My Personal Literary Canon – A Self-Portrait in Books

There is great debate about which texts deserve to sit in the canon of literature – debates shaped by people far more informed than I.  Sure, I’ll talk about canon in Marvel or Doctor Who or Star Wars but F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway?  Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle?  Et cetera and so on?  I’ve opinions but few are fully informed by academic scholarship.  Last summer I was reading one of my favorite blogs – I read that in a book – and I came across a post titled, “Personal book canon – a self-portrait in books.”  I loved the post and I loved the idea and I immediately began thinking of what would make up my own personal literary canon.  In the comment section of the piece, I talked of how I was eager to “steal” the idea and try it myself.  This was something I could speak to in an informed way!  I thought it a really fun idea, too, to look at the books which have most shaped my life.  So today, in my 400^th post (!!!!), I’m going to do just that :D.

Disney, Galaxy’s Edge, and the End of “Canon” Being Relevant in Star Wars

I haven’t written about Star Wars in a looong time.  When I began blogging, Star Wars was a regular topic for me, whether writing about it here or for Jeff’s site The Imperial Talker.  But it’s been almost an entire year since I’ve written anything about Star Wars.  It’s not like I’ve stopped thinking about Star Wars or talking about Star Wars (as the countless hours I’ve spent in conversation with Jeff discussing the galaxy far, far away can attest).  But I haven’t been inspired to write anything (save a few discarded drafts) about Star Wars since last July.  Well, lately I’ve been thinking about how Disney’s use of “canon” in regard to Star Wars has neutered the term of any shred meaning. The final nail in canon’s coffin comes care of Disney’s new Star Wars theme park, Galaxy’s Edge.  With this evolving revelation, I’ve found something Star Wars-related worth writing about again!

In Star Wars…Your Head Canon Is All The Matters

There…I said it.  All that matters is head canon.  The Last Jedi is on its way right?  (Yay!)  With it will come countless analyses, deconstructions, and evaluations (myself included).  No matter where you’re at in the world of Star Wars, you’re going to have opinions (myself included!).  And that’s exciting!  However, the Star Wars community can be volatile at times (especially online).  Instead of sharing our love, we seem to enjoy chastising those who love something else or love what we love in a different way.  Yet we can (and should) happily love what we love and respect what someone else loves too!  At the end of the day, no one can tell you what Star Wars stories move you.  So in the seemingly endless debate over what is or isn’t “canon” or what stories are “best,” the only important question is what do you like?  If the story moves you, it’s part of your Star Wars experience and those are the only stories that really matter. 

Star Wars, Dark Empire, and the Expanded Universe

For a lifelong fan of comic books and a lover of Star Wars what I’m about to say surprises even me.  I just finished reading the Dark Empire miniseries for the first time.  For real.  How has it taken me so long to read this?!?  I can absolutely see why this is considered such a classic!  With all this excitement running through my being I thought it would be an excellent time to engage in an EPIC lightsaber duel.  However, given the fact that my lightsabers are all the way downstairs and I’m lacking an opponent at the moment, I figured I’d talk about Star Wars, comics, canon, and the Expanded Universe instead.

Darth Vader #24 – A Moving Masterpiece

I wasn’t planning to write this post.  I’m normally not one for single issue reviews or reflections.  But when I read Darth Vader #24 on Wednesday I did something I’ve never done with a comic…I immediately flipped to the front to read it again.  And since then, the story’s been bouncing around in my head.  I can’t stop thinking about it.  So I figured I’d write about it.  Don’t worry, if you haven’t read it, there’s spoiler protection.  And if you have (or are wild enough not to care about spoilers), I’ll reflect with detail on why the specifics of the issue are so important to me too. 

My on again/off again Relationship with Darth Vader

In the fall of 2015, it was Star Wars that finally brought me back to the world of comic collecting after my seventeen year absence.  Admittedly it felt a little weird returning to Books Galore after so long a time away.  I felt a bit out of place, like coming home to find everything you remember similar…yet different.  But the oddity of my return was soon eclipsed by feelings of excitement.  I was back!  I was reading comics again!  Yay!  And I was excited (after Jeff’s constant urging) to explore the Star Wars stories Marvel was adding to the new Disney Canon.  Of all their comics, I was most excited for Darth Vader.  As the months rolled by however, I found myself wrapped in a passionate yet frustrating relationship with the Dark Lord of the Sith.