A Closer Look at ‘Scoundrels’

June 13, 2012 at 7:21 am | Posted in Art, Star Wars Books | Leave a comment
Tags: back cover, paul youll, raven mimura, scoundrels, timothy zahn, ultimate alien anthology

Yesterday’s unveiling of the back cover of Timothy Zahn’s Scoundrels revealed not only some new characters, but some new images of fan favorite characters, too. While this won’t be the full line up for the novel, it does give us something to dig into. First off, I think it’s rather interesting that the cover has a criminal lineup theme. Not only does it resonate with the title of the book, but is also vibes with the plot. Plus it’s remininiscent of the character lineups in the Ultimate Alien Anthology. Speaking of which…

Zerba Cher’dak

We don’t know much about Zerba Cher’dak yet. He’s a brand new character so there’s no existing EU info on him. However, his image reveals his species and it is a stunning copy of the one from the Ultimate Alien Anthology. Cher’dak is a Balosar, and of the many talented artists who contributed to the Ultimate Alien Anthology, Raven Mimura was the one who illustrated the Balosar. Paul Youll did an excellent job of capturing a photorealistic vision of the character for the Scoundrels cover. It’s always nice to see little bits of EU art get turned into full fledged characters.

Left: Paul Youll’s Balosar, Right: Raven Mimura’s Balosar

Bink Kitik

Bink Kitik is another new character to the EU. While there has been a Bink Otauna (of Tag and Bink fame) and a Kitik Keed’kak (a member of the praying mantis species called the Yam’rii), she’s unlikely to be anymore related to them than she is Jar Jar Binks. With so little known about her, we can only speculate. Will she be a thief? A computer expert? A con artist? A forger? It’s anyone’s guess right now.

Winter

Winter, on the other hand, is a known quantity. This is a character many fans will be familiar with. Raised alongside Leia (her actual adopted sister), Winter is notable because of her white hair, photographic memory, and her service in Alliance Intelligence. A skilled field agent and useful double for Princess Leia, Winter is a character that showed up a lot in the old EU. Lately she’s made some brief appearances including Fate of the Jedi: Outcast and Omen. It’ll be nice to see her return in a more prominent role.

Kell Tainer

Like Winter, Kell Tainer is also an established EU character. He first appeared in Aaron Allston’s Wraith Squadron with a rather substantial role. From that book, we know Tainer used to be a part of Page’s Commandos and a mechanic at Sluis Van. We also know his family was haunted by the dishonorable death of his father, Kissek Doran. Tainer was born on Alderaan, so it’s possible Winter and Kell may know each other.

Of the total roster of nine scoundrels, we now know five of them. Who will the other four scoundrels be? We’ll just have to wait and see. Scoundrels will be released on December 26, 2012 in hardcover and digital formats.

Posted By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot. We may be scruffy looking, but we’re not scoundrels.