever truly letting us look inside his head, never making him vulnerable to the reader. Even when he receives word of his son's existence (through a great subplot that intersects both this and the Star Wars title), he's not wounded, but betrayed, and his incendiary fury smolders through the page. Building on the foundation laid out in Lords of the Sith for Vader and Palpatine's dynamic, Gillen finds a way to craft drama and intrigue between the two titanic partners in evil while never tipping the hat to strongly to what will be the ultimate fate of the duo in Return of the Jedi, making it a delight for fans both old and new. I cannot recommend the title more highly, it's easily the best Star Wars comic thus far.
Star Wars Book II: Showdown on the Smuggler's Moon
The second volume of the Star Wars series vastly improves upon the first, adding much more gravity and greater stakes for each of the characters, expanding the universe and introducing new characters both significant, namely Sana whose surname is both of question and excluded from this post to avoid spoilers, as well as simply entertaining: let's face it, if you're not delighted by either a one-eyed Gungan or a creature called Kongo the Disembowler, you've lost the ability to feel joy. Add in the payoff of Luke's quest for the Jedi Temple acting as a Hitchcockian suitcase bomb for those of us who've read the Sith-based novels, and you've got a thrilling adventure worthy of the series. Of course, its worth noting perhaps the most interesting part of the second volume comes in the form of a single issue, an entry from the journal of Ben Kenobi (yes, technically this single issue should have been covered in the "Between Revenge of the Sith and Rebels" post, but...look, I have no excuse on that one), a compassionate look at the solitary struggle of Obi-Wan Kenobi to abandon his jedi ways in his transition from Ewan McGregor vivacity to Alec Guinness wisdom. Certainly worth checking out, either issue by issue or when the trade paperback comes out January 26th, 2016.
Darth Vader Book II: Shadows and Secrets
To paraphrase the ski-instructor from South Park, if you don't like Aphra or 0-0-0, you're gonna have a bad time. Vader's relationship with the rogue archeologist goes even deeper this time around, as does his competition with his various rivals. There's a great deal of conspiring and underhanded tactics that create a more three dimensional Vader than any of the novels (who treat him too sentimentally) or film (who treat him more archetypical than interesting). Here we see a Vader who is cunning, intelligent, we see that Anakin Skywalker really was reborn as Vader, but the change was not solely a moral one. He became more focused, more driven, more powerful. Gillen dips even further into the well he'd established in his last volume, and while I can see how it could be off-putting to fans of the more straight-forward Jason Arron Star Wars book, I thrive off of the quippy lines of 0-0-0, and Aphra may be my favorite character since Ahsoka to stand alongside the lord of the Sith (Tarkin not-withstanding), so this second volume gives me more of what I love. Definitely worth reading, especially for some quality character moments as Vader begins to uncover more about the son he never knew he had.
Star Wars: Commander
Well, like most of the browser- and mobile-based games mentioned in this blog, this is "canon" because Wookiepedia qualifies it as such, since it was released after the date designated by Disney to mean it was. That said, this Clash of Clans for the galaxy far, far away doesn't have much in the way of substantial plot. There is a story, but given your option to join either the Empire or the Rebellion, it clearly can't be one of much significance to the overall arc of the saga, so it's best not to focus on that. As a game, its fun enough, engrossing without being terribly enriching, a serviceable entertainment for a mobile game, especially for those who prefer the strategic elements of, say Galactic Battlegrounds over the run-and-gun of Battlefronts. If gaming is your thing, or you just need something for the subway ride, Star Wars: Commander is worth downloading, though its inconsequentiality renders it unnecessary from an overall narrative perspective.
Lando
If I told you there was a Lando comic, unless you'd grown attached to him either through the films or his Rebels cameo (and subsequent short story), you'd probably ask "Why?". If I told you it was a mix of Ocean's Eleven and James Bond, would that do it for you? What if I added in that the first page features a post-coital Lando addressing a woman in bed, and he calls her "baby"? And let's toss in the fact that it massively expands Sith mythology, incorporates a pair of subtly gay characters, and makes you misty eyed about the famously inconsequential character Lobot? Impossible, you'd say, but much like Calrissian himself, Charles Soule beats the odds by blending all of that into a five-issue miniseries that makes you desperately wish for more, solidifying the titular character as one of the most badass bandits in the galaxy, a smooth-talker with skills and style to match. The only downside to Lando is its limited lifespan, as you can't help but want more adventures with the wise-cracking scoundrel. Easily the most humorous and human of the comics thus far released, Lando is a must read for fans of the character, and just those who love the idea of Spielbergian/Indiana Jones-esque adventures in the Star Wars universe.
"Last Call at the Zero Angle"
Jason Fry returns to the Star Wars universe once more, humanizing the Empire even further than he did in Servants of the Empire. Taking us inside an Imperial watering hole on base for the lower ranked soldiers, we get a sample of their slang, a taste of their rivalry, and even a few bars of their rallying cries (which seem lyrical similar to another organization's chant). It's also a beautifully crafted piece about the horrors of war in the guise of Star Wars lore, reminding you that no matter who's right or wrong, there's a cost to combat, humans beneath the helmets, and a story behind every soldier who goes down in the line of duty. An absolutely great read, it's worth tracking down Star Wars Insider 156 for.
"Inbrief"
The latest short to appear in Star Wars Insider (and the last until The Force Awakens makes its theatrical debut) focuses on the Twilight Company, the subject of the time-period spanning novel Battlefield: Twilight Company, heretofore ignored by this blog for the same reason as Lost Stars, it's years- or decade-spanning timeline which prevented easy placement within this current endeavor (but I promise to cover them in due time post-Force Awakens, dear reader). However, since this isolated story has a definite singular placement, it's worth talking about, and ultimately its also worth reading in so far as it achieves its goal: the story was clearly crafted to tease readers and entice them into purchasing Battlefield: Twilight Company, and despite the high price tag on the novel that's put me off to it until now, I desperately want to read it now. Despite being focused on the life of a bounty hunter named Brand, there's enough teased about the singular uniqueness of the Twilight Company as a whole to make myself, and I'm sure any other reader, curious to see just what makes them so different. If Fry's "Last Call at the Zero Angle" presents the human faces of Imperial forces, "Inbrief" tantalizingly teases the human faces of the rebellion.
Well, that's everything in between the Battle of Yavin and the start of The Empire Strikes Back that's thus far been released in full. Come back on Friday, when we take a look at the second film in the original trilogy, which contains the infamous familial revelation. See you guys then.
