Topic: Vader's Quest Chapter 8 "Acts of Treason" part 2

[Tamer]

Well now, if that isn't a nice compliment. Thank you.

[jlw515]

Well, as with every chapter I try to throw in some sort of "Easter Eggs" into the story. Not too many in this 2nd part of "Acts of Treason" but there are a few.

(1) The name of the planet, Zaxxon is of course a through back to the old video game. Young bucks may have never even heard of it.

(2) The referene to a "red shirt" is a shout out to Star Trek, which if you've listened to the audio commentary of the J. J. Abrams' movie then you know there's a lot of Star Wars influence in that movie.

(3) The line "This is ground control to Major Thomm" is a play on the David Bowie song "Space Oddity" "This is ground control to Major Tom."

Jason

[hangarbay94]

That's one of the great things about your comic, it doesn't take itself too seriously, yet at the same time has all of the ingredients of a great SW story.

[jlw515]

That's one of the great things about your comic, it doesn't take itself too seriously, yet at the same time has all of the ingredients of a great SW story.

Well, Star Wars was never known for being a serious toned masterpiece! I am always reminded of a quote from Harrison Ford where he told George Lucas, "You can write this s***, but you can't say it." Star Wars is known for its "Easter eggs" and campiness. To me, that's the spirit of Star Wars.

Jason

[hangarbay94]

Yes, my personal favourite is in Return of the Jedi when  Bib Fortunata asks C3PO "as ee got an emoteee" referring to the UK's MOT certificate for motor vehicles.

Subtle...

[jlw515]

Yes, my personal favourite is in Return of the Jedi when  Bib Fortunata asks C3PO "as ee got an emoteee" referring to the UK's MOT certificate for motor vehicles.

Subtle...

NO WAY!! I have never heard of that! That is hilarious!! Supposedly in ANH when Luke yells out the number for the trash smasher, the number was either Harrison Ford or Mark Hamill's phone number.

Also, I've always heard that the UB-40 has something to do with unemployment in the UK (not Star Wars related, but always thought that it was funny).

Jason

[hangarbay94]

UB-40'a MOT's, the references to UK government documents etc  must have been born from the fact that much of the films were shot in UK studios using English crews.

[jlw515]

UB-40'a MOT's, the references to UK government documents etc  must have been born from the fact that much of the films were shot in UK studios using English crews.

Well, there was a reggae band called UB-40 in the 1980s (I think, maybe early 1990s) that did a cover of Neil Diamond's "Red Red Wine."

I was more of a Depeche Mode & Erasure fan in the 1980/90s myself. Oh those were the days!! Oh and the CURE!! I think I wore out two or three cassettes of "Music for the Masses" and "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me."

Jason

[hangarbay94]

Depeche Mode... they were the first band I saw in concert and they sounded the same on stage as they did on record... excellent! An American into Brit Syth bands, I thought you guys were all into John Cougar Mellancamp, Bruce Hornsby and "Bruce" Springsteen... Not that there isn't a place for those guys...(though listening to Born in the USA is akin to listening to someone dragging their nails down a blackboard...)

[jlw515]

Depeche Mode... they were the first band I saw in concert and they sounded the same on stage as they did on record... excellent! An American into Brit Syth bands, I thought you guys were all into John Cougar Mellancamp, Bruce Hornsby and "Bruce" Springsteen... Not that there isn't a place for those guys...(though listening to Born in the USA is akin to listening to someone dragging their nails down a blackboard...)

Oh no, no, no!! Not this guy!! As a kid I liked bands such as Duran Duran, Tears For Fears. My brother and I were friends with a black family down the street so we were also into rap BEFORE Run DMC made it big! Then in the late 80s my step-siblings introduced us to metal!! Metallica, D.R.I., Suiciadal Tendencies and yes I was even a closet Def Leppard fan. Then when my step-sister went to college she came back with a "mix tape" a guy made for her, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, They Might Be Giants, etc. From there I became a fan of Depeche Mode and Erasure; all the while still listening to metal (Anthrax, Slayer, etc.) and rap (Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, etc.) and bands in between (Faith No More, Pailhead, etc.). My senior year of high school I dated this girl who was from California. I introduced her to Erasure and Sonic Youth, and she introduced me to the Cure. No kidding, I must have worn out 3 cassettes of "Music for the Masses" and "Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me" listening to them over and over again. Heck, as an adult I even wore out a CD of "Music for the Masses" and Erasure's "Pop 20." I also rode BMX freestyle in high school and hung out with a bunch of skaters, so we listened to a WIDE variety of music.

Oh yeah, and given the fact that my dad played music in a local country/western band, I even liked some old country (Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash), but not much.

Jason

[Luke Sprywalker]

Jason, your photo novels are so good! Great chapter! You are a great story teller and I love that you stick with the OT. Really like the addition of the info on each squadron in file card style. That space battle was Epic! Great work man and sorry it took me a while to catch up here. All of your hard work on this has really paid off in the end!


Now, if I may join in on the real world comments. I too rode BMX in the 80's! I also skated a bit but was way better at BMX freestyle. Me and 2 frends met RL Osborne and Mike Buff at a BMX Action trick team show and rode every day after that. The next year we started our own trick team, me and Kenneth Evans got sponsored by Hutch Hi Preformance and our friend Denny Howell was on SE Racing. We did a few local shows then Kenneth and Denny got more sponsors and went on tour up the east coast. Something I regret missing out on to this day. At any rate I listened to all the same music you are discussing and still do sometimes to this day. Very cool to hear what you guys were into as younger kids, as we are older kids now.

[jlw515]

Spry,

I seem to remember some FB comments that you rode BMX Freestyle as a kid. Believe it or not, I still ride BMX occasionaly. I use to ride a lot about 5 years ago, but it seems the "scene" has just died down in central Arkansas, and my fat butt has sure seen the effects of not riding often. One of the guys I rode with as a teen was Ryan Corrigan. Ryan later on to be sponsered by FBM, and it one of the X-Games ramp designers/builders. When I was a teen I got to meet the Dyno Team (Dave Voelker, etc.) as an adult I've met members of the Hoffman Team (Baz, Seth Kimbrough, etc.), FBM (Crandall, Main-iac, etc.) Sh**-Luck (Ryan Metro, etc.). I'm actually (very briefly) seen in a couple of videos (standing around snapping photos). A few years ago there was an indoor skatepark in Little Rock and BMX teams would come through all the time, and Little Rock was even featured in a few videos. The Props "Rock-n-Roll Tour" came through Little Rock and Scotty Cramner (I think) pulled this amazing tail tap to front flip off a pier down a grass hill at Riverfront Park. The photo made front page of RIDE BMX magazine.

I've still got my Eastern Grim Reaper - chromed out w/ Oddyssey parts. We've got a skatepark in our town (pretty awesome public park) and from time to time I'll break out the bike and go ride the park. The young kids are pretty shocked when the fat, grey haired man can bust out some downside footplants and nosepicks on the quarterpipe and can slam out variations of grinds on the rail and grind box. I'm trying to talk my wife into letting me build a small 4ft quarterpipe in the back yard (it's fenced in w/ privacy fence). I'm playing the "excersise" card and how much easier it would be to ride at home as opposed as driving to the skate park.

There's an "old school" jam scheduled in August at my friend Tony's house and supposedly Rick Molinterno is suppose to be there!!

Here's a pic of my bike, except now I have an S&M "logo" seat



And here is an older pic of me doing a downside footplant



Jason

[hangarbay94]

All I can say is that you look very cool on that bike... I loved reading that you freak out the kids in the skate park, yea! we ain't old yet!!!!

[Luke Sprywalker]

Jason, that is very cool! Meeting these pros is great fun and most all of them are super cool and just want to ride and have fun. I also met Dave Volker in VA Beach. Funny thing is he came up to me because I was on my Hutch Trickstar. He said that was his favorite bike ever! I also got to meet Dizzy on the old S&M Team. Funn memories. OK I am about to see If I can still do a decade on flat. That was one of my favorite tricks back in the day, could do a double by stepping over the frame again. I would say the only thing I still have on lock is a tail whip. That down side foot plant pic is a great one!