Bothan Spies
You heard about them in Return of the Jedi when Mon Mothma referenced how many Bothans died to capture the Death Star II plans. You may have wondered what Bothans looked like. Shadows of the Empire established them as a a sort of beast / human hybrid, with canine, feline and equine features. Today, Luke and Dash respond to the Bothan message and meet with their leader, Koth Melan.
When I was a kid, my mother enjoyed watching the Beauty & the Beast television series that was fairly popular for a while. It starred Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman. Perlman played the beast character in the title, leading a group of underground freaks and outcasts who Linda Hamilton’s character discovers. She works as some sort of lawyer and Vincent (Ron Perlman) comes to her rescue whenever she gets into trouble. Eventually they have a baby… according to the photos on Google image search!
I don’t really remember the show very well, but I have to admit, both Leanne and I are now tempted to try an episode. I know Perlman best from Hellboy, where he absolutely kicked ass. There is no doubting how great of an actor he is under makeup. Very soulful and pained.
Since the Bothans aren’t that well known to casual Star Wars fans, our BMS representation may seem legit. I just like the physical and cultural connections, with the feline qualities and the secret underground. Expect to see Koth, or Ron Perlman, as Luke calls him, in further strips, but don’t expect him to be around for long! After all, Mon Mothma wasn’t bullshitting the audience.
ANNAPOLIS COMIC CON 2013 THIS SATURDAY!
Saturday 29th is Annapolis Comic Con. Leanne and I will be at our Blue Milk Special table. Leanne will be doing sketches on a first come, first served basis. IF you’re interested in learning a little about how commission sketches work then read our last blog, here. I will be helping out and sharing the secrets of Blue Milk Special, and our other works like Once Upon a Caper, with all you wonderful people that stop by.
I have made some special goodies for fans. We will also have our giant-sized “muggy” for anyone to pose with, created and gifted to us by friend and fan, T. Gatto. This is a larger than life-sized Federation logo mug like the one BMS Vader holds. Come hang with us. You’ll get a chance to snap some photos of our friends the 501st Legion as well. I heard there may be a Darth Vader at the show…
This is a one day, Saturday only show from 10am-6pm. Admission is $10, Kids get in FREE. You can join the Facebook Event with info here.
Hahaha!! I love it! I don’t comment often, but I totally knew what you were referencing! I’d suggest watching at least one episode I discovered it a couple years ago (I’m only 22, so it was before my time) because I was looking up info on Ron Perlman, and watched the first episode on IMDB. I was talking about it with a neighbor, and found she had the DVD set, so I borrowed it. Sadly, I only see got around to watching a few more episodes. Next to Star Wars, though, my favorite stories are Phantom of the Opera/Beauty and the Beast type stores, and I think he did a great job. I loved the makeup on him!
Eheh, sorry about the novel. I’ll go back into my hiding hole now. 🙂 but great job on incorporating something I wouldn’t have expected! You gys are great at throwing fun things in like that. Keep up the wonderful work.
wait I thought the guys in the Max Rebo cantina band were bothans???
Those are Bith.
Both Bith and Bothans give birth in the bath.
I love Dash Rendar! Just started reading the comics and I think y’all are hilarious. Keep it up! =]
-A scruffy-looking nerf herder (no really, I didn’t shave today =P)
heh…love the use of Vincent as a bothan! admitted SotE were late 90’s early as opposed to B&TB riding hot right after linda hamilton’s spark in T2:JD. as i recall, they tried to keep it going a while after she left. i almost wish you guys didnt feel bad about lifting jokes, cuz Dark Horse did a great one with the “many bothans” bit with the great alliance intelligence Agent: Manny Bothans, guest star of one of the Tagge and Bink specials. the joke of course, is at one point, Manny is shot and dies from a gut wound and when Mon Mothma says ‘manny bothans’ the rebels all hear “many bothans’ which would make Borsk riding a dead human’s coattails into office.
Great strip! In the EU the Bothans play a more important role, especially in the Thrawn-novels from Tymothi Zahn. Borsk Fey’lya for example is a dick, but his death in the New Jedi Order series is quite heroic.
Perlman is a cool dude. He was the one good thing about Blade 2 🙂
I first met the Bothans in the Thrawn Trilogy, so to me they were always a sort of humanoid rats sans tails, covered in fur that supports their facial expressions…
If you do catch an episode of BatB, go for an earlier episode, one from the first season; as the show went on, CBS insisted it get crazier to keep the eyeballs coming.
Also, yeah, the “George R R Martin” listed in the credits as a producer is the same guy who gave us GAME OF THRONES. Not as much naked encounters or horrible ways to die around Vincent and Catherine, which clearly demonstrates the differences between CBS and HBO…
My mother loved that show as well. I never made the connection that is was Ron Perlman (Hell Boy) under that getup. Pretty awesome reference from childhood.
I loved that show, especially the episode with the pianos!
Before anyone notices (and someone always does); yes the Imperial Logo is oriented wrong in the TK8008 mug. I occasionally see it that way, but most of the time one of the posts points straight up. Sorry. I don’t know how I did that. 🙁
Any future versions will be corrected. 🙂
JA!!! for sure… there is a lot of people looking for that kind of details… (including me). But real… mug looks weird, does it? you can say that it was designed to be seen “right” when driking…
Everything looks better when drinking! 🙂
It was my understanding that Manny Bot Hans dies to get the plans (a popular missconception for those who haven’t read Tag & Bink from DH)
Beauty and the Beast, I remember watching that show. It was fun, as I remember, but I’m sort off reluctant to watch it now as I fear disappointment. (We had only a few channels back then so you just watched what was on.)
Somehow for me it will always be linked to Dickens Great Expectations.
Beauty and the Beast was awesome. I remember Ron getting voted ‘sexiest male TV star’ back in the day – perhaps he should wear Rick Baker’s prosthetics all the time 🙂
Love me some Perlman 🙂
Beauty and the Beast was doomed from the start. It was intelligent, literate, thoughtful, well-acted, and well-produced, so it couldn’t possibly last on TV. Sigh.
Your mom watched it when you were a kid? *sigh*
Okay, do yourself a favor, don’t watch much beyond the pilot. I watched the whole thing, and really, unless you want to see what was going on with 80s fashion back then or get yourself hooked on a series that was actually good and messed with and cut off before its time… don’t go any further.
The Bothans my google image search came up with seem to have “camel” thrown in with all the other animal inspirations, for some reason.
I liked Beauty and the Beast back in the day, but didn’t stay with it through to its bitter end.
“Is there another Captain Zoom?”
Sorry, I”m a bit of a Ron Perlman Geek.
:thumbsup:
I prefer your bothan rather than others… and it fits perfectly. see
http://grey-starr.ca/StarWars/extra-pages/generators/random-female-bothan-name.htm
Man I LOVED Captain Zoom!!
Also, Bothans are in Star Wars Battlefront 2:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Bothan
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Battlefront_II
^_^
I always had an issue with the bothans. If a race are renowned for being spies then surely that’s a massive disadvantage ! After all the moment you meet a bothan you’d straight away think ‘watch what you say, this guy is a spy!’ Unless of course the race are masters of disguise or can change shape. Neither of which seems to be the case here.
I never thought how perfect the beast would be for a bothan. btw had a great time meeting the both of you at the Annapolis comicon. thanks again for the sketch card of mara jade it is awesome and I am so proud that it is the first mara that you had ever done. please don’t cut shadows too short its a great story and I am really looking forward to lea blowing smoke in the Xizor’s face for getting too fresh with her
LOVE the classic Beauty and the Beast reference for this strip! Just recently discovered BMS and have read every strip in just a few days and haven’t laughed like that in a long time. Keep up the good work!
about BatB; you might want to stick to the first two seasons, as there are major character deaths and depression in the third.
Spoiler: Catherine brings Vincent out of the darkness and gets pregnant, then gets kidnapped by someone who wants the baby to raise as a kind of super soldier and is murdered after giving birth (touching die-in-his-arms-scene, as Vincent finds her too late). The last episodes are searching for her kidnapper and his son with a new woman who’s a detective. This made an impression, as I was a teenager at the time and wasn’t used to deaths in my TV shows.