Leia – Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Ryan Kelly & Dan Parsons — Leia Flies In

May 14, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Star Wars #8, August 2013

Once again, Leia takes control in this terrific page from the art team of Ryan Kelly and Dan Parsons.

The Princess grabs a ship and heads off on her own in this final classic saga series from Dark Horse (written by Brian Wood) before the rights reverted back to Marvel.

Even If Lucas retconned his own work in the making of the original Trilogy, and decided that Leia was Luke’s sister after the fact, she’s the baddest ass of the bunch. She’s not to be taken for granted or trifled with, even if she doesn’t have “Force Powers.”

But I will say this: Her resistance to Vader’s torture droid on the Death Star makes more sense if she does.

Back here next week with more Star Wars.

Fun (or not-so fun) fact: We never actually see Leia pilot a ship in the classic trilogy, and we never see her Mom Padme fly on her own in the prequels either. But I guess Princesses typically have drivers?

*Marvel rebrands the original Dark Horse comics with its own trade dress for print and digital collections.*

Carmine Infantino & Gene Day — Leia & Luke, Buried Alive!

May 12, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Star Wars Weekly #109 (UK), March 1980

Here’s a classic era Star Wars page featuring pencils from Carmine Infantino with inks from Gene Day.

It’s from a Star Wars story written by fan-favorite Chris Claremont, which ended up without a logical place in the timeline, as Marvel couldn’t fully predict when Lucasfilm would permit story insight and scheduling approval related to events of Empire Strikes Back.

Infantino drew many of the Star wars stories that appeared in between New Hope and ESB, and many after as well, but this odd continuity duck” didn’t make into the U.S. comics.

Instead, it ends up in Marvels Star Wars Weekly, a combination of “new” and reprint material.

The weekly format featured shorter stories, more serialized, making them even closer in spirit to Lucas’ favorite SF, the classic Flash Gordon serials. Perfect for titles like “Molten Doom!” and “Buried Alive!”

And, except for a slot in an oddball licensed Marvel book collection, the story remained un-reprinted for more than 30 years, until Dark Horse included it in one of its Omnibus collections. (And now, it’s been reprinted twice by Marvel, so it’s a bit easier to find.)

Terry & Rachel Dodson — Leia Steps Up

May 10, 2022 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Princess Leia #5, September 2015

Of all the characters in the classic (original trilogy) Star Wars Universe, Leia is the most intriguing.

Nearly all of the other characters in the saga are archetypes found in dozens, if not hundreds of myths, fables and tales. George Lucas revered the late author Joseph Campbell who dissects these concepts ad nauseum in in his brilliant and well-known tomes on mythology.

But Leia… She’s a bit off model, certainly from a Hollywood depiction of a damsel in distress. (Possibly with the exception of Dorothy in Wizard of Oz, who gets her act together in similar but less assertive fashion.)

As one pop culture podcaster put it recently: “She (Leia) hijacked her own rescue.”

And from there, it only gets better. She’s clearly the smartest, most pragmatic member of the Star Wars gang. She’s also strong, decisive and strategic. And she can out wise-ass Han, no easy feat.

After Alderaan goes boom, Leia is the one holding entire rebellion together. No offense, Mon Mothma, Admiral Ackbar, or anyone else in the rebellion ruling class. It’s pretty clear Leia is a — pun intended — driving force of the story.

Here we have a knockout Star Wars page from Terry and Rachel Dodson featuring a lovely half splash of Leia. It’s from the eponymous — and terrific — Mark Waid-authored series, published not long after the franchise reverted back to Marvel from Dark Horse.

Adam Hughes — Leia Nouveau

December 10, 2019 Greg Goldstein Original Art and The Artists

Print, Star Wars Celebration IV and Star Wars Celebration Europe, 2007

Continuing our multi-part countdown to Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker, opening December 20, and concluding, apparently, the Skywalker saga.

This print, limited to 250, and now selling for as much as a nice page of original art, checks three great boxes for me:

Adam Hughes. Star Wars. Art Nouveau via the master, Alphonse Mucha.

(And a fourth actually — a wry sense of humor not seen often enough in Star Wars related content)

Stellar artist Hughes is supposedly keeping his original art for this giclee. Who can blame him? For an artist who generally sells all his originals, that probably tells you all you need to know.