Conventions and their panels can thankfully still happen virtually, so Lucasfilm provided The High Republic with its own NYCC 2020 panel to tease what’s about to release and reveal even more stories yet to come! Summer 2021 will see THR‘s story continue in three new novels, yet untitled: Cavan Scott will write an adult novel from Del Rey, Justina Ireland will write the next YA novel for Disney-Lucasfilm Press, and Daniel José Older will pen the middle grade novel, also from DLF. And while THR launches properly in January, you can get your first taste of the era in December thanks to Titan when they bring back serialized stories to Star Wars Insider with a story penned by Charles Soule! Head below for some of the teases from the authors in the short panel and the pages for Marvel’s The High Republic seen in the video…or watch it all above! (Update: THR has begun and our reviews are rolling in!)
THR‘s authors and architects, Cavan Scott, Justina Ireland, Claudia Gray, Daniel José Older, and Charles Soule, alongside Lucasfilm Publishing Creative Director Michael Siglain (with Polygon’s comics editor, Susana Polo, as moderator) all appeared for the 26 minute or so panel. They discussed everything from connections to the Force to strange and cute new animals, and later revealing the details above about the next slew of novels. One of the first big discussions came when everyone discussed how some of their characters viewed the Force, as Soule as previously revealed Avar Kriss, the Jedi’s most notable and heroic member at this time, sees the Force as music, which he discusses again her. Ireland says Vernestra Rwoh, the main character of her middle grade novel A Test of Courage (of which advance reader copies are going out and you’re jealous, I’m not jealous), sees herself as a stream among a larger, connected river; Keeve Trennis, main star of Cavan Scott’s The High Republic on-going comic from Marvel, considers herself as part of a larger tapestry, though she has trouble seeing where her threads fit in; Tula, star of Older’s The High Republic Adventures from IDW, thinks of it as a mountaintop, one she must continuously work herself up towards; and while Gray’s Reath Silas, from her Into the Dark YA novel, isn’t as strong in the Force/she didn’t have something like that planned out for him, she said it’s like a spider-web for him.
While your mileage may vary on this next highlight, I was absolutely delighted the conversation turned to new creatures and sidekicks each other liked from their stories. Siglain teased someone named Geod (spelling unknown at the moment) from Into the Dark; Older revealed Cham-Cham, part bat, part pig, part scorpion (see image), and all bite, this cute little nasty bugger sounds like a total blast; Scott found it fun to irritate the Jedi of the era with Jedi twins Sarik and Tarik (also guessing on the spelling), who are so connected they finish each other’s sentences; Gray enjoys her latest pilot character (whose name I’m not even going to try to spell) as a young Matthew McConaughey so that could be hilarious; and Soule got a little deep, in a sense, with his space dog creature that’s the color of a died down campfire…that gives me the chills thinking it about. Regardless of them all, Cham-Cham is now the best.
There was some discussions of lightsabers next, with Soule talking about the Wookiee Burryaga Agaburry’s giant hilt built from meaningful materials (which makes me wonder what Gungi did as he got older…if he got older); Ireland teased a secret regarding Rwoh’s blade; Scott dove a little into Keeve’s ability to either dual-wield or double-blade it, as seen in her concept art; but it was Gray’s Reath that was the most interesting to me, as he considers unsheathing his lightsaber the absolute last resort, eager instead to resolve things without, though when the times comes to use it, he won’t hesitate. We’ve never really had a Jedi like that before and I love the idea of explore a more pacifist take on being a Jedi than most of these Jedi will be like.
I’ll be curious to see if the Summer 2021 novels will be considered “Phase Two” or if we’re still in “Phase One,” as I’m curious how this will all work with the two on-going comic series.
Lastly, there were some new pages from Scott’s new comic, which has art from Ario Anindito and Mark Morales, which brings us up to 7 total pages from the issue after our previous preview! I love Keeve questioning her Master Sskeer’s ability to place a pendant on top of those tall columns with only one arm; gave me a good laugh.
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
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Read the First Chapter of The High Republic’s Light of the Jedi Now!
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