It's here... Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #18, with its long-awaited (a little longer-awaited than planned -- sorry!) secrets about Camper's past and Adasca's plans. What are Jarael and Rohlan going to do about it -- and who else may soon be joining the party? 

Apologies for the lapse in postings these last few weeks, but I haven't been here. I had a number of appointments around the country -- and being out of the nine-to-five grind for the first time since college, I decided to put some miles on the car.

It was my first fully cross-country driving trip (at least that I remember; I am told the family drove to California back when I was, to use Neil Gaiman's line, still "gainfully employed as a fetus"). With the craziness in the airports and so many stops to make, it seemed like the thing to do... and it turned out to be a lot of fun, with no unexpected mishaps. Engine temp never moved a hair off cool even in the 104-degree weather Montana had (thank you, General Motors) -- even as I saw helicopters going over the interstate carrying water to forest fires! (Cue up the Lindsey Buckingham -- some images from the road, now...)

There were a number of stops, including Portland, where I visited with Dustin Weaver and my editors at Dark Horse. Actually getting to walk through a script in person with Dustin was new for us both -- I'll be interested to see how that issue differs from the others. Reminds me of the days when the writers and the artists were in the same room. Yes, we can ask questions on the phone or online, but nothing beats actually saying, "y'see, Zayne should be going like this when he says this!"

Pleasure stops included the Black Hills of South Dakota, before they caught fire. I liked Deadwood a lot -- played cards a bit in Saloon No. 10, where my luck was only marginally better than that of Wild Bill. Also checked out the Midnight Star, the saloon Kevin Costner owns, which is full of his own memorabilia.

And later in Oregon I caught up with a friend from high school who's helping to run a golf course -- my first golfing experience that wasn't on a driving range or a course with windmills. I did about as expected, and it only got worse. "No, that doesn't say 25 on the front nine. That says 25 on the ninth hole!"

Anyway. I'm beginning to get back into the swing of things here, and things should be clicking smoothly again soon. To the best of my knowledge Knights #18 will be out on Wednesday -- I already have my sample copy -- and I should be able to post about that and get some other updates online soon. Tally-ho...

OK, there have been interviews before Star Wars Celebration and interviews at Star Wars Celebration: Now, here's an interview about Star Wars Celebration at the Scoop.

Also, the preview for #21 is now up. Check it out...

I wouldn't say I'm a huge Sopranos fan — I don't own the DVDs, the Matchbox Car Tony Soprano SUV or the trading cards. But I have seen every episode and have tried to catch every one in first run, so I guess I'm in the "loyal viewer" category.

Once I'd had a while to let the series finale sink in, it occured to me that it recalled a debate that had just been going on on the Dark Horse boards about the choices facing comics fans — buy the monthlies, wait for the trade paperback, or buy them both. Now, I've written about this many times in my Comics Buyer's Guide column  (and, boy, do I need to update that section on the site) and elsewhere, but it occured to me that it had special meaning for the show's finale.

In effect: If you're just watching regularly like me and don't have the DVD set (and of course, no one has the DVD set of this season yet — unless they recorded it themselves), there's a good chance you didn't remember the single line that makes sense out of the ending. Well, at least I didn't recall Bobby Bacala's "it all goes black" speech — but that seems to be the key.

Which brought to mind that, just as much as some comics writers tend to "write for the trade," presenting stories that improve dramatically when read in one sitting — this finale, anyway, was for the DVD owners. Especially if some of the wilder theories out there are true, about this character or that one entering the restaurant at the end being from Season 1 or wherever.

The DVD revolution makes that kind of storytelling possible, I suppose — and I guess, when I think about it, knowing that the comics I write will be available in collected editions makes me a little bolder about nesting story points further in what will be the past once they're resolved. Interesting comparison, I think. (But I won't be doing any cut-to-darkness panel at the end of the series!)

About that ending? After it sank in, I thought it was interesting — though, like everyone else, at the time, I was sure my satellite dish had screwed up. To be honest, I think I preferred the effect when it was done in one of my favorite films, Before Sunset, where the movie (Moderate Spoiler Warning) hit a moment about an hour in where you went, "OK, this would be a great place to end it — but we're only an hour in, so clearly something's going to happen in the fourth reel to screw it all up."

And then suddenly it went to black and ran the titles — there was no fourth reel! There were gasps of surprise from the audience in the theater I was at — including a yelp of glee from myself. We'd all been manipulated based on our presumptions of how long a film was supposed to run — such that the ending had a lot more impact than it otherwise might have. But I guess you can do that in independent movies!

No contest here for favorite last TV show episode, of course — that still belongs to Newhart...

And yet, twice as filling! Yes, there was a Knights of the Old Republic issue out this week, on top of everything else. Jarael, Camper, and Rohlan find themselves "guests" aboard the Arkanian Legacy — a place that looks the Los Angeles Convention Center look puny. Good thing these sets don't cost anything to build! And what more can go wrong for Zayne, locked in prison? How about Mandalorians trying to blow the prison up? Yeah, that'll work!

And Jeremy Barlow and I are now on YouTube, discussing the Knights of the Old Republic comic book series at Celebration IV. You are there!

This was the first Star Wars Celebration since I've been writing comics for the franchise, so there were a number of fun moments for me.

First off, I got to meet Legacy writer John Ostrander again for the first time in 20 years. We've communicated by e-mail a lot, but the only time I had ever met him before was at Memphis Fantasy Con back in 1987 at Mud Island, when he was working on Grimjack and DC's Legends — and I was still a teen-ager hustling fanzines with my friends. (I believe that con we were distributing something called "MT Magazine" -- which stood for "many things," naturally.) Our panel — with Jan Duursema and editors Randy Stradley and Jeremy Barlow — was a lot of fun, and, I am told, one of the better-attended Star Wars comics panels in some years. Thanks to everyone for coming out!

The second big experience was brand new for me — people dressing up as characters I'd had a hand in creating. I'd gone the first couple of days mainly seeing movie characters, so it was a real surprise to me Sunday when Jarael walked up...

This Jarael is actually Caroline, who came all the way from Puerto Rico with a copper-tubing shockstaff that
broke down into several pieces for traveling. Between that, the bodypaint, the wig, and the tattoos, she made everyone take notice. She really made my day!
























That day also included another character — sort of! I didn't get this gentleman's name, but he dressed in what he called a Sith Lucien costume — it's Lucien's robe design, with black instead of tan coloring.

Of course, the Sith Lucien notion is what the lawyers would say is a fact not in evidence (at least not at the moment) — but, hey! It's an Infinities variant!

Finally, I kept hearing that there was a second Jarael at the convention — but I could never find her.

So there I am in the hotel lobby Monday afternoon about to leave for home when Michelle walks in, complete with the robe, staff, and tattoos! Better late than never. Thanks, guys!

One of the things I've always wanted to do was travel to the West Coast old-style -- taking the train from the Midwest, through the Rockies, and down to Los Angeles. Star Wars Celebration IV gave me the chance to do that -- and get a little writing done along the way.

And unlike the anonymous shuffling through airports that air travel has become, you get to meet some interesting people. At one point an older gentleman was seated at lunch with us -- and in conversation I learned he was Tony Vaccaro, a soldier-photographer during World War II who later photographed everyone from Pablo Picasso to Frank Lloyd Wright for Life and Look magazines, among others. Amazon sells Mr. Vaccaro's book, Entering Germany -- and he has another coming soon.




I met a number of people on the way to Los Angeles who were headed to Celebration. You can kind of tell -- one young woman I met was working on a poem in Huttese.
Summer runs The Complete Wermo's Guide to Huttese, a fansite for that and other Star Wars languages -- and if she hadn't told me what she was dressing up as, I never would have recognized her when I spotted her later at the convention center. At left, you can see her as I first met her...


And then you couldn't have missed her at the Convention Center, dressed as Darth Talon from Legacy!

Most of the Dark Horse folks stayed in Little Tokyo, and as I haven't spent much time in Los Angeles before, I got to go exploring. Perhaps the most interesting thing was the plaza right outside the hotel memorializing Ellison Onizuka, one of the seven astronauts killed aboard the Challenger in 1986. It's a huge scale model, with plaques on all sides around it. I never knew such a memorial existed, so it really was a surprise to walk right up to it!

But I digress. You're looking for more costumes. Coming right up -- in the next post...

Sorry... so tired after Star Wars Celebration that's the only joke I can think of.

I have a nice batch of photos from the con (including two Jaraels and a Lucien in costume) -- and I also will be posting production notes for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic #17, which with the holiday is out on the 31st. I also have to get the April comics report onto Comichron.

But after I get some sleep. Stay tuned..

Just arrived at Celebration, but there are two interviews about my work to alert you to:

Newsarama

Dark Horse

Funny how they're all coming this week...