Star Wars - Buum style 1st Appearances

Greetings Barragers,

This go round I wanted to talk a bit about some of my favorite Star Wars characters that don't get a ton of love. I feel any of the toons I'm going to speak about could be the next big focus of the lucasverse. I am so sick of Vader and Luke stories. It only got worse with the Crylo Ren stuff. Now that the High Republic Canon is considered to be in place, ol dumpster fire Disney will dive back into dragging out that horrible Ren / Rey subject matter. I mean they literally have a galaxy full of force sensitive entities, let's expand already.

With that said, it's up to Lucas and clan to release that grip on what's possible. There are so many fan creations that would make valid and meaningful additions to the already established Canon. Like it or not fans have the powah to fight back against Disney slopping up their additions to Star Wars lore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqKB4mh3A7o

What is 'Canon' you ask?
Official Continuity : Canon is everything Lucasfilm Story Group deems true and consistent within the universe.

So forgive me for that tirade but I clearly needed to vent some frustrations. Don't get me wrong some recent years stuff has been awesome, for instance, the Clones Wars animated series, The Mandalorian, and Book of Boba were all dope. Provided they off'd one of my top 5 favorite characters when they killed Cad Bane. Galaxy of Heroes, Bounty Hunter Team was always my grind. Cad Bane, Greedo, IG-88, Boba, Zam team is what got me hooked on him.

We as the fans just need to make our opinions heard so those taking our money can at least weight in our side when they go to brain storm new content.

SO to clarify this post isn't about what could be but what's already been told and not talked about enough. So let's dive right in and do some splain'in.

1) Cal Kestis

If anyone has played the "Fallen Empire" games then you have to be a fan of Cal. If anything I know you love BD-1 at least. The act of playing a full walk through of a Jedi character as he marches down a path to redemption is fricken amazing when it's done right. Not only was the character likable and the stories plot very well thought out, you got to choose custom force options as you progressed. You can't help but build a strong connection to a character when it feels your decisions and control are what turned the tide for them. Everything about Cal just draws you into his character, thus an easy candidate to champion a new direction with the franchise. Yes we know how much Disney and Lucas love Vader and frens. Cal's story is that of a padawan that escaped Order-66 and was in hiding before we step in and accompany him as he grows in the force. It's like a Luke 2.0 story where they still get to cameo Vader with the added bonus of fighting some Inquisitors.

The odd thing about Cal is he has no true 1st appearance in a comic book, given there was a 5 issue min-series that included almost all the main supporting characters from the games but not him? He gets named in issue 5 but does not appear.

This screams for a new line of his own comic or a television series. We know he exists and he's written into Canon so it's just a matter of time before he gets his time in the spotlight.

2) Galen Marek AKA 'Starkiller'

That's right I'm pulling a double whammy and calling out two characters from hit video games. Same as when you read a long book or watch a 3 movie trilogy, you can't help but become a fan for the characters as you adventure along side of them. Now add in the ability to be in control of those epic scenes that leave you in awe. Those 500 presses of the square button to pull down a giant star destroyer from the sky with the force and you'll be hooked for life. Fricken epic. Now let's take into account who Starkiller actually is.

So Starkiller was a force sensitive child that was discovered by Vader, who he then took in and trained in the dark side of the force. This was one of the many secrets Vader kept from Sidious, as you can read more about in the "Empire" series of comics. Many of his secrets were related to Vader's unyielding drive to hunt Jedi (Which Palpatine always chastised him for given Vader's blind hatred would lead him to making mistakes). So Galen was Vader's top secret weapon that he would deploy in his place. You kinda smelling what I'm stepping here? This was just after Order-66... A few more thoughts on Galen and I'll elaborate.

Starkiller ultimately turns to the light side of the force and defeats Vader in battle, then turns and goes one on one with Palpatine and bests even him. I mean NUFF SAID right? So spoiler lol, Galen dies but saves and ultimately motivates the OG's of the rebellion. He's such a huge character that the iconic emblem of the Republic was based on his family crest! I mean family crests come from someplace to boot but the use of his family emblem was embraced because of his sacrifice.

"By some accounts, the Alliance Starbird had been taken from the seal of the Old Republic. And indeed, a similar winged seal had been used by the Republic at the time of the Great Galactic War. However, the Alliance to Restore the Republic adopted the symbol from the family crest of the Marek family in honor of Galen Marek, Darth Vader's former apprentice, who sacrificed himself protecting the founders of the Alliance."
REF: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Alliance_Starbird

I mean if that doesn't get you hype for a character I don't know what would.

So Galens death came at the end of the first force unleashed game. Vader tried creating better clones of Galen and thus the basis of the force unleashed 2. Ok here's where I hypothesize a bit given FU2 had a light side and a dark side ending that colors which side of the force this clone continues to exists as. Because of this they say FU1 is Canon, but FU2 is not given the variability. BUT, either way I see it as the light side wins in the normal version of the game and lands us in a perfect place of the Canon timeline for a Starkiller and Cal Kestis duo. How fricken epic would that be.

Starkiller has a first appearance in a Dark Horse era TPB. I can't believe this guy hasn't become the new face of Star Wars. As ranted about an easter egg appeared in the Andor tv series, they have already given the head nod that the cloned version of Galen exists.

Sadly that's the Sith outfit he wore in FU2 so maybe the underwhelming evil nature of Crylo Ren AND Smilo Ren, they need a new bad boy. Time will tell one way or the other but he will show up. There is a FU2 TPB as well, so nab them both.

3) Zayne Carrick

What can I say about Zayne other than he's the main star among many in the Knights of the Old Republic series. It ran 50 issues and begins with him taking the blame for the deaths of his class of padawans. And it a fast action cat and mouse as Zayne and frens go through all the twists and turns to clear his name and then on to other adventures of course. The dope part about Zayne is he's a complete underdog. He's always being told by his 'Master' that he's weak and should give up. Kinda foreshadows some stuff about his Master huh. But he over comes his obstacles time and time again. His existence in comic books gets over shadowed by Darth Malak and Revan given they fall into this time frame. Zayne is that character you just wanna root for. He's kinda nerdy and running around with a hot chick, so we totes gotta pull for him to find love as well. :) There is so much of the iconic Old Republic lore that Zayne was apart of, his retelling via a series or even an Old Republic movie would lay the ground work for so many big events that would be box office gold.

Sadly you gotta look around to try and even spot where he makes his first appearance. Key Collect doesn't even list his name as a search option... For shame! Zaynes first appearance is in 'Knights of the Old Republic #1', yes I hear you issue 0 comes before 1 but it wasn't released until around issue 3 of the series. It looks to JUST edge out issue 3 in terms of release date since issue 0 is marked as the first cover appearance of Jareal (that waifu we hope Zayne wins over) and her actual first appearance is in issue 3 itself. Which she is on the cover of as well. Both show a published date of MAR 2006, with issue 1 coming out in JAN 2006.

The OMNIBUS can confuse you since it reads logically, but looking at the issue break down it clearly shows issue 0 was released after issue #1. Issue #1 even has a big intro esk splash page for Zayne like it was totally meant to be his first app. I think that 'crossroads' issue was them trimming down issue 1 then realizing it left a critical gap readers needed to be properly introduced to the main characters.

4) Dass Jennir

If there was ever a character to portray an old west Americana style cowboy. This is your guy with an added bonus of being a Jedi knight. He was actually a well respected General, but I guess we see from the Clone Wars series Jedi Generals weren't all that uncommon. Anyway Dass has already of age, IE a full Jedi, at the time of Order-66 being enacted. He escaped the purge in an odd way while fighting some enemies on a distant planet. As fate would have it he learns those enemies really weren't so bad and befriends them. Then it's off to the races as he learns that the Jedi have been wiped out and some how finds his way into leading a rebellion. His story is interesting because he finds himself having to make decisions that aren't very Jedi like, then struggles with his actions afterwards. Dass slowly starts to realize that the only way to deal with messed up baddies is to use messed up tactics. Truly a Wild West tale they could win readers over with on the big screen.

They could easily pick up with Dass being an older Yoda esk style teacher that's still around given his last appearance in the comics left his future up in the air. We fast forward a bit to catch up to the Ren / Rey time frame, let them vanish to the outer rim to make force babies in peace. With those 2 out of the way enter Dass, Cal and Starkiller v2, and they go all HAM and wreck the empire. BUUM.

The first appearance of Dass came by way of Republic issue #79. Key Collector shows it as his first but CLZ does not.

My goal here is to show they have numerous avenues they could take the Star Wars story telling. More so these characters have big roles in stories that have already been told and some exist in a time table they can literally use with Skywalker related stories. Baby steps...

5) Satele Shan

You know there had to be a best for last, and its a female Jedi. And guess what, it was from playing The Old Republic (SWTOR) video game! Once again video games are kinda like those choose your own adventure books from back in the day. Having an ability to interact with your story draws you in so much more. Enter Satele, a direct descendant from the Revan lineage. There are actually multiple Shan members with their own stories but Satele stands out to me. Satele fought in some of the biggest battles from the Old Republic era and was a beast given her bane was always Darth Malgus. She rose up through the Jedi ranks to become the Grand Master of the Jedi Order. Funny enough this put her into a position to lead a war against the 'Order of Revan'. Full circle stuff right.

It's just odd to me that you have women Jedi like Satele and they choose to make movies about some weak droid engineer. For some reason the most notable mention female Jedi is the Gremlin Yaddle and Rey is just a skinny kid with an accent. I'm sorry but if you want nerdy male support for a female fighter type, she has to be pretty hot. Even better she was a saber staff welder. I totally got some Bruce Leeroy vibes when "she stopped ... a light saber... with her hand... Jedi please...".

If you didn't play the game, there is a 6 issue min-series of The Old Republic that looks to precede the story and launch of the video game. I'm missing issue 4 and I refuse to read anything without a full run. :) But Satele's first appearance is in the first issue. If you really want a rare issue pick up the 1:5 variant. I think it's the better cover choice period.

This was only 5 characters out of an expanse of many that you may be pretty familiar with or may never have heard of. Whatever the case they aren't getting the love they deserve from the people who own their IP. At some point in the very near future all these stories will have to be recognized or the fans will step in. It's not that far out that AI will just be told to take all this old lore and make a movie, make a series and poof. Before we know it all these lost or little known tales will be full blown productions over night. That's literally where AI video generation is headed. Even better we will be able to create our own universes when the ones that already exist fail to entertain us.

Best wishes y'all, until the next one.

Respectfully,

DD