BLU-RAY NEWS: STAR WARS INSIDER TO SPILL THE BEANS...

Its looks like the issue after next (out May/June) of STAR WARS INSIDER will be previewing the extensive range of special materials on the upcoming Blu-rays. Let's hope that the extras, and especially the deleted scenes, live up to expectations...

THE WINNING WOOKIEE!

Love that exclusive cover. Well done, INSIDER!

AFICIONADO COMMENT: A SNUB FROM BAFTA....

I would like to thank STAR WARS INSIDER Editor Jonathan Wilkins for getting in touch with the UK's BAFTA film fellowship to inquire why the late film director Irvin Kershner, the brilliant director of the critical and audience acclaimed THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and numerous other wide ranging and diverse films over a fifty year career, wasn't included in the tribute section of this years BAFTA AWARDS ceremony shown on the BBC last weekend. For him not to have been included I felt was an absolute insult, and BAFTA's excuse being a lack of time to include him was outright PATHETIC! A four to six second clip from EMPIRE and a pic of Kershner could easily have been done. And it certainly could have been done if they had restrained the verbal diarrhoea that often came out of the shows long running and highly smug TV presenter Jonathan Ross at regular intervals. Kershner's non-inclusion as director of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is bad enough, but worse when you consider what a popular and acknowledged film-maker and teacher he had been to the likes of many of the talents within the film and TV industry in general. I rate this insult to his friends and family, STAR WARS and film fans in general as bad a situation as it was a few years back for classic STAR TREK fans when the late DeForest Kelly, an actor of some repute before playing their beloved Doctor McCoy, with a list of classic noir thrillers and westerns behind him, as well as the six TREK movies released theatrically across the world, was also not deemed good enough for inclusion by the US Academy Awards fellowship! That, like BAFTA's attitude towards Kershner, is equally unforgivable.

Shame on you, BAFTA!

For more on this story, check it out with the good folk at http://www.jedinews.co.uk/

RETURN OF A COMICS LEGEND: HOWARD CHAYKIN'S "EMPIRE"!

Kudos to the team at STAR WARS INSIDER for its slightly improving issues recently. There's been a few new bits of information filtering through about the behind the scenes, attempts at a few more interviews, here and there rare or rare-ish pictures and some special commissions linked to the film series and the new CLONE WARS. Today's news that legendary comics artist Howard Chaykin has contributed a brand new cover for STAR WARS INSIDER's December issue (pictured above), is an excellent new step in the right direction. I have long been fascinated by Chaykin's art for the early STAR WARS comic adaptation, he was specially selected by Lucas due to his work on his sci-fi epic CODY STARBUCK- and gamely visualised a universe in 1976 and 1977 that was still in flux production wise. The adaptation of STAR WARS, one of the very few early clues to the public as to what the film was going to be about, may not look like the universe that was later recreated by Al Williamson and Carlos Garzon for their movie adaptations of EMPIRE and JEDI, but it has a wondrous comic book hybrid feel about it that, thirty four years on, is still ambitious and exciting to look at, and which, with its exciting style, inspired the dreams and ambitions of many young artists who would follow in Chaykin's large foot-steps.

Chaykin's original poster art which appeared at the San Diego COMIC CON in 1976

"Enter Luke Skywalker - will he save the galaxy or destroy it?" Chaykin's adapted poster, now a cover for the launch of the STAR WARS US MARVEL comic.

This new EMPIRE art, of which Chaykin has taken his cues from what he originally did for the limited edition San Diego COMIC CON poster of 1976 (which was then adapted for the cover of STAR WARS MARVEL COMIC number 1) is very nicely done, and I'm sure this issue of INSIDER, with an accompanying behind the scenes feature about Chaykin at MARVEL for STAR WARS, will be a huge success.