Im Sorry: Star Wars #1

This post is in response to some questioning of my short review of Star Wars #1 from Dark Horse that I posted here: http://twoheadednerd.com/2013/01/10/ludicrous-speed-reviews-010913/

     Some comics aren’t for everyone; some comics aren’t even for someone they should be for. Some comics, sometimes, just don’t make that connection, even when everything about them should be perfect for a reader. One of those comics for me was Star Wars #1 by Brian Wood. I’m not going to go into technicalities on art style, continuity, wording or any of that. The fact is, nothing is really wrong with this issue at all. It’s great. The art looks great, the writing was good, and everything this book was supposed to do it did. But, let’s back up.

     I’m a big Star Wars fan. The original movies were formative for me as a child. I’ve watched those dozens of times. I’ve seen a lot of the extended universe stuff, clone wars cartoon, specials, had books as a young child. I named my Son Luke for crying out loud! That being said, I never could get into the novels or really any of the star wars comics. I like flipping through an old Droids comic from Marvel from time to time, but that’s reading for nostalgia, not reading a new comic for pleasure.  So that being the case, what does this new Star Wars comic do for me?

     The answer is: Nothing. I don’t really care what happens. This is no fault of the creators, the book is meant to be filler between Star Wars and Empire, and that’s exactly what it will be. I’m sure it will be very enjoyable to people who want to read it, there just isn’t any spark in me right now that cares. What it comes down to for me is that I know what happens, all this book serves for me is more flavor text to a story I’ve seen and enjoyed a hundred times. This makes me a hypocrite, there are properties that I like to have these fillers for, Star Wars isn’t one of them for me. So when I give a short review saying that star wars fans will love this book, but if you aren't you probably wont care, that's exactly what I mean. Hope this clears things up, hope you all enjoy this book as much as you should! I will probably even try a few more issues, but I don’t really feel that excited for it, and that’s just my opinion.

Resolutions for 2013

It’s a new year, with so many comics, so many possibilities. As with every New Year, we ask ourselves: “What do I want to accomplish this year, what will be a successful year for me?” In attempting to answer that question for myself, here are 5 resolutions for 2013 that I hope to tackle.

1 - Discover New Creators. The world of comics has more talent and vibrancy than ever before. There are young fresh creators out there that are starting to produce the next generation of work, and discovering them and seeing their talent grow is thrilling. I want to find more new talent and in whatever way I can, help them get exposure and grow their skills in the industry.

2 - Read More from "The Stack". If you’ve read some of my previous posts you know that the books I have outweigh the books I’ve read. A goal for this year is to read those wonderful books I wanted to get so badly, only to have them sit on the shelf resigned to the backlog because more new stuff was coming in. In 2013 I’m going to change that (I hope).

3 - Study Comics History. I don’t think I’m one of those people that say you have to have read 70 years of comics to enjoy and understand anything current, but I do have a desire to learn more about the history of comics, the industry, and creators. There is a lot of value in knowing what influences current creators, how publishers treat their properties now, and how we all got to where we are today. I want to learn more about the past to satisfy curiosity.

4 - Fill In Runs. I have a decent amount of comics, but my collection is spotty at best. I have missing issues from nearly every series I collected and it’s a thorn in my collector’s side. I want to spend more time collecting missing back issues this year and less on getting more back issues that don’t fill in what I already have amassed.

5 - Read More Web Comics. Along the same vein as discovering new creators, there is a huge world of web comics that I know little about. I know there is amazing work being done on the web and a lot of new talent in print comics can come from there. I want to make an effort to discover new web comics and fill in that part of the world of comics for me.

What are your resolutions and hopes for 2013? What would you like to see get done in your comics life this year? I wish you all a great 2013, and happy reading!