While the old “Star Wars” canon changed to “Legends” one thing has remained the same, and that is with every new release comes a slew of tie-in novels, comics, and more! Today, we’ve got the details on the upcoming books from Lucasfilm Publishing that will be linked to Solo: A Star Wars Story’ thanks to their creative director Michael Siglain. Siglain has a slew of details to share with us from titles to release dates to plots and more! Readers are going to be thrilled with the upcoming releases with how many are coming, here is the information he’s provided for us as to what is coming!
First up we have the Del Ray release of ‘Last Shot’ by Daniel José Older. In it, we’re told about three eras that tie together the lives of both Han Solo and Lando Calrissian! According to Siglain:
“Part of it takes place before the events of Solo and focuses on Lando and L3-37. Part of it takes place between Solo and A New Hope, and that focuses on Han and Chewie, and that’s where we get Sana Starros for the first time.”
For those who are unfamiliar with the name Sana Starros, she was introduced in the recent Marvel Comics story arc as Solo’s first wife! It all appears to have been part of a scam though there are hints some romance might have been in the air as well. What is neat though is that we’re also introduced to a younger Kylo Ren:
“Part of it takes place post-Return of the Jedi, and that’s where we see Han, Leia, a very young Ben Solo, and Lando come into the story.”
I’m not sure if we’ll see hints of the dark side present in him at such a young age, but I’m eager for more Lando interactions. There is one other area of their lives that is covered though:
“We bounce around through time. We always wanted to tell a story that had Han and Lando having one adventure after Return of the Jedi. At the same time, we really liked the idea of contrasting that with seeing them much earlier in their lives. A crime lord comes looking for the owner of the Millennium Falcon, but mistakenly thinks it was Han Solo at the time, but it was Lando — which gets Lando mixed up in something else Han did that was Han’s fault. All these years later, the two of them have to the right a wrong from much earlier in their history.”
It sounds like it will be a lot of fun. However, multiple books are in the works, and next up is ‘Most Wanted’ which was penned by Rae Carson. This is a young author novel and takes a look strictly at a younger Han Solo. Specifically, the one which we’ll see Alden Ehrenreich playing when he was partnering up with Emilia Clarke’s Qi’ra:
“This is about the younger, young Han Solo. We’ll see what it was like for these two kids from Corellia to survive the seedy streets of this industrial world. They’re definitely products of their environment, and this story shows that.”
Solo isn’t the only thing on the menu!
Marvel is also giving us a ‘Lando: Double or Nothing’ book penned by Rodney Barnes. This five-issue miniseries will focus on Lando Calrissian “during an incident right before the film, with backstory about Lando and L3.” This book will take place immediately before ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ and be released a week after the film premieres so no spoilers will come from it. With how Donald Glover seems to exude the suaveness of the charismatic smuggler, Marvel is banking that everyone is going to want to read more about Lando.
What visually stunning movie release is complete without an artbook these days? For this film, we’ll see Phil Szostak giving us ‘The Art of Solo.’ Here’s what the book will contain:
“This is another of those really beautiful art books that shows various pieces of concept art that went into this film. You see the evolution of Solo through this book, and the insight that Phil gets from everyone in the production is incredible.”
Art books haven’t been to known to contain spoilers lately though with some of bringing the concept to life sections might contain one or two.
Pablo Hidalgo’s ‘Solo: The Official Guide’ might contain one or two though. Many of the official guides have had one or two sentences in each section which have both shed light on a portion of the film while flushing something out that is pretty important to canon.
“This one combines the popular formats of a Visual Dictionary with part of a cross-sections book. This gives you insight into the characters, and the props, vehicles, and tech that you see in the film. And it’s written by [Lucasfilm story group member] Pablo Hidalgo, so we have it on good authority that all of this is correct.”
While not a direct movie tie-in, ‘The Moviemaking Magic of Star Wars: Creatures + Aliens’ which was put together by Mark Salisbury will include a few details of the book. It is a non-fiction title for younger readers which “strives to teach some of the history of filmmaking, makeup, and special effects through all the films, starting with 1977’s A New Hope and going up through Solo.”
So it isn’t specifically about the movie but will reference some of the character designs in it.
Continuing on in another release that isn’t a direct tie-in, we have Tom Angleberger giving us ‘The Mighty Chewbacca: Forest of Fear’. For middle-grade readers, this book has Chewy saving Solo and technically fits into the mix. As a bonus, it includes a fan-favorite droid and introduces Mayv Trillick who is a librarian bounty hunter:
“Chewbacca thinks it’s a dull babysitting job, but he not only has to save the day but save Han Solo. He gets mixed up with a droid he thinks is a cargo droid, but the readers will recognize as K-2S0 [from Rogue One], who is on a mission for Cassian Andor.”
The best part is you don’t even need to pay for all of these new outings in the “Star Wars” universe!
IDW comics is giving us a preview of ‘Star Wars: Adventures’ on Free Comic Book Day! It will be the first part of a three-part Solo story by Cavan Scott. According to Siglain:
“{Han and Chewbacca are] being chased by the bounty hunters and go to a planet they don’t know. Once they get into the atmosphere, everything shuts down, and the Falcon crashes into the water. Everything on this planet is powered down, and no technology works. Then they figure out a way to turn it on and realize that was the worst mistake they could make — the planet comes alive and attacks them.”
Oops!
More kids titles are also on the way and we’re getting an entirely new “Little Golden Book” release! This one is by Geof Smith and is titled ‘I Am a Wookie’ which I’m sure you can guess what character is the focus here. Similar titles include, “I Am a Rebel,” “I Am a Jedi,” adnd “I Am a Sith.” Now, they’re addressing everyone’s favorite furry friend. This is the perfect gateway drug to help get your little ones fully on board with a galaxy far far away.
Disney is also slated to release ‘Solo: Train Heist’ which takes Han Solo and Chewbacca onto the Conveyex. This is the train which we’ve seen the pair trying to steal from in the movie, and the book will focus on just that scene. Sounds like an excellent retelling of what looks to be one of the most action-packed sequences in the movie.
The most fun that kids will likely get from these new reading experiences is brought to us by Cavan Scott. The title is ‘Choose Your Destiny: A Han & Chewie Adventure’ and anyone who has grown up being able to explore a book in their own way from this series will be excited about it. According to Siglain:
“They’re on a seemingly easy smuggling gig, but then to save himself and Chewie and the Falcon, Han tells [the people of this world] he’s Jabba the Hutt, and things go from bad to worse before they have to get out of there.”
The real question will be how our young readers can get Solo and Chewie out of this one!
That isn’t all of the children’s titled being released though. Next up is a remake of a previous five-part comic in book form that includes stickers titled ‘Chewie and the Courageous Kid.’ Gerry Duggan wrote the original series in 2015 which included Phil Noto’s art. However, don’t expect this series to be quite the same:
“We’ve taken that story and adjusted it, so it’s appropriate for 6-, 7-, 8-year-olds, rather than the 13-plus audience of the Marvel Comic.”
At the very least it sounds like some fun extra reading for fans.
We aren’t done yet as there is a ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ tie-in for the “World of Reading” line at level 2.
To be totally honest, my little ones will likely be getting this one. In it, we’re going to “Meet the Crew” as the book talks a bit about the heroes and sidekicks in the film. This level of book is for the very young and won’t have much of an actual story in it but will tend to have some fun details and minor action sequences to keep younger eyes glued to the visuals on each page.
The rest of the releases also include a coloring book, a souvenir guide which will go over details from the story, a “Look and Find” for those who love the older ‘Where’s Waldo’ books. Also for the kids, there is a “Sound Book” which has snippets on each page and sounds for various characters from the movie from Chewbacca to the Millennium Falcon. Also on the list is “The Official Sticker Collection” which I’m pretty sure you can guess what that one includes. If that isn’t enough for you though there is also “The Ultimate Sticker Collection” which includes “More than 1000 stickers”! Finally, there is also an ‘Activity Book’ that includes “Stickers, coloring, puzzles”, and more!
Readers and those looking for fun activities for their kids should be thrilled with this set of releases.
Which book do you plan on picking up first from the above list? Share your thoughts below!
Source: Entertainment Weekly
