Jason Fry’s Bomber Command Gives Us More Of Paige Tico’s Story

bomber command Jason fry cover

One could be forgiven if Jason Fry’s Bomber Command flew under your radar this past December. It was released the same day as The Last Jedi as a companion to Elizabeth Wein’s Cobalt Squadron.  If you were anything like me on December 15th, your only concern was racing to your local theater. StarWars.com released an article reminding us fans that we may want to pick up a copy, as author Jason Fry connects Paige’s story to important events in the Sequel Trilogy. We even hear what Leia had to say in her last address to the Republic Senate.

 

 

cobalt squadron cover cropped

 

Rose Tico is a great addition to the Sequel Trilogy, and her first hand experience with the First Order shelling her home world provided a compelling motive for saving the things she loves instead of giving into death and destruction of war. Unfortunately, Rose’s strength is underlined by grief due to the heroic death of her sister Paige, in the opening of The Last Jedi. Author Jason Fry illuminates the story of Rose and Paige, tying their story in with the Cobalt Squadron.

While detailing her family history, Paige reveals how she and Rose received their matching pendant necklaces and her plan to share stories of Finn’s heroics with Rose. Paige journal entry “we all need hope to get through this fight” serves as a nice set up for Rose and Finn’s introduction to each other in The Last Jedi.

 

We also get some information about the lineage of bombers throughout the Star Wars history. Paige’s journal goes into the history of ships used on bombing runs, and what I assume lead to the design of the MG-100 StarFortress SF-17 bombers we saw in The Last Jedi. It’s always been cool to see how the LFL/ILM design team tie-in the evolution of all Star Wars ships, tweaking them to match the era they fit into, whether it’s live-action, a video game, or comic book.

 

Bomber Command doesn’t just focus on the technical aspects of the Star Wars Universe. There are several drawings, by Paige Tico herself, of creatures from around the galaxy she hopes to one day see. We definitely saw Rose’s heart skip a beat when she laid eyes on a Father for the first time. Being that the Tico sisters hail from the ice planet Hays Minor, imaging what unique creatures from around the galaxy were like must have provided great escape.

 

 

There’s a section of maps, but there’s a unique twist to the maps: they are from the First Order. For the most part, we still haven’t gotten much of a peak behind the curtain of the First Order.

The First Order Space Galactic Map in Bomber Command includes planets that played a large part in multiple Star Wars films including Naboo, Endor, Jakku, and Yavin, as well as Paige’s current home on D’Qar with the Resistance.

 

I’m intrigued to check out the maps! Not only do we get maps, we also get to see how the First Order lured people into handing over their children to be trained as stormtroopers.

Among Bomber Command’s several fold out pages is a First Order recruitment poster encouraging skilled workers to join and help tame the galactic frontier. The unskilled are encouraged to enroll their children in “Frontier Corps” where children who are approved “will be guaranteed food, shelter, education, and the opportunity to make the galaxy a better place.”

 

Other than the story of Rose and Paige, as well as serving as a companion to Elizabeth Wein’s Cobalt Squadron, a huge draw is that it depicts events that lead up to crucial moments in The Force Awakens. I’ve seen TFA countless times and love it, but there’s never a viewing where I wish I could slow it down and find out a bit more about how the Republic came to be so apathetic about the growing threat of the First Order. We know from Claudia Gray’s Bloodline, a big problem was Leia’s fragile credibility within the bureaucracy.

A highlight for any Leia fan is the section of Bomber Command that includes the full address Leia gave to the New Republic Senate (before the destruction of Hosnian Prime) which warns the Senate of the increasing danger of the First Order. It includes the chilling line, “What if the next irrefutable evidence isn’t a message from a friend, but an attack from an enemy?”

 

Author Jason Fry is not new to Star Wars at all, and is also behind the forthcoming novelization of The Last Jedi. He’s been behind several of these companion books and guides, and I can’t imagine this would be one to miss. I feel silly for having missed it, but you can bet it’s going to be landing on my bookshelf soon.

 

 

Source: StarWars.com

 

 

+ posts

Kyle Larson lives in Portland, Oregon. When he's not running trails, he's reading and writing.

Kyle Larson

Kyle Larson lives in Portland, Oregon. When he's not running trails, he's reading and writing.

56 thoughts on “Jason Fry’s Bomber Command Gives Us More Of Paige Tico’s Story

  • February 1, 2018 at 6:23 pm
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    Wrong twin died

  • February 1, 2018 at 7:03 pm
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    She should’ve been Rose, maybe China, that complained of not having pretty people in it would’ve seen Episode 8

    • February 1, 2018 at 8:06 pm
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      Not as long as it has “Star Wars” on the title.

    • February 1, 2018 at 9:12 pm
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      I’m not sure why two Vietnamese actresses ( in Rose and Paige ) would have any bearing in China.

      • February 2, 2018 at 6:54 pm
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        Well, if that was the idea (appealing to the Asian market) it certainly didn’t work at all. But if it was, then, as I said, this model/actress should’ve been Rose.

  • February 1, 2018 at 7:36 pm
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    I go back in forth between Rose and Admiral Holdo for who was the biggest joke in TLJ.

    The once respected Star Wars brand has devolved into the worst fan fiction imaginable.

    • February 1, 2018 at 7:39 pm
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      Yet here you are…

      • February 1, 2018 at 7:47 pm
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        Only to bash….y’know, I used to think how awful most of the EU stuff was….IG88’s brain fusing with the Death Star for example…and how horrible it would be if EU films were ever made…but then along came the sequel trilogy….now the EU looks like pure gold….like it was written by Lucas in his heyday.

        • February 1, 2018 at 8:06 pm
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          Yeah, Luke going to the dark side, Han and Leia’s son dying, the other turning to the dark side only to be killed by their daughter.

          Happy endings for all!

          • February 1, 2018 at 8:41 pm
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            Let’s not forget living Sith ships, cloned Emperors, centaurs, Exar Kun, chewbacca’s Force-sensitive nephew…yeah…the EU ruled. : /

          • February 1, 2018 at 8:41 pm
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            Let’s not forget living Sith ships, cloned Emperors, centaurs, Exar Kun, chewbacca’s Force-sensitive nephew…yeah…the EU ruled. : /

          • February 1, 2018 at 9:10 pm
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            Palpatine could of easily of experimented with cloning with the connections with the Kaminoans. Would of been a great way of bridging the trilogys as well. IMO

          • February 1, 2018 at 9:13 pm
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            Ugh. I hated Dark Empire (and its dismal sequels) as much as some folks here hated TLJ.

          • February 1, 2018 at 9:13 pm
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            Ugh. I hated Dark Empire (and its dismal sequels) as much as some folks here hated TLJ.

          • February 1, 2018 at 11:09 pm
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            haha – think about this though. If Snoke is a no body, then it wouldn’t of hurt having a clone of the Emperor fulfil the same role, with Kylo simply usurping him there wouldn’t of been the outcry on not knowing the clones background.

          • February 2, 2018 at 1:03 am
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            “…there wouldn’t of been the outcry…”

            Who cares if there’s an outcry? There was going to be one anyway. If Snoke was swapped out for the Emperor, you’d have a different chorus of complaints that Abrams simply resurrected a dead villain. Heck, I would have been part of that chorus.

            Movies aren’t made by fan-committee – thank god.

          • February 2, 2018 at 6:18 pm
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            They’ll never please everyone, impossible task. Putting aside the issues of right or wrong, it would of still of tied the trilogies together tighter. Though we’ve no idea what will happen in IX, which is all part of the fun.

          • February 23, 2018 at 11:32 pm
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            have… have!!!!… wouldn’t have…argghhh!

            Sorry.. it’s one of my biggest pet peeves..

          • February 24, 2018 at 10:22 am
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            Honestly, as mentioned before these are quick short text like messages – we don’t need grammar Nazis……

            Sorry doesn’t cut it – I’ll mind my grammar on official letters or documents, not on boards like this.

          • February 26, 2018 at 7:24 pm
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            Or.. it could just be that seeing ‘could of’ instead of ‘could’ve’ is like people using ‘What had happened was’ or using double negatives.

            But honestly, you seem really sensitive about this. Doing research on the psychology behind correcting grammar. Perhaps this is something you run into often?

          • February 2, 2018 at 4:04 am
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            Remember, there is no such thing as “would of” or “could of.”

          • February 1, 2018 at 9:23 pm
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            I mean, it was great when I was 15!

            But only as something instead of movies. I would rather get the movies.

          • February 1, 2018 at 10:55 pm
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            And every two years a new Sith Lord to be battled: “The same procedure as every year”

          • February 2, 2018 at 9:36 am
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            1) Like the “new” EU is different. Han dies, Luke dies, Leia dies, Ackbar dies.
            Instead of 3 child, Han and Leia have only one and that turns to the Dark Side.

            2) Luke going to the dark side AND make it back.

            3) Am not yet so far in reading all the EU i already have in my library (that a task for retirement period 😀 ) but havent the characters died after a period of rich live ?

          • February 2, 2018 at 3:17 pm
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            Luke didn’t die in Legends. Different. Ackbar? Shrug. Still alive last I recall, I think, but can’t be sure.

            2. Luke turning to the dark side is something he would NEVER DO. He wouldn’t turn to join the father he idolized his entire life, but he’s going to turn for the Emperor? Gimme a break. If you hate how he was portrayed in TLJ, but like Dark Empire, then you are a hypocrite.
            3. Well, I read them all from the beginning and they led lives of constant war and tragedy. In the new movies, they had 30 years or so of peace. They have about 30 seconds in Legends.

          • February 2, 2018 at 7:17 pm
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            I have read most of the EU. Keep Zahn’s original “Thrawn Trilogy’ and read them every couple of years. They’re wonderful. Take the remaining books to a second hand bookstore and sell them. Or give them away.

          • February 2, 2018 at 12:15 pm
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            There doesn’t have to be always a happy ending. If there is always a happy ending it is not a story but a fairy tail

          • February 2, 2018 at 3:15 pm
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            True, but that’s one of the arguments people made against the new movies.

            Also, happy or not, the EU was pretty bad near the end.

        • February 1, 2018 at 9:10 pm
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          The EU stuff worked fine for me – the tiered canon system was easy to understand in my opinion ( i.e. I knew the movies at the time were the core things that were canonical ).

          The new canon ( where everything is deemed canon i.e. the comics, novels. etc. etc. ) is problematic when a) much of it is not very good, and b) there are seemingly already discrepancies popping up.

          • February 2, 2018 at 1:04 am
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            I agree. I’m not a big fan of the idea that everything is canon. And while I much prefer the canon to the old EU, I did like the older tiered canon system.

          • February 2, 2018 at 9:29 am
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            Why ? The idea is perfect in its roots. A group of people can oversee every project from SW right at its beginning and can say that u can not do this or that because it will contradict this other project and so on.
            And this was also used as an excuse to delete old EU.
            Yet they are starting to contradict the produced materials already and the Story Group seems to have no vote on the movies, otherway they would not approve a lot of stupidity in TLJ.
            An i like SW to be a big puzzle with all the expanded material.

          • February 2, 2018 at 2:24 pm
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            “The idea is perfect in its roots.”

            Hardly. I like the idea enough in principle, but I can’t see it working out too smoothly in the long run. Star Wars is a wide brand with films, television shows, novels (both adult and YA), comic books, video games, and other sources of narrative media. Even with a group of folks tasked with keeping all of that aligned and consistent, things will soon come to a place where they get rather jumbled. There’s just too much stuff going on to keep organized within a finite sense of time.

            “And this was also used as an excuse to delete old EU.”

            That’s not true. The EU was sidelined because Lucasfilm needed the creative freedom to make movies not constrained by what 80-plus authors wrote about the events following ROTJ. There was no way they were going into E7 with the massive amount of baggage that the EU would have brought with it; especially considering how relatively few folks actually kept up with the entire EU. Yes, a new aligned canon took advantage of the clean slate, but it wasn’t the reason why the EU was set aside.

          • February 2, 2018 at 3:10 pm
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            The tiered system of the old EU was great and very much helped organize things. I understand if the Story group had issues with their EU during the start. I mean whenever you start something new; you are bound to encounter some issues.

            But as you said; this new EU is cannbalizing itself and Pablo Hidalgo being this PR guy doesn’t really help. It also just makes me question the Story Group. Do they even do anything outside a small bits of management of the canon with the movies?

        • February 2, 2018 at 2:32 am
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          You’re a tool with nostalgia glasses glued to your face. Time for crybabies like you to find another hobby.

    • February 1, 2018 at 8:06 pm
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      Fan fiction is unlicensed material. At least get your definitions right.

      Funny how the two women are the problem for you.

      • February 1, 2018 at 8:56 pm
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        Only funny if you are asleep.

      • February 2, 2018 at 9:23 am
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        Not only to him. And not because they are womans, but because they are stupid characters who are doing stupid moves.

        • February 2, 2018 at 2:23 pm
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          there is no real defense of this sh*tfest of a film, all the escuses are the same:
          Bold
          Exciting
          Unexpected
          you are a sexist
          you are a rasict
          you are a neckbeard
          you are a manchildren
          not your Star wars

          For crap sake tells us how we are wrong for saying the bombing sequence was dump?

          Hyperspace weapon?

          rescue the dog horses but not the kids?

          SPACE LEIA? REALLY?

          • February 4, 2018 at 5:19 am
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            Agree 1000%

          • February 4, 2018 at 5:19 am
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            Agree 1000%

        • February 2, 2018 at 3:18 pm
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          Well, I’ve seen his other comments and for him, it’s bc they are women (and they do smart things and save people)

        • February 4, 2018 at 5:19 am
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          Agree 100%

    • February 2, 2018 at 2:30 am
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      If “real” Star Wars fans feel the need to denote that fact in all-caps, count me out. Real pathetic, I’ll grant you, but you don’t get points for being more of an insufferable neckbeard than everyone else.

    • February 2, 2018 at 4:00 am
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      The worst fan fiction is fan fiction.

    • February 23, 2018 at 11:28 pm
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      Funny.. I go back and forth between you and a few others about who is the biggest joke on swnn….

  • February 1, 2018 at 8:07 pm
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    I plan on reading this. I hear decent things.

    • February 1, 2018 at 8:57 pm
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      I enjoyed it very much.

  • February 1, 2018 at 8:20 pm
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    Fry gives us more on Paige’s story? Then Paige got Fried! Again!

  • February 1, 2018 at 9:15 pm
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    The bombers made no sense to me – they literally had to get dangerously close over to the Imperial ship in order to “drop” their payload.

    Why not just turn the bombers, and angle their payload bays in the direction of the Imperial ships, but from a far – and safe -distance?

    There’s no gravity in space, and the momentum would have carried the bombs in the direction of the Imperial ship.

  • February 1, 2018 at 10:09 pm
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    who?

  • February 2, 2018 at 2:25 pm
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    where were the y-wings Rian?

  • February 2, 2018 at 3:07 pm
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    Cool, I guess. I love the concept of the bombers, but it does beg the question: Why not use Y-wings?Unless, the shields of that ship were extra strong or something. But I digress.

    I have to give credit to RJ for the sequence with Paige and the detonator. Not a single word of dialogue and he managed to produce so much tension. I know this sounds backhanded, but I honestly felt more of a connection to Paige than Rose during the entire movie. It makes me wish Paige survived.

    Still, a cool concept. Weird, but cool.

  • February 27, 2018 at 6:22 pm
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    I mean, I could go on and find some good articles on why people feel the need to be lazy but, honestly, I don’t care enough about you.

    • February 27, 2018 at 7:21 pm
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      Did I hit a nerve maybe……

      Seems odd that you still care enough to reply trying to justify yourself. Lazy you say, strange then that message boards use text terms as well – lol

      Maybe boards like this are just not that important as you think…

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