“Now aren’t we ALL having more fun?”
[@wilw submitted this comic to Reddit. Cross that one off my “geeky thing to accomplish before I die” list]
This comic comes from an actual occurrence at an actual shopping man in actual America. The kids’ dialog is almost entirely lifted from the real life youths I observed. It just struck me as odd that Star Wars is alive and breathing in the lives of these pre-adolescent kids. I assume this is mainly due to The Clone Wars animated series (which I rather despise for being as boring and empty as the prequels).
Return of the Jedi came out in theater’s when I was only 3, and thus the only Star Wars I remember experiencing first hand was The Ewok Adventure (which came out a year later). I had nightmares about getting trapped under a frozen river for… well essentially forever. My point is where as I was at least alive during the decade that the final movie of the original trilogy was released, the Star Wars franchise is probably having larger impact on the lives of kids that were born 20 years after me. Practically as long as they’ve been alive Lucas has been pumping out prequels, CGI movies, cartoon series, toys, costumes, video games, etc. And don’t forget the Internet. THE INTERNET! When a kid signs on to the damned Internet these days they have to select “Star Wars” or “Everything else.” Even when they select “Everything Else” they still get a pop up of C-3PO saying “I have a bad feeling about this.” every 30 seconds.
I’m not complaining. As dry as the franchise is now it still gets kids interested in Sci-Fi and boost their imaginations. I guess I was just surprised at the realization that “my Star Wars” was 30 years old and “their Star Wars” was still being born.
NOTE: This will be the last comic this week so I can catch up on Artist Edition sketching and shipping.
Love the kid crying in panel 4, and the "established canon here's my big fat lightsaber now bend over"
Classic.
Here I thought Josh would say something like that…
The problem with the new crap is that George Lucas decided money was better than his artistic integrity. I guess that's not so bad, everyone has their price, but I grew up reading the books and then playing the role playing game. I remember how the writers had to read each others books in order to be able to transfer expanded universe characters from book to book to book.
And then they came out with shit like I, Jedi so that they could retcon Corran Horn into it. Not that I don't love Corran Horn, but why not just let him do his thing independent of The Jedi Academy Trilogy. It just turned into one big money-hungry monster that can never be satiated. Someday the head of George Lucas will probably make another trilogy about Han and Leia's kids. Except there will be five of them and they'll have different names and one of them will grow up to marry C3PO and who the fuck knows.
Now just who's Big Fat Established Cannon are we talking about here?
I remember growing up on an isolated mountain in Queensland, called Mount Tambourine. It kind of sounds like Tatooine, which is fitting because it was an ex-farm and I saw all three original Star Wars movies there as the first films I ever saw. And back then, before the internet, Darth Vader being Luke's father was a HUGE SURPRISE! I just didn't see it coming because neither my Mum or Dad spoiled it for me.
I remember the disappointment of the prequels vividly. I didn't understand why The Phantom Menace was so damn… not right… at the time, I just felt unsettled by the blandness I guess, but when you're 9 years old you don't really expect film directors to be so generic with prequels. Of course I was too young to know any better.
Years later I bought the Original Series Star Trek first season and had a blast with that, because I'd never seen it before. This was also due to the Internet, and my mother having watched it as a kid. She prefers Picard though. Her being able to play Grand Theft Auto IV makes up for that.
I know what you mean I remember walking out of the theater after having watched Phantom Menace asking myself "that was awesome right?" I couldn't put my finger on it but there was just something not right about it.
Joel, something tells me you'd get a kick out of this:
http://boards.theforce.net/Your_Jedi_Council_Comm…
Speaking of Artist Editions… got mine a couple days ago. It's *beautiful*. I don't have to vouch for your funny around here, but the tangible book itself, from the design to the feel, is quality work. Thanks for not making me feel like a chump!
Hey! Got my book yesterday!! Thanks Joel, I've pretty much finished it already and had a bunch of laughs doing so. Thanks for the sketch! And the comments under each strip are as funny as the strips themselves.
Not commenting on todays strip because I am the lone Star Wars avoider. I was born too late to get into the franchise the first time round, and by the time I was into movies it was Ghostbusters and The Flight of the Navigator and ET. Also my big brother would never let me touch his Star Wars stuff.
There's obviously something to it. I've got a 6 year old who swears up and down he loves Star Wars. What about it does he love? I couldn't tell you, he never finishes it and always puts in Emperor's New Groove about 1/4 way through… but I kid you not… He loves it!
Hell, i'm 14, have seen all the 6 original movies half a dozen times, loved "The Clone Wars" movie and animated series, and i have the"sectioned views of ships" coffee table book. Oh, also an X-Wing.
Loved the Comic, loved the live drawin. Good times in the chat box!
Nice job. Did Josh draw the grass? 'Cause in panel 1 in the left corner there is what looks like someone's junk staring at me every time I look at that panel.
…now I can't unsee that. Thank you (internet)!
-D
Thank you, Joel, we needed a SW comic after a long, long time ago.
Joel, thank you for the wildly appropriate sketch in my Artist Edition. Also, for letting you comically maim and molest them as you do, you have the best friends in the world.
*sigh* haters be hatin'
C'mon, Joel, don't be a hater. The Clone Wars cartoon really does emphasize good storytelling and characterization, for the most part. i think the guy playing Anakin in the cartoon does it better than Hayden Christensen, but that role kick started his career, so good for him.
I felt old reading the comic, I would have done the same, General Grievous vs Bobba Fett…that's preposterous. I'm only 28, I shouldn't feel so old. Also, Lucas killed Star Wars for me, I haven't been able to watch ANY of the movies since Episode III.
My parents showed me the original trilogy on VHS when I was like 5 years old (I'm 21 now). Like many others my age, I found a personal love for Star Wars with the 1997 re-release and Power of the Force toys. I'm ambivalent toward the prequels, and I haven't watched a minute of Clone Wars. I think the love for it amongst my generation and the young'ins has to do with the fact that there hasn't been a classic sci-fi story that people my age and younger can call our own. We either appropriate the increasingly tainted Star Wars, or we sneakily watch The Matrix (*shudder*) when our parents didn't notice. There's nothing in between, unless someone wants to point out one I missed.
My favorite part of the comic is the kid in the sweater vest and the khakis.
Far from it be that i might criticise, but we are seeing an unusual drop off in joshiac mortality. Is the radiantly reflective pated chaparoo ill? Or you consider it an excessively used line? or just haven't done any of late?
speaking of criticism, you misspelt criticize. 😛
speaking of misspellings, you misspelled misspelled. 😛
I personally don't care for the new trilogy and it's subsequent animated queeffs, but I also don't mind them, mainly because it makes all Jedi appear as total assholes, which I can use to tell myself that it's a totally different series, and because, as Joel says, they open the doors in nerdy children's minds to more and more scifi. They watch Star Wars, then Star Trek to see the difference. Then they hear of Stargate or Firefly, and bam, the seed has sprouted and it's filling their young minds with BSG and John Carpenter's "the Thing".
People around me always complain when "their" series are dumbed down for the newer generation, but as far as I see it, it ensures the survival of the series and generates inspiration for the genre's future.
Yeah “their Star Wars” was still being born…." like some unholy spawn of SATAN!! No, I take that back…it might be better then… Perhaps a clone of Hitler? Eh I just wish it was stillborn….
Actually, the original Star Wars movies are pretty bloody awful. The prequels are in many ways superior. It’s mostly rose colored glasses on the part of the older generation who remember them as better than they were.
The last panel of this strip is a pretty apt rendering of the old SW’s fan’s attitude towards the series, actually.
Oi those are fighting words!
I agree with what he says. If you look at it, the original Star Wars is pretty generic: you have a random main character who is essentially cut loose from his homeland when his relatives are killed, which instills a sense of vengeance in him, and so he sets off to destroy his arch-nemesis: the person responsible for the death of his relatives. several skirmishes against said nemesis, in which he loses something each time (mentor and friend, hand), until he eventually gains strength (as fast as a dragonball Z character), and defeats his nemesis.
Well, they say there are only 7 distinct plots in existence and all movies/books/stories etc are variations thereof. They also say that everything's been done already so we're just recycling old stuff now. The Star Wars plot follows Joseph Campbell's hero archetype which is based on scads of books, stories, myths and so forth, so it is obviously a popular premise. Even if the story is not "original", it is a lot of fun. I'm inclined to think that the only thing the prequels are superior in is special effects, which, given the technological advances since the originals were made, was pretty much going to be the case no matter what.
The prequels are superior in special effects. Inferior in plot, acting, casting, writing, directing…. oh yeah and their boring as well.
Dare I ask Matthew how old you are? I have a feeling that you are too young to appreciate a movie that used anything but top of the line CGI and are hung up on that..
Aw, no fair. Why can’t Wil Wheaton plug MY site? 🙁
I was in the theater in the womb when the original film was first released. Saw all subsequent theatrical releases on opening night. Loathed the prequilogy. Enjoyed the Clone Wars movie for what it was and for finally making Anakin a character I could like. I love the series. Watching Darth Vader teach a little girl how to work around the rules is nothing but win in my book.
I'm still a huge fan of Star Wars. Yeah, mostly the original series–saw Jedi when I was eight, and when they went back to theaters a few years after that…I was hooked. I still enjoy the prequels, but they definitely don't hold up against the original trilogy.
Do like some of the expanded universe. I've read my share of the books, which are very hit or miss. Mostly I kind of like what was being done with the really Old Republic.
But I tend to try and come up with my own stories, even if they ignore canon.
Well, I was born in 1983, and remained unaware of Star-Wars until I saw Empire and Return in my late elementary school years. Good shows, classic following. I became involved in the expanded universe through the writings of Timothy Zahn and haven't really looked back since. To me, Star Wars has always been more interesting than Star-Trek.
As for the prequels, I went to each one on opening day, realizing the significance of NEW Star-Wars for the next generation. Each film gave me mixed feelings, but now that all three are out and can be seen together, I don't think they are as bad as people make them out to be. There are some things that probably could have been done differently for greater effect, but I was able to remain subjective enough to see merits in each of the films.