Haden Blackman, Dave Land, and Randy Stradley were the only luminaries on the podium at the Dark Horse panel that started about ten minutes late. Darklighter writer Paul Chadwick could not attend due to a death in the family, while the artist on that project, Doug Wheatley, arrived late to the panel (nobody had any questions for him, so it was just as well). When he appeared, Stradley announced Wheatley would handle penciling chores on the Episode III adaptation. {
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All three veteran panelists were their usual genial, self-deprecating selves, interspersing jokes with plot revelations. Stradley noted DHC was having an especially difficult time getting Lucas to break his vows as a servant of the secret fire and relenquish the given name of Count Dooku for the issue featuring him in the Jedi one-shots series. Stradley ventured it'll probably be something obscure, like Donnie. Quinlan Vos cropped up so much in the project (being a favorite creation of the team working on it, writer John Ostrander and penciler Jan Duursema) that Lucas Licensing half-jokingly suggested it was a Vos one-shot rather than one featuring Dooku.
Anakin Skywalker will face-off with A'Sharad Hett in October's Republic #59: Enemy Lines. Finally, Hett is back. My animosity toward the character has certainly died down (out of sight, out of mind), and the hints that he shares a connection with Ani (probably related to the Tuskens who killed the latter's mother) force me to grudgingly acknowledge the skillful foresight or sheer dumb luck writer Tim Truman had at his fingertips when he penned the "Outlander" story arc in the on-going series.
The Cartoon Network shorts that will premiere this fall will be adapted by Blackman and artist Ben Caldwell (illustrated the children's book Tommy Trouble and the Magic Marble, written by Ralph Fletcher). I skipped the panel and presentation on these Friday evening, but check the rest of the site for more info on that.
Dave Land announced that he's leaving the entire line behind. The only title in the franchise he still edits is Star Wars Tales, the 20th issue of which will be his last. Hopefully this means he'll be able to pursue SpyBoy and Reveal more aggressively. Land did give a lovely but brief overview of what remains for the issues he's supervising: #17 focuses on the Dark Side, as has been evident from the cover and solicitation copy; #18 is another driven by Boba Fett (Blackman's is a New Jedi Order era story and assistant editor Jeremy Barlow contributed a short to this as well), #19 has a Han Solo story by Blackman; a sizable chunk of #20 is taken up by a Tony Millionaire story.
On a happier note, Return of the Jedi: Infinities is a go, with a tag-line editors at Dark Horse were surprised Lucas Licensing allowed: "Now with 99 percent fewer Ewoks." Great stuff, can't wait! The Infinities treatment the middle story received heartened doubters like myself, so I hope for another hit. The first issue of editor Adam Gallardo's debut as a series writer (he was the brain behind the OK "Lesson" in last December's Tales #14) is due out in November, with Ryan Benjamin penciling.
Blackman is working on a "secret" project that's connected with Episode III, while Stradley is putting together an "Art of Star Wars Comics" book together for release some time next year. Ten months before the May 2005 release of Episode III, a lunar countdown will begin, with Blackman writing and pencils by Brian Ching. That translates to a roughly July/August 2004 period start for the countdown. It remains to be seen if art deadlines will cooperate. In the meantime, Ostrander and Duursema will take over Republic. {
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Lastly, Stradley is writing a Luke and Mara Valentine's Day special for 2004. This is right in time for Timothy Zahn's Survivor's Quest, which panelists and fans throughout the day kept saying takes place three years after Return of the Jedi even though I've always thought it was two years after the Hand of Thrawn cycle. Man, have I lost track of some of this stuff.
Oder handelt es sich bei diesen beiden Seiten nur um Test-Zeichnungen? Das ist schon nicht mehr geklaut, sondern eine direkte Comic-Adaption eines schon exitierenden Comics. Wer's nicht glauben will, achte auf den Gungan-Zombie oben links. Das ist eindeutig eine neue Interpretation von "A New Face of War"!!! 
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