Star Wars Hype On A Cold Fall Day

39° is too damn cold! I pay a premium to live in glorious San Diego and one of the perks that I'm supposed to get with my high cost of living in this town next to the beach is that the weather is supposed to be nice. 39° is not good weather. When the temperature is typically between 65 and 75° having a day when it is more than 25° lower than expectations really sucks. Oh well, I guess it's global warming.

As I mentioned yesterday, I've been going through the Star Wars movies in the machete order. Starting with episode IV A New Hope and then continuing through episodes five then two then three and ending with six. It's been a great experience going back through the movies and since I now have Marvel Unlimited, I'm going through the comic books as well.

Star Wars Comics

Back in 1977 when Star Wars came out they also started a comic book run. The first issue is simply titled Star Wars and it's pretty much following the beginning of A New Hope. Some interesting aspects of the first issue though are that there's a very green tinge on Darth Vader's mask on the front cover. Also, Luke Skywalker looks very much like a He-Man type character with a square jaw and rippling muscles. Other than those couple of items, the art is pretty good though it's not my favorite. The story like I said goes along the plot of A New Hope – the droids are up on Princess Leia's spaceship and she puts a message in R2 and they get ejected in the escape pod down to Tatooine just like in the movie.

One cool thing is that the comic goes a bit more into detail on Luke's relationships with some of the other people from his home planet. Biggs Darklighter is prominent in the story and shows up telling Luke that he wants to join with the rebel alliance. Other than Princess Leia and her ship I don't think we hear much about the rebels until Darth Vader breaks captain Antilles' neck questioning him about the data tapes with the Death Star plans on them. Reading about how Luke's buddies are interested in joining with the rebels is a nice tie in to the later plot where Luke becomes a general with the rebels. They also expose his nickname which I never knew – Wormie. Kind of a strange nickname perhaps the comics will also explain how he got it. The story is too short though, as it is one of six issues that encompass the original episode of the Star Wars trilogy.

Star Wars Battlefront

The other big Star Wars related activity I've been involved in has been Star Wars Battlefront. It's a pretty cool game and though I haven't played much I'm enjoying what I have been able to do. It really strikes me as a Call of Duty type game which I'm not usually into very much. The fact that it's Star Wars has me playing it a lot more than I would any Call of Duty game though. I've made it up to rank five playing a combination of fighter squadron battles and I think it's called supremacy. So far each of the different game modes allow you to play as some special units when you get certain power ups. For the fighter squadron mode you can play as the Millennium Falcon or as Boba Fett's cruiser. In the supremacy game mode you can play as Darth Vader or Luke which is really cool. I haven't made it to a high enough level to get those perks, but it is fun seeing the special units in the game.

With the original 6 movies, the comics, and Battlefront, I am really getting my enjoyment from all the Star Wars hype. I even think I'll put together some time to get back into SWtOR for a few hours this week.