Star Wars The Ultimate Visual Guide Special Edition is one of those big hardback DK books that looks slick and very pretty. The Special Edition version has been released to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, and has a few extras from the original edition. (I can't tell you exactly what because I only have the SE version, but the blurb says there's new stuff on comics, merchandise and Celebration). It's one of those books that you pick up, flick through and go "oooh", it has big colour pictures, lots of artwork, a shiny silvery dust jacket and that lovely new book smell. The presentation is really very nice and for a book like this that's a good chunk of the appeal.
The book starts with a foreword by Ian McDiarmid, then an introduction, then a double page on the official Star Wars timeline, from 25,000 BBY (before the battle of Yavin) up to 30 ABY (after the battle of Yavin), which covers not only the films but the extended universe fiction which includes books, comics and games. After the timeline is a map of the galaxy which is pretty cool, showing the positions of pretty much all the Star Wars planets I'd ever heard of and lots I hadn't.
From then on the book wanders forwards through the timeline, spending double page spreads on time periods and concepts. For example a couple of pages on The Great Sith War, but then the films are broken into larger sections, like Rise Of The Separatists and Battle On Geonosis. The pages are illustrated with a combination of screen shots from the films, artwork from games and artwork from the comics. For me it was the comic art that impressed, there's a lot of great comic art in the book that I'd never seen before. The timeline section stretches all the way to 130 ABY and the relatively new Legacy comic strips.
After the timeline is a behind the scenes section and a section on merchandise. It was the merchandise section that I found the least interesting, I find a lot of that stuff a bit tacky, that is all bar one page. A double page spread of old skool Star Wars figures. Woah. Memories. Oh yes.
So who is this book for? If you're a die-hard Star Wars geek you might know everything in here, but it's still a nice looking book to own and flick through. I'm a pretty big Star Wars fan, but didn't know much about many of the comics, the more recent books or the video games, so I found it fun reading about all this extra expanded universe stuff. The behind the scenes may well be familiar ground for fans too (there are only so many stories about the origins of ILM!), but there's some cool concept drawings in there, and you can never get too much Ralph McQuarrie art work.
However, I know the ideal market for this book. It's kids into Star Wars. This is the book I would have devoured when I was young. I remember reading and reading and reading a two sheet poster special that had a few paragraphs on Stormtroopers and Darth Vader; with a book like this, well I think my head may have imploded.
From then on the book wanders forwards through the timeline, spending double page spreads on time periods and concepts. For example a couple of pages on The Great Sith War, but then the films are broken into larger sections, like Rise Of The Separatists and Battle On Geonosis. The pages are illustrated with a combination of screen shots from the films, artwork from games and artwork from the comics. For me it was the comic art that impressed, there's a lot of great comic art in the book that I'd never seen before. The timeline section stretches all the way to 130 ABY and the relatively new Legacy comic strips.
After the timeline is a behind the scenes section and a section on merchandise. It was the merchandise section that I found the least interesting, I find a lot of that stuff a bit tacky, that is all bar one page. A double page spread of old skool Star Wars figures. Woah. Memories. Oh yes.
So who is this book for? If you're a die-hard Star Wars geek you might know everything in here, but it's still a nice looking book to own and flick through. I'm a pretty big Star Wars fan, but didn't know much about many of the comics, the more recent books or the video games, so I found it fun reading about all this extra expanded universe stuff. The behind the scenes may well be familiar ground for fans too (there are only so many stories about the origins of ILM!), but there's some cool concept drawings in there, and you can never get too much Ralph McQuarrie art work.
However, I know the ideal market for this book. It's kids into Star Wars. This is the book I would have devoured when I was young. I remember reading and reading and reading a two sheet poster special that had a few paragraphs on Stormtroopers and Darth Vader; with a book like this, well I think my head may have imploded.
