Chewbacca and The Legion of Superheroes

 

I remember being excited to see the Muppet Show episode where Mark Hamill and characters from Star Wars appeared.  Chewbacca appeared without his ammunition strap so he looked kind of naked to me.  Still, it's one of the best Muppets episodes - the Pigs in Space sequence in this one is a masterpiece.

Chewbacca and The Fur Force in: "Trial by Fur!"

 

It looks like the third appearance of this team will truly put its leader to the test.  Let's hope this hairy rebel has what it takes to see it through.  Chewbacca and The Fur Force last appeared as an animated series in STF #3920, and made their debut in STF #1258.

Chewbacca and The Fur Force (The Animated Series!)

 

For the return of these fur-covered crusaders, I thought that it might be interesting to see what a cartoon featuring them might be like.  I also added a new member.  

Chewbacca and The Fur Force first appeared in STF #1258...

Rocket Raccoon and Chewbacca

I 'm betting that no invitations to join Chewbacca and the Fur Force will be forthcoming after this little stunt.  In past adventures, Rocket got along better with Chewie's partner - he met Han Solo in STF #1488 and again in STF #1859, and Chewie got along better with Rocket's Partner - he met Groot in STF #1860...

Chewbacca and Iron Man

 

I was glad to use the amazing artwork of Phil Noto for this cover. His unique style always reminded me of the cool images I would see in classic advertising.  His ability to utilize such a style on the comics page makes for some gorgeous looking covers and interiors.  I was glad to get an original sketch by him several years back:

Han Solo and Guardian / Chewbacca and Sasquatch

 

Like many, I was getting a little Star Wars fatigue after the last few movies did not hit the mark.  Fortunately, The Mandalorian gets so much right about the property that it has brought me on board again.  I hope that Disney pays close attention to the positive reaction that the second season has received and uses what has been learned for the (many!) newly announced Star Wars related projects in development.  Hopefully the quality can be maintained.

Star Wars and The Justice League of America

Concluding our 4-part tale, we see that The League finally gets to meet the main players in the Rebellion.  I was the perfect age when the original Star Wars was first released - 8 years old.  I remember our parents packing all 7 of us kids plus three of our cousins into the van and going to see it while we were on vacation.  I hadn't even seen an advertisement for it so I had no idea what I was in for.  The most special effects I had seen on the big screen up to that point was Freaky Friday, so my little head just about exploded with excitement from what I was watching on screen.  in those pre-video days, it would be many years before I saw the movie again, but it was already embedded into my subconscious, I was an instant fan of the world George Lucas created.

Batman meets Han Solo & Chewbacca

Star Wars: The Last Jedi seemed to divide fans and critics, and I would have to say that my opinion falls somewhere in the middle.  My main issue was that the film felt bloated with some unnecessary elements.  The whole Finn/Rose/DJ subplot at the Casino did not work for me and I feel could easily have been jettisoned.  I think that the actions of Laura Dern's Holdo character should have been given to Admiral Ackbar, he deserved much better than what he got.  While I wish Luke was more proactive, old Jedis becoming hermit loners is in keeping for the series so far.  I did like the performances and action sequences (and yes, the Porgs) quite a bit, and I liked Leia's force moment more than most seem to.  Hopefully in the next installment the last remaining heroes from the original trilogy - Chewie and the Droids - get a lot more to do.

Chewbacca and Groot

Continued from yesterday's cover, we see that Han & Rocket's partners have been having an adventure of their own...

Now that Han Solo is gone. I hope that Chewbacca will still be featured prominently in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and beyond.  With the passing of Carrie Fisher, we don't have much of the original cast left, and while I like all the new characters, I still get a thrill out of seeing the classic heroes in action.

Han Solo and Star Trek

Filming on the Han Solo film has begun.  I still think it's a tall order to try and recapture Harrison Ford's iconic character with a new actor in the role, but after being so pleasantly surprised with Rogue One, I am willing to keep an open mind.

Kirk probably still has a grudge against Solo after how their partnership ended... and Chewbacca will continue to get involved with The Federation right into the Next Generation...

Chewbacca and the Fur Force

It's going to be great to finally see Chewbacca in action again on the big screen.  I didn't realize until I saw the teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens that Wookies had such longevity - he seems so be holding up pretty well!.  I'm glad that it will still be Peter Mayhew underneath the makeup all these years later.  Hopefully Chewbacca will be a part of the young Han Solo movie that is being developed as well.

The Hulk on Hoth

Wondering where The Hulk flew off to after Avengers: Age of Ultron?  Well, here you go!

The sequel that I have always wanted but never expected to actually see is a thing of reality, and I can't wait to take it in this December.  The teasers for Star Wars, The Force Awakens thus far have shown me precious little of what I really want to see - Luke, Leia, Han and Chewie... but what they have shown has been enough to ramp up my enthusiasm.  I realize that this new trilogy will be about passing the torch to a younger group of protagonists, but I hope that at least for this first installment, the classic Star Wars heroes will be front and center.

The Beast and Chewbacca

I was eight years old when Star Wars came out, so I was the perfect age to be completely blown away by the franchise.  I remember being very excited that The Muppet Show was going to have a special Star-Wars themed show featuring Luke Skywalker, C3PO, R2D2 and Chewbacca. Of course, this was pre-VHS, so I recorded the episode on cassette tape and listened to it over and over.  Decades later, I finally got a copy of the episode on DVD, and it was a blast to finally see it again.  One thing stood out to me, though - to make Chewbacca a little more kid-friendly, he wasn't wearing his trademark ammunition bandoleer.  It just seemed wrong to me, he looked naked without it!

Green Arrow and Han Solo

It's going to be very interesting to see what is in store for Han Solo and Chewbacca in the upcoming Star Wars Episode 7.  It should be cool to see Harrison Ford inhabit the role again, and I have confidence that Director JJ Abrams and writer Michael Arndt will do the character justice.  The producers have announced a young Han Solo spin-off film as well, and that's going to be a tough film to make.  Will they be able to find an actor who can pull off the role that Ford originated?  Comparisons will be inevitable and it's going to be tough to get audiences to accept a new face behind the character.

Man-Thing in Dagobah

Like most Star Wars fans, I am looking forward to the new films and having old favorites like Han Solo and Luke Skywalker back up one the big screen.  I know that decades have passed and age is a factor, but I still would prefer a script set around the original characters than one where new characters dominate the action.  Fortunately, the non-Human characters like Chewbacca and the Droids are much easier to bring back, so I hope that means we can count on them getting a lot of screen time.  Sure, they may have to add some wisps of grey to Chewie's coat and explain how a couple of robots built with 60 year old technology would still be able to keep up, but that's no reason for them not to have their moment in the spotlight again!

Chewbacca Joins Star Trek: The Next Generation

It's nice to see the two big science fiction franchises still going strong.  We should be seeing a trailer for the next Star Trek film soon, and I am looking forward to it since I quite enjoyed the first outing by JJ Abrams and the new crew.  Star Wars is set to explode again, now that it is under the control of Diseny.  The two bits that I have heard confirmed regarding Episode 7 - that it will be written by Toy Story 3's Michael Arndt and that it will feature Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher - have me very interested.  Hopefully the visions of Jar Jar and a 10 year old Darth Vader saying, "Yipppeeee!" will fade away for good now.

The Thing and Han Solo

Ah, Han Solo - one of the greatest characters ever created for the screen. The prequel trilogy for Star Wars certainly had it's share of problems which have been discussed over and over, but one thing I don't hear people bring up is the absence of a lovable rogue type character. Harrison Ford played the part so well in the original films and he brought a much needed humanity to them. Here was a character who could play the skeptic and say a lot of the things the audience was thinking. You have to love Chewbacca, too. My eight year old eyes thought he was about the coolest thing ever when I first saw the film... although I still wonder how the heck a mercenary like Solo had the patience to learn the Wookie language!