>>>This from the man with a Kyle Katarn avatar. <<<

He's got my name, so what's not to like?

And I've been playing as him for about a decade...

So Abel, do you have any mind-picture of what grown-up Darth Zannah looks like?

Darth NTM:

Exactly! People just seemed to want a comic of Bane cutting people up, but JvS actually told a complete, tragic story about the loss of innocence, using the end of the war as a backdrop.

If the title is any indication, the upcoming Path of Destruction should have Bane slicin and dicin through a couple hundred pages.

*Anyway...with regards to the new info about Zannah.....knowing now that she used a red-bladed double lightsaber, and remembering that Maul got his design from a sith holocron and "and ancient sith of the past."

We all assumed Exar Kun....but why? Technically, I think Maul more likely based his weapon off Zannah's - they are the same colour after all (Kun's was blue) and Bane seems to have utiliised his own, new holocron for his reborn order.*

This did cross my mind while I was writing that section. Obviously, we all assumed it was Exar Kun because that was the only other Sith Lord we knew of at the time who had crafted a double-bladed lightsaber. But besides the reasons you mentioned, the glaring difference to me was that Kun's lightsaber is considerably more truncated that Maul's, which is actually two sabers grafted together.

I think if you cut Kun's saber in half, it would cease to function, whereas Maul would arguably have two lightsabers as a consequence (or at least one, as seen in The Phantom Menace). So yeah, it's more likely Zannah's design was inspired by Exar's and that Maul based his design off of Zannah's.

Take care,
Abel

• Did you mean Joe Corroney? Joe did the art for the Story of Grievous project. Tom Hodges did do amazing work for Karen's Mandalorian feature, though!

*
Oops. I'm getting mixed up here. I did mean Joe but Tom was great with Karen's article as well!

?Suzanne?:

Sounds great - I really liked the broad range of EU references in the Droids article, so I can imagine what you mean. Is Jocasta Nu's Apprentice the same one as in Dark Lord?

No. There is another...

Rogue_Follower:

*That phrase is deep enough for me... *

This from the man with a Kyle Katarn avatar.

jSarek:

As did mine in Bakersfield; I was actually there when they got shelved around 6:00pm yesterday. So it seems that, at least in CA, people can start picking them up.

You heard the man, Californians! Get out to Ralph's or Albertson's and snatch up your copy.

Read the article, too. It took me a bit to realize that this wasn't done in your usual style, telling an engaging history through the deft tying together of dozens of references and continuity spackle into a cohesive whole; it sounds like that's what Lord of War is going to be for.

Yeah, you're right on the money. While the main piece Unknown Soldier bulls-eyes Grievous' character development, Lord of War is a bit more flexible and whimsical, for lack of a better word.

Like I said, doing justice to a major movie villain who's supposed to be the prototype for Anakin Skywalker was a big undertaking, and I wanted to get it right. That meant focusing on Grievous in a less casual way than I had with other characters, like say Grand Admiral Grunger or Kyle Katarn. Of course, Kyle's "let's blow poodoo up" attitude kind of defies a deep character analysis. But if I'd had a few thousand words for, say, Grand Admiral Teshik, Alpha-O2, or Jeng Droga like I did for Grievous, the result probably would've been something similar for those characters.

No, this article was written by Abel the Literature/Philosophy major, not Abel the Biological Star Wars Encyclopedia; sure, there are some obscure continuity tie ins (the Yam'rii, Abbaji, Phlut Design Systems, etc.), but the thrust was in taking a fairly one-dimensional villain and giving his story pathos and tragedy.

Bingo.

*Once I figured out what I was reading, I shifted gears and had a very enjoyable read; you made me interested in a character whose history I was only reading to see what obscure info was tied into his tale. *

Thanks jSarek. Unknown Soldier was a unique opportunity to do something special. It was great doing something new and a little different from my usual fair. Lord of War is definitely the place to catch the plethora of refs across the SW spectrum that I usually do.

Anyway, you'll be happy to know I finally sent out one of those little postcards that come with Insider, so I should actually be reading your Hyperspace pieces in the not-too-distant future.

:O At long last? I'm shocked, shocked! Thanks for your support!

...Incidentally, I've been working on an Endnotes for Droids and the Force as a test run for the Story of Grievous Endnotes, so expect that pretty soon as well.

Sounds great - I really liked the broad range of EU references in the Droids article, so I can imagine what you mean. Is Jocasta Nu's Apprentice the same one as in +Dark Lord+?

Anyway, you'll be happy to know I finally sent out one of those little postcards that come with Insider, so I should actually be reading your Hyperspace pieces in the not-too-distant future.

Wari:

I felt the same way after I shaved my Mothers head for the first time. But I'm more confident in my work now.

Woah, actually got a good belly laugh out of that one. :^O

+flaws are usually all I can seem to focus on after I turn in a project. +

I felt the same way after I shaved my Mothers head for the first time. But I'm more confident in my work now.:|