The world’s biggest battery was officially launched in Australia on Friday, a day after the Elon Musk-driven project was powered up early to meet demand amid a bout of hot weather, officials said. Musk’s Tesla built the Powerpack system, which can provide electricity for more than 30,000 homes, to ease South Australia’s energy woes after the state was hit with a total blackout in 2016 following an "unprecedented" storm. The maverick billionaire earlier this year offered on Twitter to build the battery farm, and completed it last week to narrowly beat his self-imposed deadline of having it ready in 100 days. "South Australia is now leading the world in dispatchable renewable energy, delivered to homes and businesses 24/7," state Premier Jay Weatherill said Friday at the launch to coincide with the first day of summer. "This is history in the making." The 100 MW/129 MWh battery, located in the rural town of Jamestown north of Adelaide and connected to a wind farm operated by French energy firm Neoen, was switched on a day early, just as temperatures soar in the state. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) said it delivered 70MW of stored wind energy into the state’s market to meet peak demand on Thursday. The world's biggest battery was officially launched in Australia on Friday Credit: AFP The battery farm is expected to help tackle power shortages, reduce intermittencies and address demands in summer, when most of the country experiences its highest energy usage. Tesla said it was hopeful the project would provide a model for future deployments around the world, adding in a statement Friday that its fast completion "shows that a sustainable, effective energy solution is possible". Neoen deputy chief executive Romain Desrousseaux said the "ambitious" project – which Musk estimated cost at least US$50 million – would bring the state to the forefront of global energy storage technology. Last summer, extreme hot weather as well as storms saw blackouts hit some regions of Australia. The AEMO is switching on closed gas-fired power stations to provide extra power to Australia’s east coast this season. Although Australia is one of the world’s largest producers of coal and gas, the South Australian blackout raised questions about its energy security. Several ageing coal-fired power plants have been closed, while strong demand for gas exports and a rise in onshore gas drilling bans have fuelled concerns of a looming domestic energy shortage in the next few years. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull earlier this year said a hydro-electric project in New South Wales state, the Snowy Mountains Scheme, would be expanded to provide electricity to 500,000 homes. More than 60 percent of electricity generation in Australia is from coal, with 14 percent from renewables, according to government data published last year. History of Tesla  

“I’m taking an awful risk, Vader. This had better work.”

So said Grand Moff Tarkin to Darth Vader, as they allowed a Rebel contingent including Princess Leia to escape the Death Star in an attempt to locate the insurgents’ hidden military base. The plan succeeded, until a young upstart among that strategically liberated crew managed to destroy the Death Star before the base could be wiped out.

On December 27, writers Ben Acker and Ben Blacker team up with artist Mike Mayhew to guide Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in search of a new home for their Rebellion in STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI – STORMS OF CRAIT #1!

Soon to be seen in the upcoming “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” the mineral world Crait once received a visit from two prominent Rebels fresh off of their first major victory against the Empire. We spoke with Acker and Blacker to hear more about the history of the planet.

Marvel: What can you tell us about the how you two came to work on this particular comic?

Ben Blacker: We’ve worked with editors Jordan White and Heather Antos a number of times, most recently on DEADPOOL V GAMBIT (available in collected edition now!), and it’s always a pleasure receiving a call from them. Jordan and Heather know we’re enormous Star Wars fans, as they’ve read and publicly and privately raved about our young adult novel series, “Star Wars: Join the Resistance” (the first two books are available now!). So, to answer your question, they phoned us up and asked if we wanted to write this one-shot. We didn’t have to think about it. This is classic Star Wars!

Ben Acker: When Jordan and Heather call us up, we say yes. We said it even louder than usual about working on Star Wars with them.

Marvel: STORMS OF CRAIT takes place decades before the planet’s upcoming appearance in “The Last Jedi,” so what’s it like crafting this story while simultaneously sowing seeds that might connect to the film?

Ben Acker: It was the most fun tightrope to walk, getting to write for these characters. Our YA novel series takes place in the era of “The Force Awakens,” so this time we got to write the characters in the time period we grew up on. That didn’t feel like a tightrope at all!

Ben Blacker: It actually didn’t feel too precarious because, while the book does set up a location that will pay off in the new movie, our story takes place entirely in the time between “A New Hope” and “The Empire Strikes Back.” Once we had that time period nailed down, the difficult part was keeping the characters consistent with the timeframe. Obviously, we end up knowing a lot more about the lives of Leia, Luke, Han, and Chewbacca than they do at that time. They’re still pretty young and untested, despite their recent success in destroying the Death Star. So, we had to put ourselves in that mindset and remember, like, they don’t know what an Ewok is yet.

Marvel: With the Rebels on the run, how did they come to select this particular planet? Did anything make it particularly appealing to Luke, Leia, and company? 

Ben Acker: It’s got some strategic advantages to it, so that it makes sense as a base, but I’d hate to spoil anything by saying much more than that. Also, Leia has personal reasons to make a go of the planet.

Ben Blacker: Leia has an emotional connection to Crait, which forms the heart of the story. She’s the one who brings them there and she has a lot at stake.

Marvel: Mike Mayhew’s art—as well as the images fans have seen in the movie trailers—present Crait as a very visually striking planet. Will we discover the reasoning behind the unique red and white color of the world?

Ben Blacker: It’s a really cool location. Visually, obviously, it’s striking and a palette we haven’t really seen in the Star Wars universe yet. I don’t know if we can really talk about the color scheme, as the reasons for the white planet with red beneath sort of plays into our story. What we grabbed onto, beyond that, is that Crait was a mining planet. That fact helped us create a new character who’s an old ally of Leia’s father and opened up the story in both action and emotion.

Ben Acker: I’m not even sure we can say that! But since you brought up Mike Mayhew, he’s amazing, isn’t he?

Marvel: Absolutely! What did Mike’s contributions to the story do to make this book really stand out?

Ben Acker: I feel like I was just talking about him! He’s so good at it. He’s an absolute perfectionist to boot. He makes the comic feel completely cinematic; you can all but hear John Williams coming off the page. It’s dazzling to see. There is a fight scene involving a lightsaber that made me feel like a kid, but my favorite bit is these three panels about midway through the book…a series of Luke reacting to something. Mike just nails the expressions. I can’t wait for you to see the book, but I especially can’t wait for you to see the three panels of Luke on page 16.

Ben Blacker: Mike has created a stunning book. I think we’re pretty good writers, and our script got the job done. But Mike makes this an incredible read. Besides the usual stuff you expect with a great artist—the acting of the characters—Mike has an incredible attention to detail. The opening is an absolute knockout. It feels like you’re watching one of the movies. And with his stuff on Crait, you can really feel the roughness and bareness of the planet. And then there’s the titular storm, which is exciting.

Marvel: Things surely can’t go too smoothly for our heroes in this story, so what villains might we get to see in this story? How do they factor into the Rebels’ search for a new base?

Ben Blacker: You’ll see some familiar baddies from the Star Wars comics. There’s a lot going on in this brief book. And you might even say that the planet Crait itself acts as an antagonist to our heroes. I wouldn’t, though, because that’s dumb.

Ben Acker: And I’d just like to say it might be fun to see things go smoothly for the Rebels someday!

Marvel: How do you create a sense of tension while knowing so much about where these characters go after this story’s over?

Ben Blacker: It all comes down to the emotions of the characters. The story has to matter. They have to care about things. The stakes for both Leia and Luke feel big in this story.

Also, we kill Chewbacca. The wookiee you see in “Empire,” “Jedi,” and “The Force Awakens” is not Chewie.

Marvel.com: Ben…

Ben Acker: No spoilers, but the end of this book involves Han going to the store and getting a new wookiee, who they all call Chewie Three (the Chewbacca in “A New Hope” is Chewie Two).

Marvel.com: Ben.

Ben Acker: Nobody knows what happened to Chewie One. It’s one of the great mysteries of Star Wars along with what kind of alien Yoda is. R.I.P. Chewie Two.

Marvel.com: Ben!

Ben Acker: A good thing about writing for Star Wars has been that even our joke-around answers become totally canon. We’ve gone mad with canon power and we abuse it terribly. Ben Kenobi is really Darth Vader! Kenobi is Vader! Vader is Kenobi! Canon!

Marvel.com: Final question now: how did it feel writing a kind of backstory for a planet from an upcoming movie? Were there any “wow” moments?

Ben Acker: The thrill was connecting the characters we older fans grew up on with the ones in the current movies. They walk literally the same ground, but in different ways. It’s pretty heady to connect it all. It felt like one big “wow” moment to write. I hope it feels that way to the readers.

Ben Blacker: I think the biggest “wow” is Mike’s art. Seriously, people will be stunned by how beautiful it looks and how much it really evokes the feeling of watching the movies. Beyond that, though, what the Marvel Comics Star Wars books have done really well is tuck stories into the cracks and backgrounds of the movies, providing a depth and scope to the greater universe that feels thrilling for fans. As fans, getting to provide some of that backstory has been a particular joy.

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI – STORMS OF CRAIT #1, by Ben Acker, Ben Blacker, and artist Mike Mayhew, drops on December 27!

“I’m taking an awful risk, Vader. This had better work.”

So said Grand Moff Tarkin to Darth Vader, as they allowed a Rebel contingent including Princess Leia to escape the Death Star in an attempt to locate the insurgents’ hidden military base. The plan succeeded, until a young upstart among that strategically liberated crew managed to destroy the Death Star before the base could be wiped out.

On December 27, writers Ben Acker and Ben Blacker team up with artist Mike Mayhew to guide Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in search of a new home for their Rebellion in STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI – STORMS OF CRAIT #1!

Soon to be seen in the upcoming “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” the mineral world Crait once received a visit from two prominent Rebels fresh off of their first major victory against the Empire. We spoke with Acker and Blacker to hear more about the history of the planet.

Marvel: What can you tell us about the how you two came to work on this particular comic?

Ben Blacker: We’ve worked with editors Jordan White and Heather Antos a number of times, most recently on DEADPOOL V GAMBIT (available in collected edition now!), and it’s always a pleasure receiving a call from them. Jordan and Heather know we’re enormous Star Wars fans, as they’ve read and publicly and privately raved about our young adult novel series, “Star Wars: Join the Resistance” (the first two books are available now!). So, to answer your question, they phoned us up and asked if we wanted to write this one-shot. We didn’t have to think about it. This is classic Star Wars!

Ben Acker: When Jordan and Heather call us up, we say yes. We said it even louder than usual about working on Star Wars with them.

Marvel: STORMS OF CRAIT takes place decades before the planet’s upcoming appearance in “The Last Jedi,” so what’s it like crafting this story while simultaneously sowing seeds that might connect to the film?

Ben Acker: It was the most fun tightrope to walk, getting to write for these characters. Our YA novel series takes place in the era of “The Force Awakens,” so this time we got to write the characters in the time period we grew up on. That didn’t feel like a tightrope at all!

Ben Blacker: It actually didn’t feel too precarious because, while the book does set up a location that will pay off in the new movie, our story takes place entirely in the time between “A New Hope” and “The Empire Strikes Back.” Once we had that time period nailed down, the difficult part was keeping the characters consistent with the timeframe. Obviously, we end up knowing a lot more about the lives of Leia, Luke, Han, and Chewbacca than they do at that time. They’re still pretty young and untested, despite their recent success in destroying the Death Star. So, we had to put ourselves in that mindset and remember, like, they don’t know what an Ewok is yet.

Marvel: With the Rebels on the run, how did they come to select this particular planet? Did anything make it particularly appealing to Luke, Leia, and company? 

Ben Acker: It’s got some strategic advantages to it, so that it makes sense as a base, but I’d hate to spoil anything by saying much more than that. Also, Leia has personal reasons to make a go of the planet.

Ben Blacker: Leia has an emotional connection to Crait, which forms the heart of the story. She’s the one who brings them there and she has a lot at stake.

Marvel: Mike Mayhew’s art—as well as the images fans have seen in the movie trailers—present Crait as a very visually striking planet. Will we discover the reasoning behind the unique red and white color of the world?

Ben Blacker: It’s a really cool location. Visually, obviously, it’s striking and a palette we haven’t really seen in the Star Wars universe yet. I don’t know if we can really talk about the color scheme, as the reasons for the white planet with red beneath sort of plays into our story. What we grabbed onto, beyond that, is that Crait was a mining planet. That fact helped us create a new character who’s an old ally of Leia’s father and opened up the story in both action and emotion.

Ben Acker: I’m not even sure we can say that! But since you brought up Mike Mayhew, he’s amazing, isn’t he?

Marvel: Absolutely! What did Mike’s contributions to the story do to make this book really stand out?

Ben Acker: I feel like I was just talking about him! He’s so good at it. He’s an absolute perfectionist to boot. He makes the comic feel completely cinematic; you can all but hear John Williams coming off the page. It’s dazzling to see. There is a fight scene involving a lightsaber that made me feel like a kid, but my favorite bit is these three panels about midway through the book…a series of Luke reacting to something. Mike just nails the expressions. I can’t wait for you to see the book, but I especially can’t wait for you to see the three panels of Luke on page 16.

Ben Blacker: Mike has created a stunning book. I think we’re pretty good writers, and our script got the job done. But Mike makes this an incredible read. Besides the usual stuff you expect with a great artist—the acting of the characters—Mike has an incredible attention to detail. The opening is an absolute knockout. It feels like you’re watching one of the movies. And with his stuff on Crait, you can really feel the roughness and bareness of the planet. And then there’s the titular storm, which is exciting.

Marvel: Things surely can’t go too smoothly for our heroes in this story, so what villains might we get to see in this story? How do they factor into the Rebels’ search for a new base?

Ben Blacker: You’ll see some familiar baddies from the Star Wars comics. There’s a lot going on in this brief book. And you might even say that the planet Crait itself acts as an antagonist to our heroes. I wouldn’t, though, because that’s dumb.

Ben Acker: And I’d just like to say it might be fun to see things go smoothly for the Rebels someday!

Marvel: How do you create a sense of tension while knowing so much about where these characters go after this story’s over?

Ben Blacker: It all comes down to the emotions of the characters. The story has to matter. They have to care about things. The stakes for both Leia and Luke feel big in this story.

Also, we kill Chewbacca. The wookiee you see in “Empire,” “Jedi,” and “The Force Awakens” is not Chewie.

Marvel.com: Ben…

Ben Acker: No spoilers, but the end of this book involves Han going to the store and getting a new wookiee, who they all call Chewie Three (the Chewbacca in “A New Hope” is Chewie Two).

Marvel.com: Ben.

Ben Acker: Nobody knows what happened to Chewie One. It’s one of the great mysteries of Star Wars along with what kind of alien Yoda is. R.I.P. Chewie Two.

Marvel.com: Ben!

Ben Acker: A good thing about writing for Star Wars has been that even our joke-around answers become totally canon. We’ve gone mad with canon power and we abuse it terribly. Ben Kenobi is really Darth Vader! Kenobi is Vader! Vader is Kenobi! Canon!

Marvel.com: Final question now: how did it feel writing a kind of backstory for a planet from an upcoming movie? Were there any “wow” moments?

Ben Acker: The thrill was connecting the characters we older fans grew up on with the ones in the current movies. They walk literally the same ground, but in different ways. It’s pretty heady to connect it all. It felt like one big “wow” moment to write. I hope it feels that way to the readers.

Ben Blacker: I think the biggest “wow” is Mike’s art. Seriously, people will be stunned by how beautiful it looks and how much it really evokes the feeling of watching the movies. Beyond that, though, what the Marvel Comics Star Wars books have done really well is tuck stories into the cracks and backgrounds of the movies, providing a depth and scope to the greater universe that feels thrilling for fans. As fans, getting to provide some of that backstory has been a particular joy.

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI – STORMS OF CRAIT #1, by Ben Acker, Ben Blacker, and artist Mike Mayhew, drops on December 27!

1917 to 2017: 100 years of Kirby.

Join us to celebrate Jack “King” Kirby’s 100^th birthday by learning about the characters and stories he created that changed comics forever. To commemorate Jack’s centennial, we’ve sat down with the modern-day creators he influenced—and the decades of work he gifted us all.

In their time working together, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby conveyed many lessons to their readers, but one of the primaries included “things aren’t always what they seem.” The duo worked that theme in 1970’s FANTASTIC FOUR #97 on a variety of levels.

First and foremost, what seemed like a simple vacation for the First Family of Marvel turned into a monster hunt as Reed drove Ben and Johnny around in a borrowed Air-Sea Cruiser in an effort to find out what caused a series of sunken ships in Lost Lagoon. Seeing a humanoid shape in the water, the erstwhile Mister Fantastic thought they figured out part of the problem, but an enormous whale interrupted their search. Fed up, The Human Torch flew back to the nearby beach where Sue actually enjoyed their vacation with young Franklin.

As the teammates met up to try and just enjoy themselves, the action cut away to an undersea cave where the creature revealed itself as a green water-breather who could use some kind of agent to transform himself to look more human. He then swam up to the surface world where he worked a dolphin show at an oceanarium. The fish-man recognized Reed, Johnny and Ben from earlier that day and wondered if they did the same with him as he performed his act. Still driven to figure out the problem at hand, Richards asked the swimmer to help guide them underwater to find the party responsible for the downed ships.

Fantastic Four (1961) #97

• Published: April 10, 1970
• Added to Marvel Unlimited: November 13, 2007
• Penciller: Jack Kirby
• Cover Artist: Jack Kirby

Read

What is Marvel Unlimited?

They seemed to work well together—even though the newcomer didn’t actually speak—until the would-be guide punched his way through the ship’s hull and swam off. The Thing managed to get his friends into another underwater cavern filled with air where they came face to face with their transformed foe for the first time! Though the creature proved strong enough to take Ben on in a fistfight, he made a break for it as soon as the Torch shot off some of his own brand of fireworks.

Moving further into the cavern, our heroes discovered the truth of the matter as they came upon the creature loading water balls onto some kind of spaceship! Reed explained that the alien must have landed on Earth and needed to stock up on H20, taking out any nearby ships just to keep him and his partner safe. Having fulfilled its immediate mission, the extraterrestrial motioned for the adventurers to back away as he entered the ship and blasted off for home! With that, the Fantastic Four could get back to their relaxation time and enjoy some fun in the sun.

Stay tuned to Marvel.com for more throughout Kirby Month and beyond! And join the conversation on all of our social channels with the hashtag #Kirby100.

1917 to 2017: 100 years of Kirby.

Join us to celebrate Jack “King” Kirby’s 100^th birthday by learning about the characters and stories he created that changed comics forever. To commemorate Jack’s centennial, we’ve sat down with the modern-day creators he influenced—and the decades of work he gifted us all.

In their time working together, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby conveyed many lessons to their readers, but one of the primaries included “things aren’t always what they seem.” The duo worked that theme in 1970’s FANTASTIC FOUR #97 on a variety of levels.

First and foremost, what seemed like a simple vacation for the First Family of Marvel turned into a monster hunt as Reed drove Ben and Johnny around in a borrowed Air-Sea Cruiser in an effort to find out what caused a series of sunken ships in Lost Lagoon. Seeing a humanoid shape in the water, the erstwhile Mister Fantastic thought they figured out part of the problem, but an enormous whale interrupted their search. Fed up, The Human Torch flew back to the nearby beach where Sue actually enjoyed their vacation with young Franklin.

As the teammates met up to try and just enjoy themselves, the action cut away to an undersea cave where the creature revealed itself as a green water-breather who could use some kind of agent to transform himself to look more human. He then swam up to the surface world where he worked a dolphin show at an oceanarium. The fish-man recognized Reed, Johnny and Ben from earlier that day and wondered if they did the same with him as he performed his act. Still driven to figure out the problem at hand, Richards asked the swimmer to help guide them underwater to find the party responsible for the downed ships.

Fantastic Four (1961) #97

• Published: April 10, 1970
• Added to Marvel Unlimited: November 13, 2007
• Penciller: Jack Kirby
• Cover Artist: Jack Kirby

Read

What is Marvel Unlimited?

They seemed to work well together—even though the newcomer didn’t actually speak—until the would-be guide punched his way through the ship’s hull and swam off. The Thing managed to get his friends into another underwater cavern filled with air where they came face to face with their transformed foe for the first time! Though the creature proved strong enough to take Ben on in a fistfight, he made a break for it as soon as the Torch shot off some of his own brand of fireworks.

Moving further into the cavern, our heroes discovered the truth of the matter as they came upon the creature loading water balls onto some kind of spaceship! Reed explained that the alien must have landed on Earth and needed to stock up on H20, taking out any nearby ships just to keep him and his partner safe. Having fulfilled its immediate mission, the extraterrestrial motioned for the adventurers to back away as he entered the ship and blasted off for home! With that, the Fantastic Four could get back to their relaxation time and enjoy some fun in the sun.

Stay tuned to Marvel.com for more throughout Kirby Month and beyond! And join the conversation on all of our social channels with the hashtag #Kirby100.

WASHINGTON ― Senate Republicans avoided the most embarrassing scenario for their tax bill Thursday ― an unexpected floor defeat that would have sent the legislation back to committee ― but they are still facing a significant stumbling block and, hours before a vote, are still changing portions of their bill.

Over the years, Star Wars has introduced us to some of the most amazing and fantastic settings ever seen. With “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” debuting on December 15, we’ll find ourselves on another new planet by the name of Crait.

Like everything in the Star Wars Universe, though, this locale has a deep history, ready for exploration in comic book form! That’s where STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI – STORMS OF CRAIT comes in by writers Ben Blacker and Ben Acker along with artist Mike Mayhew. The series will rewind to the time when Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo checked to see if Crait would make a suitable home for the Rebellion.

We talked with Mayhew about getting a first look from Lucasfilm, working with these iconic characters, and how he changed up his style for this project.

Marvel.com: You’ve worked on the Star Wars books before, but this is a direct tie-in with one of the movies. Has that changed the process for you at all?

Mike Mayhew: It did change my process somewhat.

My Star Wars art has gone through an evolution, starting with my adaptation of George Lucas’ original screenplay “The Star Wars.” With that book, I wanted the cinematic, photographic art to make readers feel like they were watching an alternate universe version of the first film, and was less interested in making “comic art.”

That photo-real sensibility carried over into my work on Old Ben’s Journal from STAR WARS #15 and #20, where it made sense that the stories would feel like “prequel” films on paper.

This year I was able to move the “realism” bar higher on my series of STAR WARS covers for issues #33–37. It was my first time using some new 3D rendering techniques, like PBR rendering, or “physically based rendering,” which allowed me to get very realistic images without spending time setting up “lights” around [a] 3D model.

When the opportunity came for STORMS OF CRAIT, I wanted to see if I could make a Star Wars story with that technique I used on the recent covers.

Marvel.com: I’m sure you can’t get into specifics, but were you able to get a look at elements from the film to help you get a feel for what kind of planet Crait is?

Mike Mayhew: Long story short, it was a guessing game. I remember getting some images of Crait from Lucasfilm at the beginning thinking I was getting some special insight and it turns out 90% of what I got was already online. So, I basically saw what was available for you all to see and had to figure it out from there.

For the purposes of our story, it made a lot of sense to show how Crait was similar to Tatooine. In the beginning of our story that connection plays in the mind of Luke Skywalker. This story takes place after Luke has blown up the Death Star. He’s on the road to being a Jedi and all of the sudden finds himself on a barren planet doing soil samples with farming gear for the Rebellion. It’s not quite the high adventure he’s always dreamed of, and feels he’s worthy of.

Marvel.com: The classic, original Star Wars heroes feature in this story. What was your approach to capturing old school Han, Luke and Leia?

Mike Mayhew: I had a lot passion to make a “film on paper” that featured the original cast from the movie. There are so many tales about how long and arduous it was for George Lucas to cast the first film, but we can all agree on how incredibly charming they are and that they have undeniable chemistry.

While admiring the work of artists like John Cassaday on Marvel’s current incarnation of the STAR WARS comic, I’d always been conscious about how much extra work it would be to have to create hundreds of images that feature the original cast. Capturing the likenesses [is] a very tricky and unique problem. There isn’t the latitude you might have in portraying Tony Stark or Steve Rogers in a comic. The world knows Han, Luke, and Leia by the actors that originated them. They weren’t originally “comic characters” who could be open to some interpretation. So, the expectation of seeing the actor is there on some subconscious level. And that’s a very, very hard thing to fake or make up, especially consistently over a larger body of work. I think I came close to what I hoped was possible in terms of creating images that felt like “film stills” from a long, lost Star Wars episode. That’s pretty much my approach to all my Star Wars art.

Marvel.com: The story features Luke and Leia looking to see if Crait could be a new home for the Rebellion. What can you say about the obstacles that stand in their way and the process that went into designing them?

Mike Mayhew: The main thing that [that] hinges on whether Crait is a viable home for the Rebellion is a friend of Leia’s father named Trusk Berinato. I really enjoyed exploring who he might be visually and character-wise. I imagined him to be a rogue, like Lando, which is my favorite type of character in Star Wars. I was excited for him to make an impression, since he was the first “original” character I’d visually created for Star Wars.

The white, salt crust and red dust and earth of Crait have a lot of visual potential. For instance, the red dust can have all sorts of characteristics when the Rebellion Ski Speeders leave trails of it, or it might be different when something crashes into the ground. We get to dig deep into the depths of the planet surface as well in trenches, and even in mines that are of interest to the Rebellion.

And, spoiler alert, there is a storm. I wanted [the] storm to be visually distinctive and lend itself to the action. During the storm there is a chase, so I use the storm to heighten the sense of speed, or during battles I use the storm to add to the danger and drama. I think it’s going to make for a dynamic and unique visual, especially following the blue sky pre-storm scenes that look more like the Crait we’ve seen in the “Last Jedi” trailer.

Marvel.com: How has it been working with Ben and Ben on this project?

Mike Mayhew: Ben and Ben were great to work with! From the first reading of the script I knew we had the right mix of great character moments and hardcore Star Wars action that would give readers the story they deserve. There are all the hallmarks of great Star Wars storytelling, from space battles, to strange planets, otherworldly characters, and even the familiar climax that cuts back and forth from one hair-raising action set piece to another. I can’t wait to see “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” and think Ben and Ben really crafted a story that will stand as a companion piece to the film.

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI – STORMS OF CRAIT #1, by Ben Acker, Ben Blacker and Mike Mayhew strikes down on December 27!