I know what you did last summer
What is the future of Star Wars? Our take on LucasFilm’s statement about the Expanded Universe no longer being canon? With all due respect to the high points of the EU and the fans who discovered Star Wars through it, rather than the films, you’re not losing the EU. There will be no mass book burnings or rallies denouncing the EU. The EU is not going to vanish. Those books, comics, games, toys and cards will always be there as the part of history that they already are. They can not take that from you.
I am not surprised by LucasFilm’s decision for the new films to make a clean slate for the sequels. As they say, it will allow audiences to be surprised, and they can cherry pick the best from the EU and ignore the lows of that universe. I realize this may sound dispassionate, but I’ve had to live with a number of retcons across various fandoms I have been dedicated to over the years. After a while you have to accept that it doesn’t matter what the big guy tells you is canon. It’s what’s canon to you. So, our BMS parody of Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, the Holiday Special and Shadows of the Empire are canon for us.
How about we do the Thrawn Trilogy next? We already have Timothy Zahn’s vote. I am sure we will parody Star Wars VII, but that’s not going to stop us embracing the high point of the EU.
Well, just before LucasFilm made their big announcement on the new Star Wars canon (ie no Expanded Universe), Leanne and I participated in a discussion panel at Awesome Con discussing this very thing. And here it is for those that couldn’t fit into the jam packed auditorium or attend the show! Video of our Star Wars Discussion Panel is from Awesome Con last Easter Weekend of 2014 with Timothy Zahn and John “Dak” Morton. Enjoy!
We have exciting news! Blue Milk Special buttons along with Leanne’s Artbooks and Sketchbooks are now available as new ways you can support the project and its creators. As you may have read, we are desperately raising money for medical expenses related to my ankylosing spondylitis. I am on unpaid leave from work and hope to start temporary disability in the next few weeks. In the meantime I have mounting physical therapy and health insurance bills. Rather than just donate, you can actually purchase items from us and get something back beyond this free webcomic we make. So please check out the items below, along with new eBay auctions here.
Blue Milk Special Buttons – Wave 1
Our new line of BMS 1 1/2″ pin-back buttons! The first wave features Vader, Biggs Darklighter, Boba Fett and Slave Leia. We will throw in a free Blue Milk Special promo card with every purchase, so if you haven’t been able to pick one of these up at a show, this is your chance!
Help support Blue Milk Special’s creators and wear your pins with pride!
$5.00 (+$2.00 US / $5.00 International shipping)
Boba Surfing on Carbonite Print
In celebration of today’s strip, we are offering our readers the opportunity to add this 11×17 print to their collection of Blue Milk Special mementos. All proceeds go directly toward Rod’s medical fund.
Help support Blue Milk Special’s creators and add Boba surfing to your wall, signed by the artists, Rod and Leanne Hannah!
We can ship a set of BMS buttons with the print in the mailing tube and you can save on shipping.
$10.00 (+$6.00 US / WARNING $17.00 International shipping)
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Leanne Hannah 2012 Sketchbook
Featuring 32 pages of black and white sketches! Limited quantity remaining. We will throw in a free Blue Milk Special promo card with every purchase, so if you haven’t been able to pick one of these up at a show, this is your chance!
If you do not wish to have the book signed, please note it in the “Comments” field below
$10.00 (+$2.00 US / $5.00 International shipping)
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Leanne Hannah 2012 Artbook
Featuring 40 pages of full color pinup and graytoned art!
If you do not wish to have the book signed, please note it in the “Comments” field below We will throw in a free Blue Milk Special promo card with every purchase, so if you haven’t been able to pick one of these up at a show, this is your chance!
$10.00 (+$2.00 US / $5.00 International shipping)
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Once Upon a Caper #0
The Print Edition is now available to US via our Paypal store.
Unfortunately, due to the ridiculous cost of international shipping, currently it is not feasible to purchase a $5.00 issue and pay 3x that much for shipping. Until we have more product to increase the value of the purchase, Once Upon a Caper will remain exclusive to US customers.
Print version (US customers only) – $5.00
(+$2.00 US shipping)
Please note, due to high international shipping costs, we will not ship individual purchases of Once Upon a Caper comic internationally. The only way for you to buy Once Upon a Caper if you are outside of the United States will be if you purchase Leanne’s art and sketchbooks along with Once Upon a Caper, then we will ship them together and it will be more cost effective for everyone. This is due to the fact we’re fulfilling the orders ourselves and international shipping rates right now for comic-sized items are silly for only a single issue.
ROD’S EBAY AUCTIONS
As mentioned above, I am also selling a large number of my action figure collection via eBay auctions. I hate to part with childhood icons like Optimus Prime and Doctor Who, but I don’t have an income anymore and I have months of physical therapy ahead, so I have to do whatever I can to not go broke! Please take a look at the following auctions and share with any friends you have that might be interested in the items. I’d like them to go to a good home and hopefully to someone to whom they hold some personal meaning.
To be perfectly honest, the EU has always been one of the things I loved about SW. I’ve always been more of a reader than a movie watcher (this isn’t to say I don’t love the movies), and I came to my love of SW through books, first movie novelizations, then young reader books, because I was a kid, and then the adult-aimed novels. I had been reading the books for a couple of years before I first saw a SW movie. I loved the fact that, despite the diversity of authors, SW still managed to form itself into a singular, (mostly) cohesive storyline.
I totally agree with what Rod said; it’s not a surprise the EU is being removed from canon, and to be honest, I think it’s better than the alternative of massive contradictions that would occur if it was attempted to put the movie in the same storyline.
I understand that EU fans are too small of a group to cater a movie to, but that said, when I read the announcement, despite the fact that I fully expected it, I was disappointed. There have been so many people, from novel, graphic novel, and video game authors, to the reference book writers, to Wookieepedia editors and other fans, to people like Leland Chee who have devoted large amounts of time and energy to creating and unifying the EU whose work is just getting tossed to the wayside.
On a different note, I would love to see you do the Thrawn trilogy. Whatever you do with the strip, I can’t wait to see it.
Also, this quote came to my attention today, and while it is ironic primarily because of the changes to the OT, I think it applies to a degree to everything that has been done to Star Wars in the past couple of decades.
“People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians.”
-George Lucas, 1988 (http://savestarwars.com/doasisay.html)
OMG, that last panel is one of the best! I totally want to see a series of Han’s misadventures while he’s trapped in carbonite. That could keep me entertained for weeks.
What I took away from the decision was that they were going to acknowledge the elements of the EU and disregard the stories. So as long as it is not a story-specific element, they’ll acknowledge the basics of those things. I.e.; they will not purposely create pus-filled retcon sores out of spite. Which I think is the best way to approach it, just change the invariable parts and let the entire thing have a unified skeleton.
So Darksaber? Gone, story-specific.
Noghri? Yeah, they exist, they live on Honoghr, et cetera.
Sulon? Yup, capital’s Baron’s Hed still too.
Well the EU got very silly at times, due to the “As long as George Lucas himself doesn’t do a facepalm and say “Are you crazy? No!” then it’s canon to the SW universe” – The poor “Star Wars Beats Star Trek because Wars gets to use even the silliest stuff from the comic books, while Trek is limited to things that appeared “on screen” in live action and can’t even use the novels or the animated series that Gene Roddenberry himself produced!” geeks are probably in mourning.
In the last 30 years, Every new movie, and animated SW series has been a disappointment or unappealing to me. In that same time, there have been a lot of comics and novels I enjoyed. While the decision makes sense on their end – and continues the trend I’ve faced from Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, DC Comics, and others – it means I’m much LESS likely to buy a ticket to see Ep VII.
I’m greatly upset that the Legacy and Dawn of the Jedi stories are being cancelled so the people who brought us the Hoojibs can get another shot at doing SW.
As for BMS vs. Thrawn: Count me in.
Boba Fett Herald of Galactus!
Yeah Buttons!!!
I have to save up the scratch for Neil Baker’s book first, the buttons and print will be #’s 2 and 3 on the list respectively. 🙂
A store near me has regular sized coffee mugs for $1.00 each on sale.
I could crank out about 10-20, with the Trek logo, and sell them for $5.00 each + shipping if you want me to help raise some scratch for you.
No need to post this to the page if you don’t want to, just an offer because I’m short on $ right now…
I wish we could take you up on that. But I think Paramount would take issue with us if we sold “muggies” since they are basically Trek mugs. I encourage fans to make their own BMS mementos, but we can’t do that for profit. With Boba surfing on Carbonite, at least that is our art.
Oh yes, please do the Thrawn trilogy! I’d definitely look forward to that.
To be honest, I never really expected them to stick to the EU for any new films; if I remember correctly Lucas has always said as much.
Seconding (or thirding) the people who’ve made the remark already — yes, please do the Thrawn trilogy. We’d definitely love to see it. 🙂
cheers,
Phil
I found EU stories always trying to one-up previous tales, usually by killing off each other’s characters and generally undoing whatever progress was made in previous books in order to increase drama. Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy told a story I liked, about rebuilding the republic in the face of lingering Imperial threats, which should have been dramatic enough.
Looks like I’ll be adding a carbonoited-Han-surfboard-Boba print to my wall before too long!
Thrawn trilogy could be hilarious.
If you feel like a flashback series, there’s a lot of good stuff in Brian Daley’s Han Solo trilogy too. I don’t think anybody ever captured the spirit of the first movie any better than Daley did. If you haven’t read them, do yourself a favor and pick them up. They’re just quick fun reads.
What about all the stuff that’s taken place before the movies? The KOTOR games(including ToR, but not the Force Unleashed games) Clone Wars Cartoon, and that sort of stuff? Is that all considered non-canon now too?
As others have said, bring us Thrawn.
Rod, I really appreciate how well you worded that. You didn’t belittle my irritation at the change, and you laid out the very valid reason. The dispassion was super-helpful.
Also, I’d love to see the highlights of the X-wing series as a BMS arc. Those Wraith Squadron books in the second half of the series were nearly non-stop comedy.
Ahhhh so perfect 😀 I love the humor in this strip, and what a coincidence that I am now rereading the Thrawn Trilogy! I just like to say I appreciate the amount of effort that goes into this.
If BMS do make a parody of the Thrawn Trilogy, that could be the final incentive for me to actually buy the books and read them. I remember seeing book 2, I think it was, in my school library when I was very young. a shame I couldn’t find them all, or I may have borrowed them then adn there!
I am both for an against the cherry picking of the EU. Stuff like The New Jedi Order and Legacy era are mere abominations to me, and I will never accept them as canon, SO I am hoping they will go out the window. I grew up with Kevin Anderson and Rebecca Moesta’s Young Jedi Knights series, so I will view TNJO and Legacy novels and comics as an unforgivable affront. But at the same time I agree with fellow players of the ongoing SW MMO set in the Old Republic (roughly 3500 years BBY) by Bioware: How are we going to feel about all the effort we’ve made, all the lore added to SW through this game and it’s surrounding media, not to mention all the money we have spend over the years via subscriptions and micro transactions, if we basically are getting a fist to the face saying none of it, not even it’s sheer EXISTANCE is canon anymore? the Knights of the old Republic (of which The Old Republic MMO is part of) is one of the most praised parts of the EU, just as much as the works of Timothy Zahn! ( I dare say fellow BMS’er “Zayne Carsick” will agree with me on that point at least!) There are some fairly silly, if not outright horrible moves to the continuity in much of the post-OT EU, which seems to be acknowledged by Lucas himself and others, such as cloning Palpatine or having Luke marrying – things that seems to be written out if various rumors about ep7 are true. I just really really hope the new team set up by Disney to work with the “EU” have the udnerstanding, and decency, to only omit pieces as TNJO or Legacy, while keeping Things such as KOTOR (It seems that Thrawn & CO might be written out of continuity, sadly). You are completely correct in that it should be all about what is canon to YOU, just as I decided years ago that TNJO and Legacy will NEVER be MY Star Wars Canon. Also, I can happily inform Fans of Darth Bane, that Mark Hamill made a cameo in the last episode of The Clone Wars TV series as an illusion of Darth Bane, telling Yoda about the Rule of Two, so He seems to be here to stay, only having retcons as the worst thing that could happen to him. I also strongly encourage fans to watch the three last episodes of TCW’s final season, as they fill in a lot of questions and holes about both Ep3 and ep5, without being lore-breaking or retcons, and keeps a mature and serious tone that should serve to dispel and the naggin about the series being too childish.
I’m not going to rehash what Rod has so eloquently said or the other commenters. I will say that like many of us, I did read most of the EU as a teenager. My cutoff point was 5-ish books into New Jedi Order. I have also read a couple of books since then, but not many. I enjoyed the EU. Not every book was great, but only a couple struck me (at that age) as being bad or boring. As I have said on my podcast (the website I put in my post), continuity is what you want it to be. In comics specifically with all the reboots and retcons, pick the stories you like and that is your overarching tale for the characters. Same thing applies here. I like that they are still going to print the non-cannon EU books (or so i read on the sign at Powell’s in Portland May 2nd), so the stories will still be available for those that want to read them.
I also participation medal (since 1st, 2nd, and 3rd have already been taken) the idea of doing the Thrawn Trilogy or highlights of it at least.
Keep up the good work Rod and Leanne!
John
I couldn’t agree more on the EU statement. Nothing is lost, a lot may be gained, and if you don’t like it, ignore it…
Agree with what you said about the EU. The only thing I like from Shadows of the Empire and Splinter’s of the Mind Eye is the BMS version.