February 01, 2014

Small Victories – SWBTF #109

1 hour 34 minutes

Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa are New Republic Commandos?! Revan’s descendant Deena Shan? A devastating blow dealt to the Empire, and more! All on the next Star Wars Beyond the Films. YOUR Star Wars discussion podcast! YOUR ticket to the EU!

This week true believers, Beyonders, Fanboys, Fangirls, respected aliens around the galaxy, The Defender of the EU; Mark Hurliman, and your EU Guru; Nathan P. Butler, sit down to explore Dark Horse Comics Rebellion issues 11-14, Small Victories, by Jeremy Barlow. So strap in and tighten your crash webbing Fandom, Star Wars Beyond the Films is setting off on another rapid-fire trip into the galaxy far, far away!This week your hosts stay SPOILER FREE for the first 17:30 minutes of the show, be sure to jump off at their SPOILER-WARNING Tarkin’s Arrogance!

Of all the various things that came to mind for your hosts this week, one event rose above the rest; Deena’s capture at the hands of Red Rishyk. Your hosts both felt like there might have been more to that encounter than what was on the page. What did you think? Was Deena at risk of being raped? Or was that the furthest thing from your mind during that scene?

As it plays out it could have gone a multitude of ways, and yet both Nathan and Mark each felt that rape could have very well been implied by Red.Either way Red is one twisted son-of-a….Though perhaps Deena NEEDED an enemy so ruthless to snap her out of her funk and force her to take action? Red certainly fits THAT bill!

Nathan mentions Star Destroyer’s exploding, and how he hasn’t felt like many artists capture that correctly. What about you? Do you mind when sections of Destroyers break away mid explosion?Mark raises an argument that Deena Shan *could* be a descendant of Revan and Bastilla, and that we are seeing her come to grips with her inner hero. And how the choice words and phrases sort of back up that feeling.

As it sits, Deena Shan turned out to be a stronger character than even SHE gave herself credit for.The art worked well in this story, although there were a few times when the art distracts the reader if they are following too closely. Like D’Vox’s eyes, what is he looking at?!And then the other side we get glorious battle shots when the B-Wings fly in and save the day!Also as is their norm the guys discuss the covers briefly at the end.For once the word bubbles actually HELP the cover?! Well it wasn’t like they were NEEDED, but it didn’t hurt. As Mark points out, it is nice to see Deena take the forefront of these covers, it is after all HER STORY.In fact there are few covers in this arc that didn’t meet the hosts expectations. So few in fact that they liked them all!What did you think of the series? Haven’t read it yet? Are you looking forward to it now? How did your hosts rank this story? How close are they in their march to Vector? You’ll have to listen for those details and the details to their 100th Episode Celebration Contest!

Once again, your dynamic duo cover entirely too much New Republic action in their ONE hour, but don’t worry, give it a go; you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you might even get a little education on the EU while you’re at it. But no matter how you slice it and dice it, you’ll be having another adventure Beyond the Films. So sit back, hang on, enjoy the show, and may the Force be with you!

Also be sure to check out the latest SWBTF Video Links from your hosts:

Nathan’s From the Star Wars Library

Mark’s Rogue Transmissions

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