REVIEW: Star Wars Art: Comics

At last weekend’s Geek Girl Con, the organizers really pressed forward the importance of building a community that will ultimately help foster a cooperative spirit among fans.  What I noticed during my time in Seattle was that little pockets of communities already exist, and we’re finally finding a way to connect with the broader network of geek girls, fangirls, and gamers.

My message boards, the Lomin Ale Cantina, formed when we realized the TFN Fan Fiction boards couldn’t accommodate the social community that had formed around my lengthy fanfictions. I originally opened a Yahoo! discussion group to allow our friends to discuss all things Star Wars, the Expanded Universe, Jaina, ‘ships, fandom dramah!11! and, well, whatever else the members felt comfortable sharing.  Remarkably the community grew even as my fanfiction writing ebbed, as a consequence of several different factors.  Maybe I’ll talk about those another time, but today I’d rather talk about the amazing group of women and men that make up the community I host.

Among the Cantina members you’ll find accountants, engineers, historians, nurses, project managers, bankers, lawyers, soldiers, and quite a few other types of professionals. Almost all the members are highly educated, and many hold an active career while raising children. In their spare time, these geeks and gamers also participate in artistic endeavors of all sorts, such as painting and writing, that reflect their fannish sensibilities.  Even though everyone’s busy, it’s nice to know we have a comfortable place with members whose opinions we’ve come to trust.

So when Mary, one of the longtime members and a talented writer and artist, raved about Star Wars Art: Comics, I put a little bug in her ear about writing up a review to share on the blog.  Mary really liked the book, as a person who has studied art and as a fan of Star Wars.  You can’t get a better recommendation than that.

Fangirl

Fangirl

Tricia Barr took her understanding of brand management and marketing, mixed it with a love of genre storytelling, and added a dash of social media flare to create FANgirl Blog, where she discusses Star Wars, fandom, and the intersection of women within Star Wars fandom. She is co-author of Ultimate Star Wars and Star Wars Visual Encyclopedia from DK Publishing, a featured writer for Star Wars Insider magazine with numerous articles on the Hero's Journey. Her FANgirl opinions can be heard on the podcasts Hyperspace Theories and Fangirls Going Rogue. 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.

One thought on “REVIEW: Star Wars Art: Comics

  • October 18, 2011 at 11:00 am
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    You’re right – the Cantina has grown into a remarkable community. In the years I’ve been a member, it has changed a lot and that change has been pretty much all good. You deserve to be proud of the place you created and have fostered into such a supportive environment. As with any group, members come and go, but there is such a strong core of great, diverse people who share the Star Wars bond. We agree, we disagree, we agree to disagree, but we keep coming back to share our lives with each other.

    That’s pretty wonderful.

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