Welcome to Bonus Reading, a weekly feature in which Matthew Lazorwitz looks at four (or so) comics linked by a common character, creator or theme. Patreon backers of the WMQ&A podcast can request a custom Bonus Reading column built around their fave. Sign up here.
This week, two new all-ages graphic novels are out from two of my favorite all-ages creators. Chad Sell — whose wonderful “Cardboard Kingdom” is a celebration of imagination, creativity and inclusivity — is releasing “Doodleville.” And Jeffrey Brown — whose massive bibliography includes the “Lucy & Andy Neanderthal” series, various picture books featuring kid versions of Star Wars characters and the first three volumes of the “Jedi Academy” series — begins his new sci-fi series, “Once Upon a Space-Time.”
There is so much great Brown material alone, I considered writing this week’s Bonus Reading exclusively about his work. That column will come soon, but I decided instead to focus on something Brown and I have in common: We both love Star Wars. So this week, we’re looking at four great all-ages Star Wars stories.
Jedi Academy
The “Jedi Academy” series are hardcover books published by all-ages and kids juggernaut Scholastic, and are in the model of the mega-popular “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series, with a mixture of comic pages, diary entries and spot illustration. The leads of these books are all in the middle grade age group, and the titular Jedi Academy is written to feel like a middle school.
The stories are the only ones published in the past few years that tie into the old “Legends” continuity. There have been nine books in the series, broken into three-book arcs, with each arc featuring a different protagonist.
The first three books, “Jedi Academy,” “Return of the Padawan” and “The Phantom Bully,” are written and illustrated by Brown. They feature young Roan Novachez from Tatooine, who wants to be a pilot like his dad and big brother. He is rejected from pilot school and is instead invited to the Jedi Academy, which is surprising since he didn’t realize he could use the Force. Roan spends three books learning to use the Force, making friends and dealing with the grouchy Mr. Garfield, the Zabrak who teaches lightsaber combat and starfighter piloting. Roan deals with bullying from some real jerks, and Brown channels his love of cartooning by having Roan draw a comic strip for the school paper: “Ewok Pilot.”
The second set of three books — “A New Class,” “The Force Oversleeps” and “The Principal Strikes Back” — introduces a new lead, a whole new cast and a new creator, Jarret J Krosoczka. Victor Starspeeder is from Naboo, and as opposed to Roan, Victor has been looking forward to going to the Jedi Academy like his big sister, Christina, for years. Victor joins the Drama Club, befriends the kid everyone thinks is a Sith and learns some hard truths about his family and the Dark Side of the Force.
The as-of-the-current-moment final three books feature Victor’s older sister, Christina Starspeeder, with the first book of her series overlapping, timeline-wise, with the final of Victor’s. These books are also written by Krosoczka, but with art by Amy Ignatow. Christina’s books aren’t set in the Jedi Academy, but after she has graduated and is out in the wider galaxy, serving as padawan to her Jedi master, the Twi’lek Skia-Ro, and her master’s snarky droid, Q-13. These books are a little bigger, with higher stakes and bigger villains, but pay off beats from the previous series and even tie back to the Roan series.
Clone Wars Adventures digests
Before the CG animated film and series, the story of the Clone Wars was told in comics, novels and in a series of animated shorts by “Samurai Jack” mastermind Genndy Tartakovsky. And while the main “Star Wars: Republic” comic and a series of novels served as the spine of the original — now non-canonical — Clone Wars story, the Tartakovsky cartoon inspired Dark Horse’s 10-volume “Clone Wars Adventures” digest series, telling short, action-oriented storied at the height of the battle between the Republic and the Separatists.
Drawn in a style similar to the Clone Wars shorts, each volume features three to four short stories featuring characters as well known as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, and as obscure as Star Wars comics favorite Quinlan Vos and created-for-the-graphic-novel-to-be-offed-in-Order-66 padawan Joc Sah. There are multiple creators across each book, but most are at least partially drawn by the Fillbach brothers, and many are written by Haden Blackman, one of the more prolific Star Wars comics writers.
These books are similar to Tartakovsky’s work in that they depend heavily on the visual aspect of their storytelling more than the verbal. These volumes are all sadly out of print right now, but many can be found in comic shops, as they were strong sellers when they originally came out, and are great for readers who love Star Wars and are just starting to read.
Star Wars Adventures: Tales From Vader’s Castle/Return to Vader’s Castle
Star Wars might be a space opera, but tales from the galaxy far, far away exist across all manner of genres. “The Mandalorian” is a Western. Timothy Zahn’s recent “Thrawn” trilogy of novels are hard sci-fi with a military bent. The novels “Death Troopers” and “Red Harvest” are horror stories of a very adult kind. Since IDW took the all-ages Star Wars license, it has spent the past two Octobers telling some pretty spooky Star Wars stories for younger readers in the weekly series “Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader’s Castle” and “Star Wars Adventures: Return to Vader’s Castle.”
“Tales from Vader’s Castle,” written by Cavan Scott with a framing sequence by Derek Charm, finds a small group of Rebels led by Lina Graf — one of the Graf family, a clan of Rebels and Resistance fighters Scott has written about in novels and comics — land on the planet Mustafar to find only one building in sight, a large castle they soon learn is the refuge of Darth Vader. As they wander the creepy corridors, they tell stories of ghosts and monsters featuring characters like Han Solo, the crew of The Ghost from “Star Wars: Rebels” and Count Dooku as they are slowly picked off one by one. The stories balance right on the knife’s edge of all-ages horror and adult horror, and feature art by some luminaries of horror comics, including Charles Paul Wilson III, Robert Hack and Kelley Jones.
The sequel from the following year, “Return to Vader’s Castle,” follows a similar pattern, as Lt. Hudd, left behind when the other Rebels escaped, must play Scheherazade, trying to distract Vader’s Grand Vizier as he plots his escape. Scott returned to write, and this time the framing narrative is drawn by the inimitable Francesco Francavilla. Wilson and Jones returned, and new artists were added, including Megan Levens. This time, all the stories focused on villains, including Darth Maul and Grand Moff Tarkin.
These are fun, creepy little shorts, so if you’ve ever been curious what Star Wars would have been like if EC Comics had the license, you should check out the “Vader’s Castle” series.
Join the Resistance
Our final entry of the week is not a comic, but is from writers who have a history with comics. You might know Ben Acker and Ben Blacker from their time writing Marvel’s “Thunderbolts” or the “Deadpool V Gambit: The V is for Vs.” miniseries or from their new-time podcast in the style of old-time radio, “The Thrilling Adventure Hour” (and seriously, if you don’t know TAH, do your ears a favor and go listen. You will not be disappointed). They are also both avowed Star Wars fans, and got a chance to play in the Star Wars universe in the “Join the Resistance” trilogy of all-ages novels.
Set shortly before the events of “The Force Awakens,” “Join the Resistance” features Mattis Banz, a young recruit for Gen. Leia Organa’s Resistance, who is put in a squad with a … colorful group. Dec is a troublemaker from a backwater swamp who has a brother who just happens to be a droid. Sari is as sweet as she is imposing. Lorica, the Zeltron, is standoffish and has a history that already makes her feared in the galaxy. And the stick up squad leader Jo’s butt must have a stick up its butt.
Acker & Blacker don’t break any ground in these books. It’s a pretty classic setup: A team of misfits has to learn to work together to make themselves better and save the day. But they take that old chestnut and breathe life into it. The characters are broad but fun, with real personalities and real struggles. They create new characters while taking aspects from the classic trilogy and from the late, lamented Expanded Universe, and working them into the new continuity seamlessly. These are solid books for middle grade readers looking to try out their first Star Wars novel.
Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of 5. It was Who's Who in the DC Universe #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, which explains so much about his Batman obsession. He writes about comics he loves, and co-hosts the podcasts BatChat with Matt & Will and The ComicsXF Interview Podcast.
