Some big lore bombs getting dropped on this page, along with Cho’s snazzy new suit!
UGH, guys! Can I take a minute to complain about Star Wars? I just finished the audiobook for Thrawn, which has been getting some pretty rave reviews! Well, guess what, turns out it’s boring as snot. In fact, basically every New EU Star Wars book I’ve read (well, listened to since I’m a big audiobook person) has been a real snooze. So has Rebels, in fact, and I honestly don’t know why. But I have theories!
You see, I think we’re just trapped by the films. They are the flagship of the franchise, and all the most shocking revelations, and big, exciting reveals, and game changing events, have to happen in those movies. Meaning all this other EU stuff that Disney is pouring out is just cement to fill the holes in a broken road. But we don’t care about those holes, we’re past them! In fact, if there are any holes in that road that really interest us, like say the hole where Luke cuss’d up his new Jedi academy and spawned a Kylo Ren, we’re not even allowed to look at that hole until we’ve gone further down this road being paved by the films! Am I taking this road analogy to far?
Anyway, the best we can hope for with the EU are stories about characters who have cuss all to do with the main plots of the films. Like, right now it feels as if every book is a prequel setting up one of the movies, and I just do not care. I already know how it turns out! And if all this EU garbage shovelware can’t give me any exciting, new stories while working with predetermined outcomes, then just give me all new characters who have unknown fates, facing problems that are not the ones we saw in the movies. Give me people’s gods damned Edge of the Empire campaigns! The old EU might’ve had a lot of dumb stuff in it, but at least I never knew what was coming next, at least I had a reason to keep turning the page. Â But for now until the films end, which won’t happen until Star Wars somehow stops being a pop culture icon (aka never), I think I’ve got to write off the new Star Wars EU, as it will forever be relegated to filling in movie plot holes.
(Also, Rebels could almost be good but it goes out of its way to undermine every potential dramatic moment it sets up with some dumb leap of logic or goofy nonsense action bit.)
Published on by Alex Kolesar
Cool symbol, Alex! Very nice yin-yang juxtaposition.
Turns out it does go very well with his hat. Damn nice robe!
Interesting how Matrix is in the foreground of that particular sentence. I like!
I’ve said it before: I think the fact that Matrix is a white woman wearing black, and… the other guy… I’ll call him Morpheus… is a black guy wearing white is significant.
Lexx.
From latin “lex” = “law”? 😉
perhaps…
Can’t get a similar connection to chaos from Matrix’s name though…
That is unless you accept a list or the uterus as a symbol for chaos…
Well, maybe I just named her Matrix because I was 18 and I liked The Matrix.
Yeah, but I mean, how likely is that?
Matrix is obviously a reference to mathematics, and you know how chaotic that queen of sciences can get!
… also, Matrix isn’t pure black on white. She’s a redhead!
Naw. He’s obviously Lex Luthor.
…oh!
I actually pictured his suit when I had to anticipate Cho in a white outfit!
Yes, veerrry interesting.
Snap! Is this foreshadowing? Cho is order, Matrix is chaos? Seeing their previous interaction, this discussion at this moment can’t be a coincidence!
And also… does this garment add a +5 to reasoning and wisdom? It looks like he just got a Plotexposure buff!
Um, there is another mysterious trenchcoat wearing figure running around.
http://nn4b.com/comic/419
Lol. Just throwing a red herring in there… unless said figure is the red herring ofcourse
Hark! Is this word of god confirming that it is in fact foreshadowing of Matrix as chaos with the other one as order?
Why surely it must not be so!
What nobody realizes is that this is just another one of Cho’s choisms. Translated to English (or Japanese? I dunno) he’s really saying, “Cuz dragons are friggin’ awesome.”
I’m honestly not too hot about expanded universe books. Their whole existence seems to be based on “Hey, you know that guy who was in the background for, like, two seconds? Yeah, let’s write a whole series of books about him.”
Well, old EU was mostly the continued adventures of Han, Luke, and Leia, and their myriads of accumulated friends and children, aside from offshoots like the ‘Tales From…’ books. New EU is most definitely all “what’s the story behind that guy that had one line in the movie? Let’s write a book about how he ended up in that scene.”
As a kid I remember enjoying the Galaxy of Fear books. It was like a weird combination of Star Wars and Goosebumps. I probably enjoyed them because the main Star Wars cast only made quick cameos, instead of forcing them into these cheesy horror movie tropes.
Heck, the latest movie went even further. Rogue One was all “What’s the story behind those guys whose existence was implied by the movie even though they neither appeared nor were mentioned? Let’s do a movie about how they ended up implicitly existing.”
And yet I liked Rogue One. These things could be good if they put heart into them.
It might be just another Choism, but at least it sounds straightforward and profound, not just confusing. 😜
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/127ae4964755f64541c8a0d280173882977e9c9e29086ddfce660282f6caeb97.jpg
What’s confusing about that? Seems like sound advice to me. Translation: Treat the girl to some nice things, things daimyo ladies like as much as elephants like peanuts, like maybe a nice poem or flower arrangement or respect for her political acumen, so she’ll think kindly of you and lean towards your side of the fence.
Hmmm, bad example? Alright, try this one on for size. 😜
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4404a0d4b6c34b045022d5cbe253a5758b4fd2fce5c7e9b8532754f2d4081410.jpg
I count myself answered.
“If you were an elephant, would you fall on me?”
No, but she might pack her trunk and leave…
Cho (highly offended): You don’t have to sound so surprised!!
Thank you Joe, but I believe I will be writing the comic from now on, as I have a perfect grasp of the characters.
You’re hired! Pack your bags, Joe, you’re out (of the building we clearly both inhabit, I guess?)
Once they threw out great stuff like the Thrawn trilogy and The Courtship of Princess Leia as canon, I stopped caring about the EU at all.
I miss the X-Wing series….
Yeah, they really nerf’d Wedge in the new canon.
I don’t know that he has been actually mentioned yet in the new continuity. They asked the actor to reprise his role, but he turned it down. Wedge could still be his awesome self, working to keep the New Republic safe, and he did not join Liea and company in their new enterprise.
Frankly, I have some hope for Rogue squadron to actually exist in the new continuity, after the events in Rogue 1. “Rogue Group” was mentioned in ESB, but nothing has been heard of them since. I hope they keep some of the history.
I always enjoyed Corran and Mirax.
Wedge is a character in Star Wars Rebels. His lame back story is that he joined the imperial academy to become a TIE pilot, didn’t like how he was being trained to be an evil killing machine, and then defected to the Rebels. He also appeared in the new canon Aftermath books.
His old Legends canon is a blast, though. I really need to re-read the X-wing books.
You are correct, sir. Wege has been nerfed.
Wasn’t that the original story for Luke, though? Seems fairly consistent with canon to me.
Well, Wedge’s original story had him going all the way through TIE training and actually being a pilot on active duty for quite some time before he defected (managed to exceed the average lifespan of TIE pilots (eleven months) though I can’t remember how long it was after that that he defected) which considering TIE fighters at the time were just a box with engines and a set of guns is pretty fricking amazing.
All those books pushed the stories of the main cast forward! I don’t think there’s a single new EU book that takes place after the events of Force Awakens. Granted, Heir, Shadows, and Courtship, especially Courtship, have had the most elements re-introduced to the new canon than any of the other old EU books. Not that planets and spaceships matter as much as compelling stories and characters.
I just want my ysalamiri. And not just because they seem to contradict the very concept of midi-chnorians.
pretty sure a lot of stuff sounds wise to him though
“remove pants before washing”
“omfg it’s so wise!”
Damn that suit is gonna need laundering almost constantly!
The dirtiness of clothes is directly proportional to the artist’s attention to detail.
Also the length of the currently occurring battle, usually!
(The new robe is pretty awesome and nicely juxtaposed to Wu/Tang’s black robes by the way, and I don’t think anyone actually wants every fourth page to be Cho doing his laundry :P)
I think I can forgive the long wait after seeing those badass dragons
I ask not your forgiveness!
1. I see a very smart move here… make the symbol detailed, but with such fine print that in most panels you can just draw a simple ying-yang symbol and be done with it. Only on extreme close-ups you have to actually draw the detailed symbol. Thus the clothes are detailed, but don’t require much work for your average frame!
2. I’d comment how the ying-yang symbol is an interesting coincidence, considering over a year ago I designed a character for my own purposes who was heavily inspired by Cho… and by Xellos from the Slayers anime/manga. And that character uses a ying-yang symbol overlaid on top of a shuriken as her clan marking.
… however, I’m not going to do it because I doubt anyone would be interested in the details. I mean, it’s just a female ninja pony character designed primarily as a video game protagonist :v
I would figure that it’s almost inevitable that yin-yang-ish stuff and Cho would have some relationship. So it’s not that huge a co-incidence. Sounds like a fun character though.
wait, what? Pony?
The will of Tao finds followers amongst many species… quadrupeds not excluded.
Also, ponies in kimonos are my fetish… can’t help it.
Nice. Sweet new garb but it still doesn’t cover up his sick muscles. I was all “does this new wardrobe mean we won’t get a gander at those sweet biceps anymore?” But my fears are assuaged.
Achievement achieved! New outfit unlocked.
The last master didn’t die of a cold, did he? If he was wearing these clothes, it seems likely (p.s. I love the new outfit)
Don’t mind me. Just wandering back here after the last chapter. *innocent whistle*
Relax, lad. Philosophy’s not for the dabbler. That’s how you get crazy people.