I am not a hater of the new cannon, but I love it more for the new toys is spawns than the actual stories on film. However it sure has become noticeable that these novels and comics seam to be doing a better job of presenting STAR WARS than the Star Wars films...

How do you feel about this gang? Where are these badass films?

Is it intentional that the cover has round-dish Falcon and proper-scheme TIE Fighters?

Hi Joe! I hadn't heard from you in a while. I was beginning to think you'd left us.

Anyway on topic, I like most of the new cannon stuff I've read with the exception of Aftermath. Also I really liked Rogue one, and enjoyed the force awakens.

14 minutes ago, VaeVictis said:

Is it intentional that the cover has round-dish Falcon and proper-scheme TIE Fighters?

Yeah it seems so...

1 minute ago, rubberduck said:

Hi Joe! I hadn't heard from you in a while. I was beginning to think you'd left us.

Anyway on topic, I like most of the new cannon stuff I've read with the exception of Aftermath. Also I really liked Rogue one, and enjoyed the force awakens.

I won't leave you.

Yeah the books have more going on. It is just odd to me, but I do understand why this is happening.

I just wondered what the gang here thinks of it all.

Darn.

There is a Phasma book coming out in a few months. I'll probably pick it up but honestly I care way more about other characters and stories.... Zahn wants to do 3 more Thrawn books for cryin out loud - let the man work!

Oh and if you didn't catch the Star Wars show today... the incredibly lovely Janina Gavankar was interviewed by the amazing Andi Gutierrez (Honestly, the 2 most gorgeous ladies of Star Wars on the same screen - I practically melted!) and Janina talks about the Inferno Squadron book coming out in a few weeks - she's reading the audio book version of it, which now I absolutely must have.

Regardless of their beauty, it's actually an amazing interview. Janina won me over. I'm officially a fan now. You guys should go watch it, it's the best interview I've ever seen.

30 minutes ago, Crabbok said:

There is a Phasma book coming out in a few months. I'll probably pick it up but honestly I care way more about other characters and stories.... Zahn wants to do 3 more Thrawn books for cryin out loud - let the man work!

Yeah, but is he going to split 50% of the book with another character like he did with Governor Pryce? I didn't buy the book to read about Pryce. It was a chore to slog through her chapters. I wouldn't mind the book sharing time with someone interesting like, say, Captain Pallaeon but the Pryce side story was dull.

12 minutes ago, weisguy119 said:

Yeah, but is he going to split 50% of the book with another character like he did with Governor Pryce? I didn't buy the book to read about Pryce. It was a chore to slog through her chapters. I wouldn't mind the book sharing time with someone interesting like, say, Captain Pallaeon but the Pryce side story was dull.

Oh come now... If having to read a few chapters written by ZAHN about a character I'm only mildly interested in, is the cost of getting another ZAHN book, and a ZAHN BOOK about THRAWN... I'll take it 10 times out of 10.

14 minutes ago, weisguy119 said:

Yeah, but is he going to split 50% of the book with another character like he did with Governor Pryce? I didn't buy the book to read about Pryce. It was a chore to slog through her chapters. I wouldn't mind the book sharing time with someone interesting like, say, Captain Pallaeon but the Pryce side story was dull.

I didn't find Pryce dull... But I did wonder where it was going. After finishing the story I could see why some of those scenes were important, and I had a great dislike for her character that I didn't pick up in Rebels, but yes she was the weakest part of the book.

Overall... Meh. Most of the books have been pretty weak, but there have been a a couple of fun ones.

I mean, I really enjoyed Lost Stars. Who didn't? But wouldn't it be amazing if we saw Thane as a Resistance pilot? We already see him in the ARC, and it's a sin we don't see him in the T-65. Same with Ree. Where's her TIE/LN or TIE/IN?

12 minutes ago, Crabbok said:

Oh come now... If having to read a few chapters written by ZAHN about a character I'm only mildly interested in, is the cost of getting another ZAHN book, and a ZAHN BOOK about THRAWN... I'll take it 10 times out of 10.

If it was just a few chapters, I'd be inclined to agree. I'll buy any Thrawn book as well but I'll be salty if half of it is devoted to another meh character.

Thrawn was pretty good, and I would love if Zahn added even more books to the new canon! Simply just for more Thrawn I also liked how Thrawn's history pretty much lines up with Outbound flight and all that still.

I finished reading A New Dawn as well, which was alright, worth a quick read for sure if you're into Rebels at all.

But Battlefront: Twilight Company was a fantastic book! A very different book than other Star Wars books - pretty much just a classic war novel that happened to be set in the Star Wars' universe. Quite good.

I have been thinking about reading the Poe Dameron comics. Are they pretty good?

I've been collecting Poe Dameron. I'm generally satisfied. There are only a couple issues I won't reread. There are a few that are simply amazing.

I haven't read any of the books or comics, not out of malice or anything just out of a lack of interest. But I have to ask, what do you mean by "a better job of presenting STAR WARS than the Star Wars films... "

What are they doing that makes them better? What do they have that the films lack?

7 hours ago, Joe Boss Red Seven said:

I am not a hater of the new cannon, but I love it more for the new toys is spawns than the actual stories on film. However it sure has become noticeable that these novels and comics seam to be doing a better job of presenting STAR WARS than the Star Wars films...

How do you feel about this gang? Where are these badass films?

Don't understand what you're getting at. Was the lack of Phasma in TFA disappointing to you or where the battles not epic enough? Personally I'd like to see more of Phasma in TLJ; as for the fighter battles I thought they were excellent. What I'm hoping for in TLJ is an intensification of the conflict. Really we only saw two sub-factions tangling. We didn't see anything of the Empire and we only saw the Republic briefly.

Oh and Phasma's chrome TIE Defender is a must.

26 minutes ago, Sasajak said:

Don't understand what you're getting at. Was the lack of Phasma in TFA disappointing to you or where the battles not epic enough? Personally I'd like to see more of Phasma in TLJ; as for the fighter battles I thought they were excellent. What I'm hoping for in TLJ is an intensification of the conflict. Really we only saw two sub-factions tangling. We didn't see anything of the Empire and we only saw the Republic briefly.

Oh and Phasma's chrome TIE Defender is a must.

No he's getting at the fact that a character with 90 seconds of screen time has a more fleshed out story off screen than on screen. (BOBA FETT)

And why wouldn't it be nice if things were a bit more even. (we get good content on and off the silver screen...... like a boba fett solo movie!!!)

I have to agree. I think part of it is that 99% of people working on star wars canon pre-disney are working on it post disney, minus the directors for the big movies, and obvious new faces like the aftermath director. Gareth Edwards obviously had some one explain dark forces to him, or maybe he even played it at some point. JJ is a star wars fan at heart, but had to work with constraints of rebooting a franchise and not sinking the investment disney spent allot of money on. The left hand does not know how to direct, and the right hand does not know the story well enough, so they make their own. Long gone are the days when George Lucas sat at conventions answering questions about everything from what wicket ate for dinner on a regular basis to how Tantive 4's engines worked. Now we have to rely on it seems a director every movie to figure it out, because Kathleen Kennedy sure isn't going to talk about anything, and poor Pablo Hidalgo is going to pull a Joss Wheadon on us if the fan base keeps pestering him like they do.

As for phasma, yeah i totally agree. Also a chrome tie defender? witness me, traitor!!!

I enjoyed books like Shadows of The Empire and Tales of The Bounty Hunters.

As for it not being canon, Grand Admiral Thrawn proves that the popular stuff will be brought back at the right time.

I've read Thrawn all the aftermath books and am now on Lost Stars. I've enjoyed all of them. Rogue one was epic force awakens seems Meh but when I watch it with my kids I realize it's a great film for them. The books do seem to capture the emotion and feeling of the characters better.

I have yet to read a nu canon book I did not enjoy (I avoided Heir to the Jedi because of its bad reputation). Not all are good, certainly, but all have provided something enjoyable. And the highlights are really good. Lost Stars is probably the one that has the most interesting perspective and best story, along with excellent writing, which makes it a lot of peoples favourite for very good reasons. Tarkin isn't as applauded, but one ofmy personal favourites because of Lucenos way to get under a characters skin while not losing sight of the whole picture. Ahsoka and Dark Disciple where arguably better than what would have been created with this material in the TCW animated series.

I've failed to read Aftermath as I just can't get into the style of writing. Read the Vader series of comics and some of the mini series. Overall I'm not terribly impressed but then I wasn't with most of the EU anyways. It's still Star Wars and fun but I've not read anything that's blown me away.

6 hours ago, codegnave said:

I haven't read any of the books or comics, not out of malice or anything just out of a lack of interest. But I have to ask, what do you mean by "a better job of presenting STAR WARS than the Star Wars films... "

What are they doing that makes them better? What do they have that the films lack?

You know how many people will often say that a film based on a book is never as good as the book... it is that kind of thing but worse. These new books tell a huge story now, while the films are much less involved by comparison.

57 minutes ago, Joe Boss Red Seven said:

You know how many people will often say that a film based on a book is never as good as the book... it is that kind of thing but worse. These new books tell a huge story now, while the films are much less involved by comparison.

Perhaps SW should be a TV series? You seem to want much more than the feature film format can ever provide. For me I want more on Phasma but in a feature film format and the SW episode format there's only so much that can be done... which is disappointing but also allows your imagination to fill the gaps. SW books just don't cut it for me - there are some reasonable ones but some of them belong in the trash compactor! Aftermath for example is just awful whereas I found Lost Stars decent.

Newer versions of the artwork has the square instead of circle dish. Think you just found an earlier mock up.