I suppose I should catch those of you who haven't heard about what Star Wars Legacy is up to speed before I begin... Skip below the handy Rive Divider Lines (patent still pending) if you've already read the previews and know what's going on)
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Star Wars Legacy is a comic series beginning this summer from Dark Horse Comics, it features the story of Star Wars set about 100-150 years after Episode IV it will feature... Well we're not entirely sure yet. We do have some preview images though which I'll be providing reactions to.
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So as a side note I've included the Horde O' Wookiees picture because Lowbacca (and perhaps some other Wookiees) are some of the only well known characters that could presumably still be alive in this time period. Also as a note, Kath Solo is completely made up by me.

Ok so let's do some preview image reaction before I jump into wild speculation and overall reactions.

The First Ad
Hm... It's nice, it's simple it's only a bit more complex than the image that opened Star Wars to the public in the first place. So I don't really have anything to praise or attack here (besides the concepts at the bottom which will be mentioned later).

The First Cover (Legacy #0)
Hrum... I'm not a fan of this image. For one it looks very "plastic" computer generated to me. And do we really need lens flares to represent what is apparently some sort of Force manisfistation? She is, of course, very Darth Maulesque. I don't have a problem with this provided she isn't so Darth Maulesque that she has no character besides "I'm gonna go kills me some Cade Skywalker, cause master told me to!"... Well I suppose Maul had a deeper and more serious voice, but you get the idea. He had no core.

A sample page from Legacy #0

Ok first reaction here... Isn't it a bit silly to make a big deal about the blaster being double-barelled and then only show it on the side? Oh well.

For those of you uninitiated to Aurabesh, the weird writing on the upper left corner reads "Cade Skywalker" in our resident Star Wars ficitional writing system.

How old is this fellow? He looks to be greying in the large "Hero Shot" but (fairly) young in the more concept artish image in the bottom right corner.

We see his little skull logo (looking either intentionally for plot reasons or simply uncreatively alot like a mandolorian skull logo) no less than 7 times on the page. It had better be important.

How big is the Mynock?... Seriously, nothing else to say here. I can't tell. It looks like a fighter based on wing size and shape but I can't place the cockpit so maybe it's another Mid-Bulk Cruiser, which would make Cade a captain presumably.
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Ok now for a quick round of reactions and wild speculation wound up in a bite-size package.

Another Empire? Another Sith Empire? Another Skywalker?

I thought Anakin brought balance to the force! The Sith should be gone! The Empire is gone forever! Luke can't have kids, he'd find out the real Jedi Code someday and not fall in love! There shouldn't be anymore Sith after the Chosen One finished his destiny! Um... Unless it's Episodes VII-IX those would be cool, in fact I have a neat idea for that which...

Ah, sorry, I got stuck in someone else's blog for a moment.
You need the Sith or the Empire. Perhaps even both as in this case to have a Star Wars story. Sure we could have Cade as a smuggler and not really run into any conflict more epic than "Should I wear my red vest or my brown vest?" but where' the fun in that? Put the whole "Chosen One" thing out of your mind when reading expanded universe material. Or if you can't do that simply replace the word "Sith" with "Evil Bad Dudes Who Create a Problem for our Heroes"... It doesn't have the same ring to it though, does it?

There's not currently much to react to. Provided they don't say how any of the events our Original Trilogy Heroes are going through in the earlier timeline set stories in the Legacy Era play out (Or worse, how one of them dies), I have no problem with playing with the timeline this far past the OT.
They're still using the "Lived in" look found in the Original Trilogy and Knights of the Old Republic which really makes it feel like Star Wars to me.

So all in all... Anything could happen, I only have one large fear at the present moment... That they'll countinously make characters spout out quotes from the Prequels and Original Trilogy, as happens so often in the expanded universe. I have no problem with "I have a bad feeling about this" of course, but if someone says "I'd just as soon kiss a Wookiee" it's just lazy writing. Perhaps I'll address this in another full blog, but in short: I don't like having to be reminded that I'm reading Star Wars.

(I do completely think that Cade will be running into some Solo decendents at some point early on or down the road.)
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I suppose I'll close with some quotes from the Vice President of Publishing of Dark Horse that he posted via the Dark Horse Boards so you don't need to go digging for them.

"As I was just telling Jan in an email, I'm gald we chose to just show the world the barest tip of the tip of the ice berg. It's enabled everybody to project their best hopes or worst fears onto the project and still not come anywhere close to the detailed truth. We'll see you all in one month with additional information (i.e., the solicitation information for issue #1), but we're not spilling our guts until May or beyond! "

"Save your altruism until you've at least read an issue.

Look, in all seriousness, I'm sure you love Star Wars and that you're only reacting to something new that you don't understand, and that encountering this unknown has made you fearful. Please relax. Something like Legacy doesn't happen in a vacuum. First, we put the best team on it. Second, I have my own critical eye on it (and I'm far more critical than Jan and John would like, I'm sure). Third, the editors and writers at Del Rey have all read the proposal, and they're all on board with it. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Lucasfilm has put its own stamp of approval on (and made their own adjustment to) the series. We all love Star Wars, too. "

How many issues in the upcoming Legacy series will there be?

"It's an ongoing series, so there's no way to tell at this point. If some people could have their way, I suppose it would end before the first issue..."
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Here's the hoping it'll be Episode IV all over again!

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