Another month, another Star Wars book tie-in.
As if our favourite sci-fi saga had not been pushing itself into overkill territory already, you might think – thanks to Disney, no doubt – now we are presented with a new, weighty tome that covers the history of everyone’s favourite winners of the worst marksmen in cinematic history award.
Thing is, this book is good. You honestly wouldn’t think that there would be enough of a subject to cover here to create a book of this size, but you’d be wrong.This release literally covers everything you think you’d need to know as well as everything you never knew you wanted to know.
It gloriously relives the original trilogy, throwing facts at you on nearly every page, covering everything from exactly how the costumes and helmets were made down to what happened to those troopers who had their uniforms stolen by Han and Luke on the Death Star. There are sections that cover all the merchandise, figures, LEGO, books, comics and video games included, as well as some rather strange variants such as the infamous Death Troopers (Stormtroopers who have been zombified). Snowtroopers, Biker Scouts, TIE fighter pilots and every other variation of trooper you can think of are covered here in great detail, including the Clones, of course.
Without poring through every other Star Wars book release, it’s impossible to tell if everything written in here is new, and undoubtedly some of it is rehashed from other books you may have read, but to have all this information in one single place about the Imperial army is a fantastic bonus.
There is some great concept art included, showing the different evolving stages that the characters took on before they made their way to the big screen. There is also a pleasant inclusion about the great work that the fans, and the 501st Legion in particular, do for charity, which highlights that not all bad guys fail to have a positive side too – not unlike Finn.
So yes, another Star Wars book, but one that is worth the purchase in order to delve into the backstory and evolution of one of the saga’s greatest and most underestimated forces itself.
Fascinating, enlightening and chocked full of stuff that will make you appreciate these unsung anti-heroes just that little bit more.
Now, if we could only get them to take some more target practice lessons.
STAR WARS STORMTROOPERS: BEYOND THE ARMOR / AUTHOR: RYDER WINDHAM & ADAM BRAY / PUBLISHER: HARPER DESIGN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
