Friday morning at New York <a href="https://comicvibe.com/john-cena-to-appear-at-rhode-island-comic-con/” title=”John Cena to appear at Rhode Island Comic Con”>Comic-Con belonged to the readers. Lucasfilm Publishing: Stories from a Galaxy Far, Far Away took the stage at 11 a,m., moderated by Kristin Baver. The panelists included Ahmed Best, Will Sliney, Dr. Chris Kempshall, and Kiersten White.
The biggest takeaway from the panel was that there is a lot of great publications coming out surrounding the 50th anniversary of Star Wars: A New Hope. Several books commemorating the very first movie in the galaxy far, far away are arriving for the anniversary next year. That includes one that will feature tons of interviews, such as celebrities talking about how they fell in love with Star Wars (just like the rest of us).
One of the surprise announcements was about how much literature and other book releases we will be receiving for Star Wars: Starfighter. Leading up to the release of the movie, fans will be able to fully prepare with no shortage of releases — there’s even a coloring book!
Another announcement was Marvel‘s Star Wars: Ahsoka – Escape From Thrawn. It’s a five-issue miniseries with art by Andrea Di Vito and a main cover by Phil Noto. The series follows Ezra Bridger’s flight from Peridea. Issue one arrives January 20, 2027, the same day Ahsoka Season 2 premieres on Disney+
The panel also put a spotlight on Star Wars Reads. The campaign is putting books directly into kids’ hands: Ahmed Best is visiting New York schools, and Penguin Random House Children’s Books is donating titles to First Book.
Best stole the show talking about the Jar Jar comic he wrote. He was there at the creation, working shoulder to shoulder with George Lucas.
“I was extremely fortunate when we were creating Jar Jar to work very closely with George Lucas,” Best said. “It kind of feels like an early Silicon Valley startup because we were all in a garage going, I don’t know if this is gonna work.” And he owned his piece of the character: “The writing of Jar Jar back in The Phantom Menace was George, but the voice was me… George’s jokes are very much dad jokes and kid jokes,” Best added.
Best is aging Jar Jar up and making him confront his biggest failure. As a senator, Jar Jar gave emergency powers to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. “I wanted to, in this comic book, kind of age Jar Jar up a little bit,” Best said. “Since he is now a senator and he did give emergency powers to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, I really don’t think he understood the consequences of this action, which is why I wrote this… I wanted Jar Jar to actually see what those emergency powers did to the galaxy, especially in the Outer Rim, very far away from Coruscant.” It’s exactly the kind of storytelling Star Wars does best.
Best also talked about Kelleran Beq, the Jedi Master he created, who guest stars in the comic. “All the Jedi teachers that we meet, they’re not too psyched about it,” Best said. “I wanted Kelleran to be like, yes, today I’m teaching Padawans.” He added, “I thought teachers needed a superhero. I wanted Kelleran Beq to be the superhero teacher in the Star Wars universe.” And Beq’s role in the story is the point of the whole comic: “What he does is he teaches Jar Jar that now that you’re a senator, the words you say have power, they have meaning, and people are affected by it.”
It was a fantastic 45 minutes. I walked in hoping for Thrawn news and walked out with that plus a Jar Jar comic I didn’t know I needed. If the rest of Friday’s panels hit like this one, it’s going to be a special day.
For more on what was announced during the Lucasfilm Publishing panel, check out our full post.
