Geek of Oz

The mastermind behind the three films which made up your childhood - as well as the three films which quickly destroyed it - is an enigmatic figure in public and the press, reserved and sometimes taciturn when it comes to letting some of the personal out in the PR. Although the behind-the-scenes nightmares which unspooled from the production of the original Star Wars trilogy are themselves firmly embedded in fan consciousnesses through a host of anecdotes and making-of books, comparatively little has been firmly put together regarding the man at the center of them all. In many ways, George Lucas: A Life is therefore a somewhat overdue examination of the man's life and times, as well as a closer look at how he fits within the enormous pop culture mechanisms of Star Wars and Indiana Jones . Though the book doesn't contain any one-on-ones with Lucas himself, and is instead comprised of snippets from interviews and previously-documented interactions, this is very much a solid,...

  DISCLAIMER: While there don't appear to be any explicit references to future events, it is possible that aspects of Aftermath are intended to foreshadow developments in Episode VII: The Force Awakens this December. Also, given the lack of pictures from the book (since this is, y'know, a novel), the in-text images will be stills released for The Force Awakens instead.  The short version, for those not wishing anything in-depth, is that I liked Aftermath. Quite a bit. However, those wishing to remain clean of any possible spoilerage should tread lightly in this review with a POSSIBLE MILD SPOILER WARNING . ____________________________________________________________________________ When it comes to Star Wars , I'm a massive fan of the books. In addition to all the Old Republic and Prequel Trilogy stories like Outbound Flight and The Rise of Darth Vader , I bought a lot of the old post- Return of the Jedi Expanded Universe novels back in the day. More tha...

I was equal parts intrigued and nervous when I picked up The Star Wars #1, an adaption of George Lucas' first draft screenplay of what later became the six Star Wars films. I could almost smell the weight of expectation as I cracked open issue one, this is after all an untold preliminary version of one of the most popular movie franchises of all time. So no pressure guys. As I'm not usually big fan of licensed titles, and I haven't read any of Dark Horse's Star Wars comics before, I was intrigued by what I might find enclosed between the 22 pages of The Star Wars #1. What I found was more or less what I expected.