Skeleton Crew. I really enjoyed this one. I thought this show about four kids getting lost in the Star Wars galaxy would be a bit kiddie, and it’s certainly appropriate for the whole family, but I was surprised by how much I liked it. It did take a few episodes to pull me in all the way, but once I was invested, I was all in.

The 80’s kids-on-bikes-having-adventures vibe made it fun, and although suburban Star Wars felt a bit jarring, it soon fell into classic Star Wars mode, with lots of cool aliens, pirates, and space action. The whole mystery surrounding At-Attin was cool, the kids were great, and Jude Law as Jod was fantastic. It wasn’t my favorite live-action show, but it was certainly enjoyable and I’m all for a Season 2, if it happens.

Last Shot, by Daniel Jose Older. I tried reading this book back when it first came out (it was one of the first crop of canon books that came out), but after a few chapters, I just couldn’t go on. This writer is terrible, I thought. I have no idea what’s going on. And I was sad, because I really wanted a Han and Lando adventure to enjoy. So I thought maybe I’d try again someday and I’m glad I waited this long, as I’m 1.) more familiar with Daniel Jose Older’s style from the High Republic, and 2.) more familiar with some other canon lore that is subtly referenced in the book, such as the Aftermath Trilogy, and the movie Solo (I hadn’t seen it yet). So, this time when I picked it up, it was much easier to get into and enjoy.

That’s not to say it was a great book, but it was fairly enjoyable. It takes place a few years after ROTJ, as Ben Solo is two years old at the time. Han feels distinctly out of place as a husband and father, so when Lando comes around demanding he help him with something, he’s ready to go. That something is finding out where the Phylanx Redux Transmitter is, as Lando had been attacked by a droid-like being who demanded he find it. See, the last person who had seen it was the owner of the Millenium Falcon, and this person thought it was Lando. But guess who it really was? And what, exactly, is a Phylanx Redux Transmitter? They don’t really know, but they figure they better find it.

So then we go back fifteen years when Lando and L-3 still have the Falcon and L-3 drags Lando on some secretive mission involving droids; then we go back ten years when Han, Chewie and Sanna Starros (I’m still a little fuzzy on who she is, but Leia had referred to her as Han’s “other wife.” Okay.) are on Takodana and Sanna convinces Han to help her with some score, going after a device that is very valuable to many different people. Then we go back twenty years to Utupau, where a doctor there is kidnapped by thugs, his friend is killed by other thugs along with many others, but there are plenty of droids around. He’s so traumatized that he decides droids are the superior beings, and outfits them with the limbs of dead people.

Confused yet? Yeah, me too, but I was determined to make it through this book. It shuffled between all these timelines, and we finally figure out the Phylanx is a device created by that Utupaun doctor that, once activated, will cause all the droids in the galaxy to turn on their masters. Yikes!

This book was sloppy, confusing, and I’m still not fond of Jose Older’s writing style (his HR books are usually my least favorite). BUT–I did like the banter between Han and Lando, seeing L-3 again, seeing little Ben Solo, and seeing Lando fall in love with a Twilek woman named Kaasha Bateeen. I’m assuming this is the mother of Lando’s child who got kidnapped, presumably by the First Order when she’s two years old (who we learn about in the book Shadow of the Sith). So ultimately, I am glad I read this book, but it’s easier to read if you’re familiar with other canon material.

Announcement: A Bad Batch Novel coming in August 2025!

I’m super-excited about this news, as some of you know I’m a huge Bad Batch fan. There are some upcoming comics with the BB (“Ghost Agent,” a Clone Wars mission story) but as I’m more of a book person, this is great news. Here’s the synopsis:

Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, and Omega gamble on a mission to help rebuild Pabu in this thrilling adventure for The Bad Batch.

A good soldier knows that life is all about change — whether it’s on or off the battlefield. Surviving, living, means adaptation. Hunter is well acquainted with this lesson. He’s on the run from the Empire, Echo’s off on a mission with Captain Rex, and Crosshair is . . . still Crosshair, but amidst all the change, Hunter still has Tech, Wrecker, and Omega.

And it seems that his small family might have finally found a safe place to land, far from the increasingly vigilant eyes of the Empire: Pabu. But their potential new island home is in desperate need of resources if there is any hope for the fledgling community to recover from a devastating sea wave. That’s where Phee Genoa, self-proclaimed liberator of treasures, comes in, with a couple of jobs she swears will get them the funds they need. Despite Hunter’s concern with Phee’s precarious plans, the rest of the crew is fine following her lead.

Things go wrong almost immediately, as Phee’s droid blows the crew’s cover at a high-stakes auction, and they barely make it out with the relic they’d been paid to acquire. Hunter insists they finish their first mission and deliver the relic before taking on more work, but Phee and the others push forward with a second job: ferrying a couple on the run, one of whom is due to give birth at any moment. Hunter worries what they’re risking, especially when their mysterious new passengers cling to lies and secrets that trace back to an Imperial Security Bureau officer hot on their trail.

As Hunter tries to get the crew back on a stable, safe path far, far away from anything to do with the Empire’s watchdogs, their overlapping missions only invite more danger and chaos. On the verge of failing both their desperate passengers and their community on Pabu, the Batch must remember that the only way they succeed, the only way they survive to fight another day, is by trusting each other.

I was kind of hoping for a post-finale story, but I’ll take this, as at least we have Tech back (and I’m hoping for a bit of Tech/Phee flirtation, lol). The drawback is no Echo or Crosshair. Also, I have to wait until August to read it. 😦 But I’m very happy it’s on the Star Wars book horizon.

So I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been getting back into drawing and practicing portraits, mostly because I want to draw Star Wars characters. I’ve made some progress, though I have a long way to go. I do like this Obi-Wan Kenobi drawing I did a little while ago:

Yes, the top of his head is not there, lol, as the photo reference cut it off and I didn’t dare fill it in at the time. And yes, that’s an envelope at the top covering up some comments for improvement I made. But otherwise, I like it. I drew a lot of other SW live-action characters, but I’m not particularly happy with them; I need to improve a bit before I share them.

However, I have been drawing some Bad Batch characters, as they’re animated and already 2D, so I thought I’d have an easier time with them. I wouldn’t say they were easier, but they did come out better than the live-action characters. Here’s what I have so far:

I’m happy with these. Omega is up next, as well as Wrecker and Echo. I’ll share those next month.

Lastly, here are some non-Star Wars books I’ve enjoyed lately:

• Wool, by Hugh Howey.
• The End of Men, by Christina Sweeney-Baird.
• Future Home of the Living God, by Louise Erdrich.

That’s it this month. What’s been entertaining you? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it!