John Hansen

‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Chewbacca’ (2000) (Comic book review)

Although the propaganda in conjunction with Disney’s “Star Wars” reboot would have us believe that the Expanded Universe was licensed fan fiction, the reality is that readers saw EU stories as being the true continuation of the saga. As such, we were hit hard by the death of Chewbacca – which was approved by George […]

‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Underworld: The Yavin Vassilika’ (2000-01) (Comic book review)

“Rebels,” set between Episodes III and IV, will premiere on Oct. 3 on the Disney Channel, but as fans know, for many years there was another TV series planned for this era: “Underworld.” This live-action series hasn’t been talked about lately, so it’s safe to assume it went the way of the later seasons of “The […]

‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Starfighter: Crossbones’ (2002) (Comic book review)

Writer Haden Blackman’s “Jango Fett: Open Seasons” (2002) is one of the most essential pieces of “Star Wars” storytelling, as it mends the contradictions between “The Tale of Boba Fett” and Boba’s portrayal in “Attack of the Clones.” But earlier in 2002, Blackman penned perhaps the least essential “Star Wars” story, the three-issue “Starfighter: Crossbones.”

‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Jango Fett: Open Seasons,’ ‘Jango Fett’ and ‘Zam Wesell’ (2002) (Comic book reviews)

As fans know, there are two continuity branches to “Star Wars” storytelling: The movies and TV shows overseen by George Lucas (and now Disney) and the Expanded Universe that was kinda-sorta overseen by Lucas (and has now been canceled by Disney). On a handful of occasions, stories from the former contradicted stories from the latter, […]

‘Sin City’ sequel ‘A Dame to Kill For’ offers more of the same, but that’s not such a bad thing (Movie review)

“Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” was apparently made for me and about five other geeky guys, as almost no one went to see it on its opening weekend. One of the theories for the low interest level is that a sequel was not needed because the 2005 original, a stylistically perfect comic book come […]

‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Jedi Quest’ (2001) (Comic book review)

Lucasfilm arguably dropped the ball in telling Anakin’s story between Episodes I and II, when he aged from 9 to 19. From 1999 through May 2002, only two adult novels (“Rogue Planet” and “The Approaching Storm”) told of his exploits, along with one junior novel, Jude Watson’s “Jedi Quest: Path to Truth” (2001), which was […]

‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Survivor’s Quest’ (2004) (Book review)

I don’t know if it’s coincidence or correlation, but Timothy Zahn’s first five “Star Wars” books (the Thrawn trilogy and “Hand of Thrawn” duology) were great, and those were set at the end of the timeline as it stood at the time. His last five books (the “Outbound Flight” duology and the three post-“A New […]

‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Republic’ Issues 42-48 (2002-03) (Comic book reviews)

“Episode II: Attack of the Clones” came out in May 2002, but that month’s issue of “Star Wars: Republic” — No. 42, the start of “Rite of Passage” – didn’t jump directly into the Clone Wars. I’m guessing that the folks at Dark Horse needed a bit of time to map out their Clone Wars stories, which […]

‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘Republic’ Issues 32-41 (2001-02) (Comic book reviews)

Issue 32 of “Star Wars: Republic” marks the start of John Ostrander’s epic run as the primary writer of this ongoing series. Starting here, he writes 19 straight issues, taking the series up to the start of the Clone Wars, then he’ll continue to be the main writer throughout that epic saga-within-a-saga. All told, he’ll write 40 […]

‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘The Bounty Hunters: Aurra Sing,’ ‘Scoundrel’s Wages’ and ‘Kenix Kil’ (1999) (Comic book reviews)

In the midst of re-reading the “Star Wars: Republic” ongoing series, I decided to peek ahead on the timeline in search of more information about Aurra Sing in “The Bounty Hunters: Aurra Sing.” And for the sake of keeping things together, that means re-reading “The Bounty Hunters” three-issue series (1999), which also includes “Scoundrel’s Wages” and “Kenix […]