Leadings Ladies of Star Wars EU Shine
Tons of news coming out of New York Comic-Con, but I’m just going to feature three things for today.
Today the Official Star Wars Blog announced new cover art for the Choices of One paperback, and Suvudu shares the original concept sketches. It’s not unusual for new art to grace the paperback version of a book, but it’s not often the paperback cover blows the hardcover version away. I’ve been critical of the artwork on recent Star Wars books, but this one does a lot of things right. Most of all, it’s eye-catching: a beautiful woman, lots of stormtroopers, and the looming iconic Star Destroyer. If a casual Star Wars fan were browsing a bookstore, this cover definitely will get them to stop and have a look. More importantly, while Mara is stunning, she’s not hyper-sexualized. The image tells us exactly what her character is – a strong, confident woman.
Also today, Kotobukiya revealed a new concept image of the Jaina Solo bishoujo statue first shown at San Diego Comic-Con. This one is colored in, and features a Force-levitated lightsaber hilt. As with the Mara cover art, this depiction of Jaina showcases her beauty without overly sexualizing her appearance. She’s very much the “beautiful girl” that bishoujo means.
Finally, yesterday Dark Horse announced the new collaboration between John Ostrander and Jan Duursema: Dawn of the Jedi, an ongoing comic series featuring the origins of the Jedi, even before the founding of the first galactic Republic. I’m a huge fan of their work on Legacy, so I can’t wait to see what they do with this story, too. Comic Book Resources also has exclusive preview art from the series, featuring a stunning female Force-user in attire reminiscent of Padmé’s arena outfit in Attack of the Clones.
An exciting day for female Star Wars characters – and reasonable depictions of their physical beauty.
Tricia Barr's novel, Wynde, won the 2014 Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Ebook. She was also part of Silence in the Library's successful all-female creator science fiction and fantasy anthology Athena's Daughters, which is available now. For excerpts and tales of her adventures in creating a fictional universe, hop over to TriciaBarr.com.
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The picture of Mara looks 100% better than the hardcover one. Think they’ll let me do a trade-in?
That shot of Jaina reminds me of when we used to come back from the field while I was in the military. We’d be allowed to strip down a bit (remove all our battle rattle, helmets/hats and outer blouse leaving just the tan cotton tee shirt) to clean all our equipment and vehicles. It always felt SO GOOD to get out of the heavy, dirty gear to finish taking care of business. Everyone would relax at that point, tell stories and hurry to get done so we could all go home.
Good memories.
The Jaina artwork for the Bishoujo line looks awesome. I love their statues. I’m still not sold on the cover with Mara Jade though. Both covers, for the hardcover and now the paperwork, seem to be lacking to me.