Last time, I jibber jabbered on at some length about what I thought was wrong with the concept and application of Star Wars comics. It troubled me that the hook that helped me in those long, dry years between Return of the Jedi and Episode I—continued comic adventures set in a galaxy far, far away—were largely unavailable to my ten-year-old little brother, who didn't have any idea where he could find comics and was largely not indoctrinated into dealing with them regularly. Yet another bonding possibility between us lost, but that's another column...

This week I promised to talk about what could be done to improve things. First, I'll start small, at Dark Horse (which, again, is a fine, fine company doing tons of really groovy things that I really enjoy, even within the Star Wars franchise—such as the powerful Star Wars Tales and Jedi Council - Acts of War) and move into things that can be done on a larger scale.

Okee, first of all, let's set some standards for the artwork. Flipping through...well, almost any comic featuring Quinlan Vos will make all but the most devoted reader pretty much set the book down. It's exhausting work to plow through, like purposely subjecting yourself to recent work by Alitha Martinez. Through years and years of Star Wars comics at Marvel (which many will dismiss, but I have an appreciation for), the characters always looked about the same and the backgrounds were always well-rendered, creating a comfortable visual tableau upon which to tell stories. Is it Alex Ross or Mark Texeira quality? No, but it's sustainable, and that'd be a start.

Second, new characters (Quinlan Vos, that snarky new Jedi from Starcrash, at one time Ki-Adi Mundi) should always be introduced in tandem with an older, better known character, or at the very least a familiar setting (Ki-Adi Mundi duelled well with Aurra Sing and the Tusken Raiders in the Outlander storyline). That should almost go for all new things, because all the glow of wonder springs from the original canonical works, and the further you get away from them, the wackier things get.

Third, tell compelling stories. Use source material that moves people. Refer to Joseph Campbell's Power of Myth (Lucas heavily leaned on Campbell's work in his early studies). Watch some Kurosawa. The best regular example of this, right now, is what's happening in Star Wars Tales, a book filled with short vignettes. Mostly they hit the mark—an examination of Vader and C-3PO on Cloud City, flashing back to Tatooine in the story "Thank The Maker" (with some of the finest the franchise has ever seen), Mace Windu and Yoda having a serio-comical meal in "Force Fiction," a fascinating Greedo origin story that led to his fateful meeting with Han Solo in A New Hope, and so on. By poking around in the unexplored nooks and crannies of the actual canonical material, there are so many gems, so many untold tales that are fascinating and have an instant hook that they supplement what you know, instead of trying to teach something that may or may not exist. Like Marvel's What If..? or DC's "Elseworlds" tales dancing around reality. Great stuff that book.

Now, moving on to the bigger picture...there are literally hordes of Star Wars toys pumped out annually into the channels. I know —I buy a lot of them. What's wrong with bundling comics with some figures to make collector's variants? Why not slip an issue or two into that Theed Palace Playset? What's to stop them from making a special issue for the Special Edition Boba Fett figure, or at least slipping a coupon for the Enemy of the Empire softcover in there? Don't tell me because the earlier efforts showed lackluster results—the average toy was already overpriced by $4-15, and they jacked up the price another $5 to put a comic in. Eat the profit margin up front (you will sooner or later, as those $2 Stormtroopers eToys sold before it died can prove) and reinforce the brand. At the very least, bundle in some kind of subscription offer with the toys so that the target audience for these comics actually knows they exist.

In addition (like the well-cross-referenced Wu-Tang game), where are the comic book ads in the packaging for Star Wars: Demolition or other pending Lucasarts games? Where are the fast food tie-ins to keep the franchise in the public eye while Lucas gets his digital filming on? The fact that nobody thought about mixing pod racing imagery with driver safety PSAs is a frickin' crime! Come on, people, we're in the twenty-first century now, let's remember how to cross-market a property, huh?

So, there. I'm not just complain, complain, complain. Those are some ideas that could easily raise revenues this year. Now go out there and figger how we can make sure Jar Jar buys it in a truly nasty fashion in this next movie!