The Death and Rebirth of Star Wars: Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, I documented how the Star Wars franchise, which burst so spectacularly onto the scene in 1977, fizzled out by the end of 1986. Before the first movie had even celebrated its tenth birthday, George Lucas had stopped making not only new Star Wars films, but Star Wars comics, cartoons, TV movies, action figures, novels, video games—you name it:

But of course the story didn’t end there. In May 1991, the franchise rumbled back to life, resuming all of those product lines, and eventually going on to release new Star Wars movies:

What’s more, all of those products have continued in some form or another until today.

What explains that four-year-long gap, when Star Wars disappeared? And why did the franchise return, and why has it stuck around since then?

In order to answer those and other related questions, I wrote my most recent book, I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing: Star Wars and the Triumph of Geek Culture, which I encourage you to buy and read! But if you want the short version of the story, then read on …

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Miami Book Fair Interview

Last week, I did an interview with Florida’s Marc Bernier Show in the run-up to the Miami Book Fair, where I did a panel to promote my latest book, I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing: Star Wars and the Triumph of Geek Culture. Many thanks to both the Show and the Fair, as well as to my co-panelists, authors Jonathan French (The Grey Bastards) and Mike Witwer (Dungeons and Dragons Art and Arcana: A Visual History)—I had a great time!

The interview is online; you can check it out here. I talked about how and why geeks have gone mainstream, and why the geek renaissance won’t be ending anytime soon. I also offered some thoughts on Stan Lee’s passing.

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