Sorry, I couldn't resist the Jurassic Park reference.

This blog is somewhat of a complementary feature to the mighty Dan Wallace's HoloNet News: The Annotated Edition blog so be sure to check that out as well.

Originally, HoloNet News began as an Expanded Universe news feed in early 2002 that worked as a lead in to the events of the yet to be released new Star Wars film, Attack of the Clones. The website (which can still be viewed here or, for those of you with a PC, archived on the secondary supplemental disc of the AotC DVD) updated weekly from February until the May release week of the film and was designed to be an entertaining and immersive online experience for both the curious film fan and even hardcore Star Wars fans. It was an exciting high point of my Star Wars illustration career collaborating with the Lucasfilm Online team of Paul Ens and Pablo Hidalgo and taking part in helping shape the backstory of the second prequel through my artwork.

The following year, HoloNet News returned, but in the pages of Star Wars Insider (running from issue #63 to #76 from Paizo Publishing) written again by Pablo Hidalgo with artwork by yours truly (though I actually returned to illustrating it in #64). HNN was a multi-purpose feature that, besides the earlier incarnation's primary goal to build up hype and offer clues in regards to a new, upcoming Star Wars prequel, also became what Pablo lovingly coined as 'continuity spackle'. It filled in the gaps of Star Wars history and timeline questions and also worked to 'retcon' specific hiccups and potholes caused by (but not limited to) pre-prequel published material or even the Expanded Universe contradictions in the films themselves.

This week, HoloNet News has returned to the pages of Star Wars Inisder #84 (written by both Pablo Hidalgo and Dan Wallace) as the "Official Inaugral Edition" with the feature focusing on the days immediately following the events in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and offering fans further insight on how their favorite galaxy far, far away took shape under the reign of a newly formed Empire.

In his latest blog Dan has mentioned some of his "easter eggs" in the text so I thought I'd uncover a few of my own in my artwork for you here.

- The artwork for the COMPNOR article features a young Ishin Il-Raz on the large vid-screen, a character I actually illustrated before as a much older Imperial for Star Wars Insider #64's "Grand Admirals of the Empire" article written by Dan Wallace and Abel Pena. In both instances I used the same model for the character, Mikael Dais, who is a regular contributer for the Official German Star Wars Fan Club magazine.

- For the article "63 Senators Arrested in Collusion with Jedi Insurgency" I illustrated my friend and Boston Rebels FanForce member Roseanna Chickos as Senator Shea Sadashassa. It was honestly meant to be a surprise but since I completed this artwork weeks ago I just couldn't wait to let her in on the secret so I showed it to her early. Her friends and family should still get a kick out of it though.

Though she was ecstatic that I immortalized her as a Star Wars character she was a little upset to learn of her fate as an Imperial captive. Still, she's convinced her character will not be incarcerated by the Empire for long and will be rescued by Bail Organa and members of the Rebellion. Good luck with that, Roseanna!

- The Jedi Fugitives article features two particular Jedi who should already be familiar to Expanded Universe fans. My good buddy Justin who is the webmaster and creator of WorldFamousComics.com and ComicsCommunity.com is featured in HNN again as the elusive Kai Justiss (for more on Kai check out my earlier blog here), one of the few Jedi lucky enough to escape Order 66 (thanks Pablo and Dan!).

Which brings us finally to Halagad Ventor, another Jedi Knight who has proven equally (albeit temporarily) slippery to the Emperor's wrath in RotS. Who's the model and real life inspiration for that character artwork you may ask?

It's none other than the "real" Halagad himself, my friend, frequent collaborator and Star Wars author Abel Pena.

How I could resist?

P.S. You can now view this new HNN artwork which I've posted at my official website in my Star Wars Insider Art gallery. Enjoy!