Set into motion during the merchandising blitz of Force Friday on Sept. 4, the Journey to The Force Awakens campaign has been slowly whetting our appetites for the new film through a series of books and toys filling in the gaps after Return of the Jedi.
But now you can catch up on what your favorite Star Wars characters are doing through a new medium.
Two of the kids’ book titles published on Force Friday, Smuggler’s Run: A Han Solo Adventure and Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure, have been adapted into short, animated comics illustrating their storylines.
The videos, each under three minutes, don’t cover the entire arc of each book but instead just depict some of the most visual events of each book. Watch them below.
Smuggler’s Run:
Weapon of a Jedi:
Though they’re set between the events of Episode IV and V, both novels carry key story elements that will likely be reprised in The Force Awakens.
Smuggler’s Run follows Han and Chewie taking the Millennium Falcon on a mission to rescue a Rebel agent who’s being hunted for his knowledge of where the Rebel bases are located. In this segment, we’re introduced to Ematt, a character who’s served with Leia in the Rebel Alliance and is expected to make an appearance in The Force Awakens.
We also meet Alecia Beck, a female commander in the Imperial Security Bureau with a cybernetic, glowing-red eye. Beck actually serves as the narrator of this story as she recounts how Solo, Chewbacca and Ematt escaped her grasp. Don’t be surprised if we see her face again in the new canon, and possibly in the films, sometime soon.
Meanwhile, Weapon of a Jedi is about Luke exploring the ruins of an ancient Jedi temple before encountering Imperial opposition and an unexpected betrayal. Guided by the masked scavenger Sarco Plank, Luke finds the remnants of a temple on Devaron, where he’s pursued by Imperial agents. They’re holding a female Devaronian named Farnay prisoner, who also narrates the story.
While Luke and Sarco manage to dispatch the group, it turns out Sarco doesn’t have the purest motivations, and immediately turns on Luke after the battle is over.
We’ve actually seen Sarco before and confirm that he is in The Force Awakens. In fact, it appears he’s relocated to the planet of Jakku according to this set photo (he’s in the center), so he’ll most definitely play a role in the events on that planet.
The videos, oddly enough produced by the food and beverage company Nestlé as a promotional deal, feature some exquisite artwork and narration. Although the sound effects were a bit off (Luke’s lightsaber igniting doesn’t sound quite right), it’s an interesting format for a Star Wars story that we’ve never really seen before. I hope these aren’t the last of them.
Next: Disney Infinity 3.0 Expansion Rise Against the Empire Launches