Han Solo Origins - another much-anticipated Star Wars spinoff

The Star Wars spinoffs look like sooo much fun. I've already spoken about Thrawn and Darth Vader, but there's another one definitely on the way – an as yet unnamed Han Solo origins story. That will be about the young Han, before the Mos Eisley cantina.

How many of you remember the three Han Solo stories penned by Brian Daley? I read them back in the day. They were fun, action-packed adventures featuring Han and Chewie versus the Authority (not the Empire). I have just discovered a later series of Han books, by Ann Crispin That's a link to book one – but it's published by a Big Five, so there's no kindle version. (Nice one, Bantam)

I wonder if the version by Ann Crispin is what's going to be in the movie. Because I seem to recall from somewhere in my time being a Star Wars fan that Han was in the Fleet academy, and that he saved Chewie from slavery. There's an article on Han in the Star Wars Wookipedia which confirms what I recalled. It will be interesting to see what's canon, and what's not. This article is all about what Den of Geek thinks – and it sounds pretty convincing to me. Lawrence Kasdan is involved with the script, which is always encouraging.

Once again, I'm really looking forward to this movie. Let's see now… what else can we have a story about?

Spin-offs from Star Wars - Darth Vader

My very own tiny Darth Vader dolly.

When George Lucas sold the Star Wars franchise to Disney I know I wasn't the only one to wonder how THAT was going to work. Then the powers-that-be announced that the Star Wars vast Expanded Universe library would be consigned to "legends". Granted, a lot of the EU stories aren't exactly great, but quite a few are not half bad. Well, we already know that Grand Admiral Thrawn is now Canon, not Legend – I wrote about that last week.

And we're starting to see the fantastic spin-offs possible in this scifi wonderland. There's so much scope with main characters in the saga, as well as with stories like Thrawn's.

The last one I found was Marvel's graphic novels (or comics if you prefer). They have produced a series entitled Darth Vader which covers the period between the destruction of the Death Star and the events of The Empire Strikes Back. The Emperor is furious. Vader has survived, but he's the only one left to blame. Vader must redeem himself in his master's eyes, while pursuing his own interest in the young Rebel pilot who ultimately destroyed the Death Star. IGN has a wrap-up here.

The covers are brilliant, and the story is great. The tension between Vader and his Emperor is palpable, and we learn something of Palpatine's feelings after the events on Mustafar where Anakin is defeated by Ben Kenobi. There are several new characters – and one old friend. Remember the general in the space station's conference room who had his doubts about the invincibility of the Death Star? That was just before Darth did the famous choke hold on the admiral, quipping, "I find your lack of faith disturbing."  General Tagge is the doubter's name. He must have been kicked off the Death Star before the weakness was exploited, because he's in this story.

I binge-read the series, appreciated the wonderful art, loved the story, and can't wait to see it on the big screen. Well, why not? If it's good enough for Deadpool and Thor, why not the Dark Lord of the Sith?