First look at issue 1 of the new TOH arc

Greentea wrote:SWM, you are correct. I just got the comic. It is a story that has never appeared before either in a full novel or in one of the anthologies, set between OBS and HotQ.

Well, we've known for months that these would be new, never-seen-before stories. The question is whether they are considered part of Honorverse canon after they are published. Phalanx is concerned that they might not be canon--that the new comics will create a separate canon that is not part of the existing Honorverse.

SWM wrote:

Greentea wrote:SWM, you are correct. I just got the comic. It is a story that has never appeared before either in a full novel or in one of the anthologies, set between OBS and HotQ.

Well, we've known for months that these would be new, never-seen-before stories. The question is whether they are considered part of Honorverse canon after they are published. Phalanx is concerned that they might not be canon--that the new comics will create a separate canon that is not part of the existing Honorverse.

I have seen it done to Star Trek and Star Wars, but I would like it to not be done to the honorverse.

Well, to an extend there already is a lesser-Canon-tier(A Grand Tour from back in 1998 for starters, and Word-of-God via Baen's various Fora over time, Pearls & this very board, the insightful comments from Earnshaw ).

However I take your point, and I would like there to not be the confusion of my-Canon your-Canon everyone-knows-how-to-Canon that has sometimes plagued the Trekkie-Warsie interface (among a great many other things ).

Of course we would need a (Meta-)Word-of-God on what the rule should be, but I am hoping it will be quite simple; e.g.: Anything either published by Weber or not in direct conflict with same = Canon. Anything in true conflict (as opposed to differences in point of view, etc.) with Weber = Quasi-Canon.

So something like "Everything is Canon, unless & until proven otherwise." (by the above litmus)

Of course Non-conflicting by litmus yet mutually contradicting products' Canonicity would have to be decided somehow ... probably by publication date. (my suggestion would be oldest is king = failure to do research is punished, but the other way around is more common; so Weber would have to rule on this Corollary too).

Phalanx wrote:

SWM wrote:Well, we've known for months that these would be new, never-seen-before stories. The question is whether they are considered part of Honorverse canon after they are published. Phalanx is concerned that they might not be canon--that the new comics will create a separate canon that is not part of the existing Honorverse.

I have seen it done to Star Trek and Star Wars, but I would like it to not be done to the honorverse.

Well, I got the "free" issue 'prequel' at Liberycon and picked up issue #1 on Sunday the 5th and....

It should fit within Canon, they are using the period of time (several years) between On Baslisk Station and Honor of the Queen to do the new story, and the way issue #1 is playing, I can see that as being something that Honor would not have spoken of in the books (kind of a 'black' operation).

I like it because we get to meet Allison, and flesh out Horace and Scotty, and Uncle Jacques will be showing up soon (and who is that mystery man? If it isn't Jacques, I have a good idea who it is...).

As for Nimitz, I think it is about the best we're going to get. At least he is shown as cuddly and affectionate with Honor, unlike the beast in the first series of comics. Not perfect, but better than the cover art to the novels we've learned to live with all these years.

I'll definitely be buying the rest.

Speaking of buying the rest... I just rechecked the publishing schedule and was baffled... #2 published Sept 2, #3 published Aug 26...

as seen here...

Is this right? Because I cannot find any announcements regarding it.

Just to update, I picked up Tales of Honor: Bred to Kill #3 a week or so ago, so apparently Top Cow will continue with at least this comic. Beyond that is probably dependent on the market and how well it is selling.

It's set in that period of Honor's command of CA "Fearless" prior to it's deployment to Grayson. It skirts canon, but as far as I can tell it hasn't violated it.

I do like the 'new' story arc, it introduces a number of people and stories (Beowulf, Solarian League, genetic slavery) that we didn't see until later in the books, and with a couple exceptions (see below), it has been a good little story that I am looking forward to continuing with.

That said, SPOILERS! Nothing that would stop you from reading the comic, but SPOILERS!!

...The Horace Harkness back-story "how I came to hate Marines and love the Navy" is servicable but nothing we haven't seen in stories before.

...I do not like what they are doing with 'Uncle Jacques", they are making him out to be a bit of a wimp, which to anyone who has read about him is about as far from canon as you can get (reference the MWW story "Beauty and the Beast")

...Nimitz is pretty good, definitely alien but at least you can imagine him being cuddlesome.

...The hexapumas and peak bears are..bears and pumas--could have used a little more work on them.

But all in all they are making a nice story. Interesting to see where it goes.