Celebrating 2019’s Star Wars Day in style, Lucasfilm announced the Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker publishing program, teased a few weeks ago at Celebration Chicago 2019! A lot of the canon novel/comic material covers stories set between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, with Rey, Finn, Poe, Rose, Leia, and Chewie central to the tales as they attempt to rebuild the Resistance. Check out the details to some of the major releases coming later this year below!
NOVELS
On the adult novel side, there’s Resistance Reborn by Star Wars newcomer and Nebula and Hugo award-winning writer Rebecca Roanhorse. I saw her debut novel Trial of Lightning on io9’s monthly books to read post and its been on my wishlist since, but now I’ve gone and bought it today to check out her writing! Resistance Reborn‘s short blurb states, “Poe Dameron, General Leia Organa, Rey, and Finn must struggle to rebuild the Resistance after their defeat at the hands of the First Order in Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” so the time jump remains nebulous between TLJ and TROS, and so do the real details about this novel, but a novel starring the sequel trilogy’s main three doing the legwork of rebuilding their organization sounds pretty damn exciting to me! I’m loving the cover as well, even if it seems to mainly reuse images from TLJ. Resistance Reborn will be released November 12 and we’ll keep you updated as we get new details on the novel! UPDATE 11/10/19: Here’s my review! I’m basically dubbing the book The Great Canon Hug.
In terms of YA novels, which have really been exceptional these past few years, we have Force Collector, written by Kevin Shinick, who has received an Emmy for his work on Robot Chicken. This novel concerns, “a restless teenager sets out to discover what connection his mysterious Force powers have to the fabled Jedi and what the Force has in store for him,” and it’s curiously set before The Force Awakens. What type of trinkets will this teenager uncover? Will he raid one of Palpatine’s Observatories, as seen in Battlefront II‘s campaign where Luke got the compass to Ahch-To? Is Rey to have already started her version of the Jedi and he’s going to be a student we meet in the film? Or was a student of Luke’s and Ben turned him and he’s a Knight of Ren we’ll meet in The Rise of Skywalker? So many possibilities and we won’t know for certain until it releases November 19.
There’s a middle grade book, matching the look of the Han, Leia, and Luke ones made for TFA, called Spark of the Resistance, written by Justina Ireland, with art by Phil Noto. This one sounds like a blast, especially because it stars our sequel trilogy characters! The current blurb states, “When a distress plea goes up from the isolated planet Minfar, Resistance heroes Rey, Poe, and Rose hear the call! Together they will face down a First Order battalion, terrifying flying creatures, and a weapon that could change the course of the war!” Rey and Rose chilling in the Falcon, with Poe along for the ride, saving planets? I love the idea of seeing these characters in similar roles to the original trilogy’s Big Three, as it gives them all the agency in this fight. This one is out October 4! UPDATE 11/10/19: It’s easy to overlook the age-range in this excellent, surprisingly deep novel. Check my review!
After that, there’s a whole bunch of tween level books, sticker/coloring ones, and even a Finn and Poe Choose Your Own Adventure book from Cavan Scott and art by Elsa Charretier (also out October 4)! In the non-fiction realm, there’s the obligatory Visual Dictionary, and of course the usual crown jewel, The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Just look at that cover above! So far, each cover of the “Art of” books has been close to a scene in the movie, so could it be true of this one too…and what could it mean if so? Since it releases the same day as the film, we won’t get any answers until December 20.
COMICS
There’ll be some comics as well, with Marvel and IDW providing miniseries’ both. For Marvel, they have Allegiance, with writer Ethan Sacks (Galaxy’s Edge) and artist Luke Ross (Darth Maul, Age of Republic), who is easily one of my favorite artists now on Star Wars comics. Allegiance is a 4-issue miniseries that debuts and ends in October (#1: 10/9/2019; #2: 10/16/2019; #3: 10/23/2019; #4: 10/30/2019, if no delays of course), and blurb says:
“On the run since the destruction of the Starkiller Base, General Leia and the remaining handful of Resistance have barely managed to survive, much less strike back against the superior forces of the First Order. Running low on options, Leia decides to reach out to her former allies, the Mon Calamari, whose shipyards once powered the Rebel Alliance.”
What’s intriguing about Leia going to the Mon Calamari for more ships, is this lines up with a vision a somewhat delusional Padawan had post-Order 66, and in an attempt to see the Mon Cala fulfill its role in toppling the Empire as he saw in his vision, he instead set into motion a series of events that left them under the Empire’s boot heel…or was that supposed to happen so the Rebellion would free them and gain their help? In the vision, the Jedi even saw the Mon Cala would be at the forefront of saving the galaxy in the distant future, so if Leia can gain their ships again, maybe the vision really is real after all. I imagine it won’t be easy, considering their fleet was decimated above Hosnian Prime when Starkiller struck and they might be a little hesitant in fighting again. Either way, I’ll be very curious to see how much the story here overlaps with Darth Vader – Dark Lord of the Sith‘s “Burning Seas” arc and the Star Wars series’ “Mutiny at Mon Cala,” arc, as if this will basically make it a Mon Cala trilogy in comic form. Also, I’m curious if they’ll manage to follow the aggressive release schedule and what the cover will be that’s it has to be “Top Secret” at the moment. UPDATE 11/10/19: The Mon Cala trilogy comes to a less than exciting end in this far too swift miniseries. Read my review here.
Over at IDW, their Star Wars Adventures series will contain, “…a series of original stories, the mighty Wookiees of Kashyyyk must defend their home against the armies of the evil First Order. Plus, R2-D2, C-3PO, and BB-8 team-up on a top-secret spy adventure for the Resistance.” Will Chewie be going home after The Last Jedi to protect his family from the First Order or are we getting all new Wookiee characters, and will any of the sequel heroes make an appearance to help? I’d love to see Rey amongst the Wookiees, repelling the FO, like what you’d have expected from Han Solo’s son instead. They’ll release accordingly: #27: October 2019; #28: November 2019; #29: December 2019.
A bigger question for me at this point is, will there be a “Journey to…” both The Mandalorian and Jedi: Fallen Order?
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
THE RISE OF SKYWALKER NEWS:
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Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019 Overload: Panel Schedules, Merchandise, Virtual Queuing, Guests, and More!
News Roundup: Star Wars Rebels Artbook Incoming, Master & Apprentice’s First Excerpt, and Triple Force Friday Arrives in October!
Episode IX Begins Filming August 2018, New Cast Announced, and Familiar Faces Return!
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