Lately, since Peet has assumed full responsibility for many of the Star Wars projects Dark Horse develops, there have been jokes around the office about him setting up a cot in his office, about him living his job. . . These jokes aren't necessarily funny to any of us, but what can be said when a colleague is going above and beyond in performance so much that the job goes home with him at night and is there when he wakes up first thing in the morning? Nobody envies Peet much these days, but I don't know of a single person who doesn't respect him and the fine job he does coordinating the publication of and editing the Star Wars line. I'm still not sure how he found the time to answer these questions, but hats off to Peet for always coming through.
Shawna Ervin-Gore: Whose idea was it to create the new Star Wars Handbook?
Peet Janes: The idea came from a meeting at Lucasfilm between Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley of Dark Horse, and Lucy Wilson and Allan Kausch from Lucas Licensing. Del Rey books created a successful line of Essential Guides to the greater Star Wars universe, and the idea here was to do the same thing, but with a focus on the unique characteristics of the comics: the characters, places, and events.
SE:And how did you get recruited to compile all the information?
PJ:Since we decided the first issue would be about the ongoing X-Wing series, and X-Wing novelist and comics scriptwriter Michael Stackpole was busy with other projects, we decided to turn to the next best person for the project, that being the editor who had worked on the series since the beginning. I already had all of this stuff kicking around in my head, so it was time to put it to good use.
SE: Is compiling the right word? How would you describe the process of putting all this information together?
PJ:In the beginning, it was definitely compiling, but of references: A full set of the ongoing series, information from the Del Rey Essential Guides, dearchived back-story notes from Michael Stackpole's plots and scripts for the various story arcs, and a host of other sources.
I wrote the entries in an informational manner, as if the reader was examining a report on the performance of a Rebel squadron, and the campaigns it had been a part of. I didn't try to dress it up as some actual document from the Star Wars universe; rather, I approached the series as if it were in need of a guidebook. The illustrations (and the text entries, for that matter) were chosen based on relative importance within the ongoing series. It was a difficult task, as the 30-plus issues of Rogue Squadron have generated enough new elements for the Star Wars universe that we could easily fill several comic issues with this information.
After selecting the entries, I went looking for artists who could bring something interesting to the book. Some creators, like Eddy Biukovic and the team of John Nadeau and Jordi Ensign, I felt needed to be in the book because of their outstanding contributions to the series. Other creators, like Rodolfo Damaggio, Arthur Adams, and Doug Mahnke, came aboard as strangers to the X-Wing series, but their illustration assignments are based on their strong personal styles.
SE: Why would so much effort be invested getting this much minute information detailed in this format?
PJ:If anything has been shown from the enormous response to the various story-conscious licensed Star Wars products, it's that fans and readers want to be as tied into the creation of the various elements of Star Wars as possible. They want in, they want to be included in the adventure. X-Wing Rogue Squadron has always been supportive of that, and there are some very specific places in the series where the stories have been strongly influenced by reader comments. Minutiae, anecdotes, and new adventures reinforce the characters
that we've all grown up with, explain things that might have been missed the first time, and create new opportunities for fans to find new story threads that they'd like to see expanded upon.
SE:Describe how the handbook will look, what sorts of information will be featured, and who might be interested in using it.
PJ:The Handbook will be laid out very much like an encyclopedia, although it will have only a single entry per page. I've left the illustrations up to the artists with very little art direction, but readers can expect a lot of neat full-figure shots of their favorite characters, as well as the occasional memorable panel from the comics.
The text will include information about the characters' roles in the various story arcs, as well as snippets of colorful background information, and maybe, some hints of what's to come.
Readers who have only recently come onboard X-Wing or other Star Wars titles will be able to catch up by way of the Handbook. Fans of Stackpole's X-Wing novels should find the Handbook interesting, and role players, both in the Star Wars simulator computer games, and the role-playing games, will find a bounty of information to shape future campaigns.
SE: How labor intensive has this process been? What was your production schedule like?
PJ:Since the schedule for this first Handbook was so tight, I've been Star Wars 24-7. Eight hours of my day is already almost exclusively Star Wars, editing several titles in the Star Wars line. On top of that, I'd go home and have to thrash on the keyboard for a while with a pile of comics and books scattered around. And of course, through all of the work, I've been thinking, "Am I getting it right?" Readers can be (and have the right to be) merciless when it comes to details not fitting with their own view of the Star Wars universe, and I'm thinking of them when I write. On top of that, this first handbook had an unusually short development period. Future issues will hopefully have more time to develop.
SE:Whom did you work with on this project? Did you consult intensively with any particular creators?
PJ:Michael Stackpole is an invaluable resource when it comes to Star Wars. Through his novels and comics, Mike has made a successful career out of giving Star Wars fans what they want, and knowing the Star Wars universe well enough to make writing for it seem easy. I am eternally grateful for his help. John Nadeau has also been a tremendous resource, capable of creative flights that fit seamlessly into the greater Star Wars universe. I wouldn't say that I consulted with either of them intensively, though. We've all become great friends working on this series, and the flow of information just comes very naturally.
I was happy to bring a couple of new artists to the stable of Star Wars creators: Doug Mahnke and Rodolfo Damaggio. Doug's pencils made The Mask, and other Mahnke projects include the stunning Aliens: Stronghold miniseries, and the recent DC smash, Major Bummer. Rodolfo Damaggio illustrated the most recent Batman/Predator crossover, and ever since, editors around Dark Horse have been scrambling to find just the right project for him.
These guys are joined by much-too-infrequent Star Wars alumni Arthur Adams (Monkeyman and O'Brien), Stan and Vince (the upcoming Decapitator) and Steve Crespo (X-Wing #25 -- The Making of Baron Fel). Of course, the colors throughout the book are being done by Dave Nestelle, whose colors have graced almost every issue since X-Wing began.
SE:Was your recent trip down to Skywalker Ranch related to the production of the Handbook?
PJ:The projects discussed at the last Skywalker Ranch summit are actually years ahead, but it's a safe bet that someday, we'll be doing Handbooks to cover them.
SE:This is the first in a series of similarly structured Handbooks -- can you give any insight into what the subsequent Handbooks will cover?
PJ:It is likely that the next handbook will cover the first Dark Empire series, and after that, the first Crimson Empire series. Since Dark Horse has such a backlog of material to cover, we believe that it would be best to alternate Handbook subjects between past projects and current projects.
Star Wars completists and X-Wing junkies can find The Star Wars Handbook #1: X-Wing Rogue Squadron on sale in comic shops everywhere July 1.