It seems like whenever I go to visit my grandfather, the now ancient Lawrence Welk show is on. This is my story…
– This is not an official LEGO comic. This is a tribute.
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WWW.SPACETHECOMIC.COM
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It seems like whenever I go to visit my grandfather, the now ancient Lawrence Welk show is on. This is my story…
– This is not an official LEGO comic. This is a tribute.
—–
WWW.SPACETHECOMIC.COM
Follow Space: The Comic on TWITTER and FACEBOOK .
I keep starting novels and short stories starring the characters of SPACE: The Comic and never finishing them. It’s still a goal of mine, but the comic itself always ends up taking up most of my free time for creative endeavors. Nevertheless, I thought I would post some excerpts here over the course of the next handful of comics for you to enjoy/critique. Keep in mind that these are all early drafts and not completely fleshed out, but I would enjoy hearing your thoughts.
Today’s excerpt is from the start of a story I wrote retelling one of the comic’s earliest adventures, “Icy Relations.” It would have been the second Space Audiobook, has that project continued. This is actually as far as I got with it, but I would like to continue with it at some point:
Commander Schwartz had just fallen asleep in the comfy lawn chair he had placed in the snow when a command burst rudely into his helmet: “Get to the ships! Now! They’ve lost their minds!”
Schwartz popped up in the chair like a piece of toast and hurriedly glanced at the frozen mesas around him. His heart repeatedly punched his chest from the inside. Seconds ago, he had been on a beach in Maui devouring a cheddar cheese crab cake. Jolted out of that dream, he was suddenly faced with icy wind howling against his armored spacesuit’s helmet as it kicked up plumes of snow around him. Through hazy eyes, Schwartz spotted three nearly identical mountain peaks poking up in the distance beyond the white windstorm and his addled brain clicked into place; he was on the ice world Crystal, a planet stuck in an eternal snow-day.
There had been a frantic voice yelling at him in his head. Had it been part of the dream? No, no; it more likely had come through his helmet’s communications system, Schwartz figured, his senses returning. There had been someone there with him… Galanos! Commander Mikey Galanos. The pieces of the last few hours reassembled themselves as Schwartz settled back into reality. Galanos had set off across the frozen valley on an anti-grav ice-sled two, maybe three, hours before. Schwartz had cataloged the music files in his ship’s stereo system and then kicked back for a nap, awaiting his friend and colleague’s return. Next thing he knew, Galanos was yelling at him to prepare for immediate take-off. What had gone wrong?
Schwartz squinted as he stared across the valley in the direction Galanos had left, his eyes slowly adjusting to the glare of the sun bouncing off the ice. It was mid-day, and the glare was so strong that it even penetrated the midnight-dark visor of his helmet. The wind died down for a moment and the swirling snow began to disperse.
– This is not an official LEGO comic. This is a tribute. Nor is it related to Best-Lock.
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WWW.SPACETHECOMIC.COM
Follow Space: The Comic on TWITTER and FACEBOOK.
During the comic’s long hiatus, Star Wars returned and broke my heart.
Don’t get me wrong, what Disney and J.J. Abrams accomplished with “The Force Awakens” was a major achievement. They managed to produce a Star Wars movie that captured the fun and spirit of the Original Trilogy, and created a new set of characters that we actually cared about and couldn’t wait to see more of in future films. I thought the movie had a few flaws, such as a puzzling, almost carbon-copy of the finale of “A New Hope,” but I could live with those.
What I couldn’t live with was *SPOILERS* the death of Han Solo and the way in which it happened. That moment just sucked the wind out of the theater for me. And I had already spent the whole film dreading it would happen, since I knew of Harrison Ford’s unfulfilled desire to kill Han in “Return of the Jedi,” and the fact that a shocked man about my age had wandered forlornly out of the showing before mine saying he was still “processing” what he had seen. I was pretty sure I knew what that meant.
I think if Han had heroically sacrificed himself and the Falcon to destroy Starkiller Base after the Resistance attack failed, I would have been pretty satisfied with that. But the way it did happen… the moment he walked onto that bridge, you knew he was doomed. I appreciate that he was willing to risk everything to try and save his son, but the way he attempted it was so suicidal, not really in-character for Han. It was telegraphed, by-the-numbers and – yes, I get that he had to die that way to further Kylo’s story – but I just hated it. To make it worse, could Leia (God bless Carrie Fisher.) have poured on the guilt trip on Han any thicker? “You HAVE to save our son.” This is one of those cases where I feel like J.J. Abrams lacks a little something in his storytelling pertaining to characters and satisfying resolution. Worst of all is that we’ll NEVER see the onscreen reunion of Han, Luke and Leia.
But anyway, Han was dead and I had to live with it. The hero of my youth, my favorite Star Wars character, was Obi-Wan-Kenobied. It bothered me enough that I couldn’t even watch “The Force Awakens” again until a couple of months ago. It took me that long to process Han’s fate. It doesn’t bother me as much now – I’ve moved onto the acceptance stage, I guess – and I enjoyed the film a lot more than I did the first time.
However, I still needed some catharsis, and this comic was my way to do it. If your feelings about Han Solo’s end are anything like mine, I hope this gave you a smile, too.
Anyway, “The Last Jedi” is out THIS WEEK, and I know I can’t wait! 🙂
— This is not an official LEGO comic. This is a tribute.
WWW.SPACETHECOMIC.COM
Follow Space: The Comic on TWITTER and FACEBOOK .