Peter Mayhew, the towering British actor best known for his long-time role as Chewbacca, Han Solo’s fuzzball sidekick and co-pilot in the Star Wars film franchise, has died. He was 74. Though the actor never revealed his face in the Star Wars movies, his character has been a prominent figure in the popular franchise since the beginning, having appeared in the Original Trilogy starting in 1977, and then in Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith (2005) and some of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).

The Mayhew family formally announced the actor’s passing over social media earlier today, saying that he died on the evening of April 30, 2019 at his North Texas home surrounded by family. The statement revealed that Mayhew had been suffering through a series of physical ailments in the past few years, but had overcome being wheelchair-bound to reprise his role as Chewbacca in 2015’s The Force Awakens. However, the years started to take its toll, and the 7-foot, 3-inch actor would soon have to pass on the Wookiee suit and bowcaster to Joonas Suotamo. Suotamo had already played the more physical parts for Chewbacca in The Force Awakens before taking over the role completely in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Solo: A Star Wars Story. But Mayhew did serve as “Chewbacca Consultant” for both of those later films.

Solo: A Star Wars Story
Expanded Edition Novelization
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
Written by Mur Lafferty
Audiobook narrated by Marc Thompson
Publisher: Del Rey Books | Random House Audio
Release date: September 4, 2018

A few weeks ago, I reviewed the audiobook for the junior novel for Solo: A Star Wars Story, the first of two novelizations of the film released in conjunction with the Blu-ray Edition. I apologize that it took nearly three weeks to get around to this Expanded Edition, but, yanno, life and other Geeks of Doom reviews.

Much like I explained in the review of the Joe Schreiber junior novelization, Mur Lafferty‘s novelization is just that, a scene-by-scene retelling of the movie. The Junior Novel promised and delivered on a handful of deleted scenes that didn’t make the theatrical cut; the Expanded Edition promises and delivers on that and a whole ton more.

When it comes to over-the-top cosplay creations, ConnectiCon does not disappoint. And while many cosplayers try to stay in character as much as possible throughout the long days, there are always moments when they need to take a breather and let loose, just like everybody else.

Even the simplest moments can become unique, fascinating and funny. Check out Geeks of Doom’s 15 favorite images of cosplayers caught off guard at ConnectiCon 2017.

Each and every week, I, “Sports Reference!” Henchman 21 and “Movie Reference!” Empress Eve read a lot of comics. Seriously you guys, a lot of comics. Maybe too many comics. I mean, it is possible”¦ theoretically. Naturally, we look forward to some more than others. I mean, who doesn’t? So, let’s take a look into the depths of our pull lists, grab some comics, and we’ll let YOU know what the top books to look forward to are for the week of October 14, 2015. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

This is a week with a lot of prestige books by some of the greatest creators working in comics from a lot of different companies. This is a very good week for new releases, with a couple of titles that are shoe-ins to win some major awards next year. And there are plenty of other great books, including plenty of new Marvel titles, but we can only cover so many. So let’s get to telling you about some spectacular picks on The GoD List!

We Star Wars aficionados grab onto anything related to this expansive universe whenever possible. Since Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm, more and more items involving Star Wars have begun popping up online. Disney Store has been leading the way in offering an assortment of merchandise that will make you want to exhibit your fervor even further.

Here are 10 of my picks as must-have Star Wars products for not only you, but also potentially members of your Star Wars family.