Goodbye Biggs…
As you may have read, the impending death of Biggs Darklighter (whose BMS counterpart seems to have found something of a fan following) led to a brief two week campaign masterminded by Paul Bruton. The Facebook group “Save Biggs Darklighter” gathered 81 members in just under 2 weeks! I encouraged readers to make their opinion heard because we do listen. The support for Biggs escaping imminent death was almost unanimous. Only a couple of voices spoke out against the idea, perhaps not wanting his charm to outstay its welcome. So, that brings us to this strip… in which Biggs dies.
Why did Biggs die when almost all our readers wanted him to live?
Part of me agrees with the idea that Biggs could have become a one-trick pony, another part of me thinks that we have to be careful how and where we choose to deviate from the films. The idea of a Biggs spin-off, or shoe-horning him into the linking material and The Empire Strikes Back seems to jump the shark. For that reason, Biggs died.
But don’t worry, 81 Biggs supporters can not be ignored, and both Leanne and myself love our version of the mustached rebel. There IS a way to have Biggs continue to recur while staying true to Blue Milk Special. We have a compromise and you’ll just have to wait a few weeks to discover what that is. Hang in there dear readers!
I also really need to thank Paul Bruton for being one of our longest term supporters and for letting us know that people enjoy some of our less likely characters enough to campaign for. Paul, your work will pay off. But we don’t want to force things so, again just bear with us.
Save Biggs Darklighter is on Facebook
It has really started to bother me how Wedge Antilles gets lightly clipped by a blast and then both he and Luke decide that he should leave the trench. “You can’t do any good back there” my arse! It’s true, the X-Wing guns point forwards, giving them little choice but to dodge bullets… but that is precisely the purpose (in my opinion) of the two wing men assigned to each attack run. They were there essentially to assist in suppressing turbo laser cannon fire, but also part of their responsibility not only to the wing leader but to the entire rebel cause and the galaxy itself, is to destroy the Death Star and save the moon of Yavin IV.
What I’m saying is that attack runs one and two demonstrated that the wingmen were there to sacrifice their lives if necessary by slowing down Vader and his Imperial counterparts from getting to the leader. So, telling Wedge to head home early after getting bruised (while there is less than one minute remaining before the Death Star is in range) strikes me as a little shortsighted and bad prioritizing. Biggs, however, sticks it out, buying Luke precious seconds at the heroic cost of his own life. Wedge Antilles is adored by fans. I admit, he’s okay, but I think it’s time for this particular moment to be reassessed objectively.
Vote for Blue Milk Special on TopWebComics!
To start reading Blue Milk Special from the beginning click here.
“Luke… use the force.” (Biggs)
“Shut up you. I’M his mentor!” (Ben)
“I died too you know?” (Biggs)
“Look, there’s only so much room in the lad’s head and I was here first.”
force biggs, yeah!
Well, Biggs supporters or no, you do need to remain reasonably true to canon – with a few deviations here and there, much to our delight. Obi Kenobi snuffed it, too, yet he remains a character through all three films. Biggs could still appear, even in flashbacks, and give the “Save Biggs” campers something to cheer about.
I admit, I hate to see him snuff it myself, but there are all sorts of ways he can be brought back, if not physically.
I look forward to seeing how you worked around his inevitable demise in ANH: Blue Milk Style.
There are some larger creative liberties taken towards the end of TESB and the first half of ROTJ that I hope readers will continue to support. I think the sequence of events is what remains an important guide for BMS and something we don’t want to tamper with. But the nature of the events will be “BMSed” in the process. In the more immediate future, we have an original mini-storyarc linking into both the Holiday Special and Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. Again, I hope that readers will embrace the occasional tangent adventures as that is part of what makes BMS fun to work on. The whole concept of BMS is to play with the existing scenes and on occasion to run with a “what if” while never straying too far for too long from the original canon.
I think the deviations from the actual storyline have been funny and original. I’m curious to see how you’ll bring Biggs back into the picture.
Genetically recreating him from fragments of scorched moustache? Or perhaps all that might survive IS a talking ‘tash? Or is this too like Woody Allen’s ‘Sleeper’ movie..?
BMS has to deviate from the canon to some degree or what’s the point? While Rob and Leanne’s artwork is good, there is little point in producing yet another comic that just retells the Star Wars story of the films. We’re all Star Wars fans and have seen the films umpteen times and know what happens (and in some cases can quote it word for word).
The joy of reading BMS (as well as the good art and most definitely the humour) is seeing what happens. We expect it to be different and want to see what is going to happen next, how our favourite scenes are changed/ dealt with or improved. When I get here I want something new but recognisable. Which Rob and Leanne have done an outstanding job of providing for us. Keep up the good work!
And also thanks to everyone who joined the Save Biggs group, I was very impressed by the speed at which we aquired the 84 members. Impressive particularly for a group that was actually started as a joke.
Can’t wait to see what you come up with for our Biggs. Personally I’d like to see a short comic about what he got up to between his appearances on BMS.
It’s Rod with a “d” actually. But I get called it so often by mistake I might as well start answering to it. 🙂
Ooops, Sorry Rod.
No worries.
My dad actually had the opposite happen. (Ie, his name is rob, and he’s had nametags handed to him that said rod.)
PS. The “Get a room” strip in the Mos Eisley Cantina is my favourite (I’ve got it as the background on my laptop). A good scene from the movie, improved by being BMSed.
PPS (sorry!) The Save Biggs Darklighter facebook group has become the BMS Biggs Darklighter Fan Club.
Biggs reminds me of Lando. He’s like a white version of lando with his cape and mustache.
Biggs Darklighter
The PREQUAL!
I hope one of Biggs’ upcoming appearances is him swinging into the Christmas Special, thus destroying it.
TOASTY!
Not sure if this has been mentioned but ever think that if an x/y wing had just put on the brakes and caused a space pile up many lives could have been saved… one guy stop smashes up Darth Vader then boom no death star.
Replying 1+ year late!
Dianoga, I dig your bumper-tag idea! How about an overhead Lightsaber swing in which a Jedi could turn it off and the right back on, effectively swinging right through a parry? I’ve never ever seen that, even in fanfic, yet it’s one of the first things on my mind everytime I see a LS duel.
It was just now I stared at the patter on Biggs’ helmet and realized that growing up, the Biggs’ Darklighter lego minifigure was a part of my childhood. I still have that helmet…….. :'(