Happy New STAR WARS Year 2015!

...it will be a year long remembered - I promise ;-) I know ´The Force Awakens´ will be a blast! (You hear me J.J. ? - don´t screw it !)  Well, and if you then think about the whole spin-off plan from Disney...the STAR WARS movie future looks bright - so will hopefully the magazine side. Stay tuned!

2014 ends...

with a partial cover at ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY! 
You can´t ask for more - STAR WARS back again at EW! They already had so many great STAR WARS covers in the past - 
I´m sure this is just the beginning for 2015! My bet for the STAR WARS year: 5 covers fetauring our beloved saga! Wanna bet ?

STAR WARS: The Force Awakens

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the title of the J.J. Abrams-directed film, Disney announced Thursday. The studio also confirmed that it had wrapped principal photography, which had been widely reported over the weekend. Can´t wait until Dec 18th, 2015!

The Digital Realm

People who  know me, are well aware of my digital lifestyle and my interest in all things IT. Funny though, when it comes to magazines I´m all ANALOG! I do get all my news via the web - who doesn´t - but when is comes to collecting magazines I´m ALL OLD SCHOOL!
But - let´s face it - it won´t take long and the magazines as we love them, will have gone extinct :-(
Year after year we loose another magazine and the whole market is becoming smaller and smaller, which is a pretty sad development. I see the chances - of course - as well (cutting printing costs, distribution etc. etc. ) BUT still - I don´t like it...
Enough complaining - there is good within the digital publishing world as well and one of those things is ISSUU. I have just learned, that there is a digital only STAR WARS magazine called THE EMPIRE!
In their own words:

The EMPIRE monthly is the official web-magazine of the 501st Legion Russian Outpost. The 501st Legion is a worldwide Star Wars costuming organization comprised of and operated by Star Wars fans. While it is not sponsored by Lucasfilm Ltd., it is Lucasfilm's preferred Imperial costuming group.

It´s a fan magazine covering the activities of the 501s and it looks promising - you can check it out here:

And now that I have lured you to ISSUU, you should try to run the term STAR WARS through their digital library, or you just click here - there you go - lots of new and old mags and books (though I do have my concerns about the copyright situation for some publications. Anyway - enjoy! 

Happy New Year 2013!

To all my readers, followers and fellow magazine collectors: Happy new year, again! As always I promise to post more stuff, but - well - wait a second, that is exactly the same phrase from last year ;-) Well, it´s just because nothing has changed...

Except that we have a new COUNTDOWN for STAR WARS episode VII!!!!!! Just when you thought, magazine collecting becomes boring, STAR WARS is back in full swing. I´m really exited about this!!!

Don´t forget:  I´m always in magazine collecting mode. Just drop me a mail for news and infos... 

 Stay hungry. Stay foolish - as a well known genius used to say. Missing you, Steve

It will be a day long remembered...

You´ve heard or read it probably everywhere, but this is just too good to be not posted again...

George, thanks for all and congratulations for this DEAL OF A LIFETIME! I have a pretty good feeling about this. Disney will make sure, that STAR WARS will be HUGE again! I can´t wait until 2015 and enjoy EPISODE VII.
After all this years, we will finally enjoy the third trilogy of STAR WARS. And what a clever move George did by selling the complete Lucas empire to Disney !? It surely is in good hands and will live there forever - well, at least for my lifespan and the one of my family.

            May the force be with you - always!

Happy New Year 2012!

To all my readers, followers and fellow magazine collectors: Happy new year, guys! As always I promise to post more stuff, but - well - you know there is soooo little time ;-)
Anyhow - if there is a lack of most current coverage here, you can be sure I´m always in magazine collecting mode. Just drop me a mail for news and infos...

a storm is coming...

Well, it seems like a slow year for STAR WARS mags, but I´m pretty confident, that the second half of 2011 will turn out to be more SW magazine friendly. After all the release of STAR WARS on blu ray is imminent and so the entertainment magazines will run - hopefully - some nice feature stories about the Complete Saga Blu Ray Box.
My guess for the second half is that we will get at least one cover at ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY (you hear me guys ?!) and some more on DVD oriented mags.

Ok fans in USA, Japan, UK, Poland, Russia, China or wherever you live - don´t forget to report any sightings!!!!

Talking about the blu ray release - THIS sounds like a pretty neat project ;-)

I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE OF STAR WARS COMICS! - It´s name: CHRIS SCALF

DARK HORSE
STAR WARS - PURGE

Gee Whiz - after checking out the artwork of DARK HORSE - PURGE I can only say one thing: OUTSTANDING! I ´m a reader of SW comics - well, since forever (!) - and I really enjoy all kind of styles. But this one - you have to see it for yourself! Imagine a STAR WARS comic where each and every panel is just like a painting! That´s exactly what PURGE is - a comic were all panels are a painting with a very dark and very cool Darth Vader story. The artist behind all this: CHRIS SCALF. Never heard of him ? Me too, but this will change!
Chris seems to be one of those best kept secrets, as he is around as an artist and designer for about 20 years! But it took these nice guys at DARK HORSE to draw him to the world of STAR WARS - and he delivers! Ok, now give this guy a contract and let him tell us new stories ASAP - I can´t wait for the next one!

Speaking of great comic artists: Dough Weatley and Jan Duursema used to be my favourites for years BUT there is a new contender! And a very welcome one!

If you want to now more - check out his website!

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK - 30th Anniversary

Let´s celebrate the best STAR WARS movie EVER in style! TESB turns 30ty this year - boy, as time goes by. I don´t know how YOU will celebrate this event, but the new Lucasfilm Logo for this event is certainly a very good start - I LOVE THE ARTWORK! Well done folks!

Happy new Year 2010!

Well, don´t say I´m lazy - I know that already...

STAR WARS in Concert

The STAR WARS music was and always will be my first and most memorable experience of classic music. Not only opened it my (young) mind back in 1977, it also stayed with me, due to the artistry of John Williams and all those other classic soundtrack composers (Jerry Goldsmith, Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestry - you name it!). So the STAR WARS concert idea was a no brainer, though it took more than 30 years to come up with ;-) Well, basically it´s more a multi media live show, but the concept with Anthony Daniels hosting it, the great performance of the orchestra conducted by Dirk Brosse and the visuals as a welcomed eye candy, well it worked very well! I visited the concert in Atlanta, Ga November 3rd and thanks to my pal Carsten (who invited me ;-) ) - we had a great STAR WARS evening. The exhibition, which accompanied the show in the foyer wasn´t that special (well, at least if you were at one of those ´other´ real STAR WARS exhibitions at the Smithsonian for example), but added a nice touch. Way more small children attended the show, so it really was a family event for the youglings and their parents. I doubt the kids really enjoyed the concert (especially considering the length of 2 hours) - but that is something every parents should think about BEFORE I buy the tickets ;-)
We had a great time - too bad John Williams itself wouldn´t conduct his own masterpieces. Would I recommend it - absolutely! Go see it!
http://www.starwarsinconcert.com/

UPDATE: Found a spot on review about a European SW in concert show on the web. Matt really nails it - excellent read!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I case you haven´t heard of: INDIANA JONES IS BACK!
Yeah and like all those STAR WARS nerds I am a INDY fan as well - not like STAR WARS, but... you know - a little magazine here, some cool books there and voila: There is a small collection ;-)
Anyhow, I won´t shift the focus here, but I´m sure there are a few of you, who might enjoy some INDIANA JONES magazine covers as well. So stay tuned and I will surprise you with my 2008 collection, when the hype is over (approx. in September). In the meantime - enjoy the RETURN of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones!
Thanks Steven and George!

New year, new motivation!

Well, sorry folks - but I got a little bit lazy the last few months (should I say year ?!) The 30th STAR WARS anniversary year wasn´t too bad actually, but then again there was so much going on needing my whole attention. Anyway, I try to relive the site and maybe you guys help me a little...
With Indy coming back this year, I will certainly extend my coverage with some INDIANA JONES covers as well. Spread the news!!!

STAR WARS celebrates it´s 30th Anniversary

Ok, ok - that´s obviously something you did know already, but... anyhow - I think it´s worth mentioning here! 30rty years! Boy, I JUST WENT TO THE CINEMA TO WATCH ´A NEW HOPE´ and now??? 3 decades of pure space opera fun - thank you George! And time is running ... Jubiliees are always good! I hope the publishing world will honor this outstanding anniversary with loads of new saga coverage! After a very quiet 4th quarter in 2006 my expectitions are a lot higher for this year. Let´s see...

STAR WARS L´EXPO IN FRANCE

I recently visited the STAR WARS exposition in Paris and I had a pretty good time! They had a lot of original probs on display and covered all six movies. It´s nothings you might haven´t seen at other STAR WARS expos (if you ever attented one) but the set up and the way everything was on display was very nice. So IF you are in Europe, make sure to stop by (show runs until August 27th) - so better hurry. By the way, when you are in Paris, they have a small tower right in the middle of the city, worth visiting as well ;-)