30 years ago, I had the good sense to snap this fantastic photo of Jack Kirby and Gil Kane at the 1993 San Diego Comic-Con. (Jaunty Jim Salicrup, the Topps Comics EIC, is the happy fella in the middle.)
Fantastic, but, as it turned out, bittersweet: This was the final time these two legends had a chance to greet each other. (Jack passed away the following winter.) I’m not sure they were both scheduled at the Topps booth at the same time, so it may have been a very happy coincidence.
I’ve discussed Topps Comics (and trading cards) numerous times in previous posts — it was a wild ride with many great moments. This was one of my favorites.
And did I say good sense? Hardly. If I did, I would have handed off the disposable camera to someone else and jumped in the photo as well.
Kane and Kirby both delivered for Topps; we launched the “Kirbyverse” with unused and under-utilized concepts from Jack’s files, and Gil Kane drew the Jurassic Park adaptation and prequel. And both provided art for our massive Star Wars Galaxy series, which featured more than 400 cards — with art from nearly that many individual creators.
Live from the Voodoo Ranger Pirate Ship, Saturday July 22, 2023 — The Nerdin’ Out Podcast featuring Ravey, Cameron, Courtney, the rest of the great cast and crew, plus… pirates, parrots, a monkey and.. beer!
What does this have to do with comic art and/or graphic novel history?
On a warm sunny day in NYC, my friends and I restlessly stood on a movie theater line, a line like many others that day, that wrapped around the proverbial city block. But did it matter that much? We had waited three years for this. What’s another three hours? (For the record, the theater, now gone, was the Loew’s 34th Street Showplace, near Second Ave.)
Return of the Jedi was opening that day, and we figured the Star Wars saga would reach its dramatic — and inevitable — conclusion. End of the story. (How naïve — but we were young and foolish.)
Somehow, I had the discipline and willpower to avoid opening Marvel’s ROTJ magazine adaptation which I owned for about two weeks prior to the film’s release date. (I did not have that same willpower three years prior for ESB, but that’s a story for another day.)
An original piece of art from that graphic novel adaptation, by the legendary Al Williamson, is a prized possession. Here’s my original 2019 post about the art:
Lush brushwork. Clear storytelling. Impeccable detail. Accurate anatomy and likenesses. Al Williamson’s page from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi adaption speaks volumes about realizing potential in adapting other mediums to comics.
George Lucas had the power to choose the artist to draw the Marvel Empire Strikes Back adaption and he had the good sense to choose Al Williamson.
Al’s gorgeous art on classic EC science Fiction stories as well as Flash Gordon had clearly made an impression.
Fortunately for us, Williamson agreed to also illustrate the Star Wars newspaper strip (after Russ Manning’s untimely passing), and he ultimately came back for Return of the Jedi adaption as well.
On all three projects — plus a handful of stories in the regular comics — Al delivered. It’s some of his finest work.
Williamson kept much of his Star Wars related art, and his estate now owns it. Nearly all the originals that have come on the market are those once owned by his assistants or inkers.
This great page from ROTJ has a more interesting provenance. Superstar inker Mike Royer received it from Al (see inscription) shortly after publication. It remained in his collection for many years.
So, it’s not only a great piece of original art, but it also has a great story behind it as well.
And it’s a cornerstone of my collection.
Yes, we waited in line. (That’s me, Star Wars sartorial in a bootleg “REVENGE” of the Jedi t-shirt.) I have a feeling the line on the other side of town was more interesting.
Empire Strikes Back Conceptual Art, Large format Giclee, 2006 (Original Painting, 1978)
I wish this were an actual Empire Strikes Back original from legendary conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie. That would be… just lovely.
But I’m not complaining. Just observing.
It’s actually an oversized canvas Giclee, limited to an edition of just 5 copies, published by Acme Archives about 15 years ago. Scanned from the original in highest resolution, the quality of the reproduction is superb.
Ralph McQuarrie. Star Wars.
Not much more to add here.
(Well, except that a smaller-sized version is still available from Acme here. They deserve a free plug, don’t you think?)
A long time ago, in continuity far, far away, Chewbacca apparently does not make it to the conclusion of the Star Wars Saga.
And the classic team of Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway beautifully illustrate this mournful moment in a rare departure from their more common DC team-ups.
I realize we can be broken records about this, but the coloring obviously doesn’t do the art true justice. It might look good on a computer screen, but as for the final printed version… not so much.
This was a DF exclusive to this Dark Horse comic published in 2000.
Of course any storyline that Chewbacca died flies out the window with all the other post Return of The Jedi continuity, once Disney purchases Lucasfilm and declares all the previous “cannon,” non-canonical.
Which is good for Chewie, of course, but not necessarily the rest of the Star Wars Saga.
(As a side note, Marvel has indeed done some terrific comics since reacquiring the license. But tossing out 30 years of stories, in comics and novels, some of them quite excellent… well… I have no words.)
Many great variant covers exist for this Star Wars C-3PO one-shot, including this beautifully detailed version by Reilly Brown. But one of my other favorites — and, unfortunately, I don’t have a scan — never made it to print.
The cover came from the imagination of my pal Mike McKone. Marvel commissioned it as an exclusive variant, paid Mike for it, had it approved by Lucasfilm and then… in the ongoing game of musical chairs cover variants (at all the publishers), it became the odd man out.
Mike and I both tried tracking a published version down for years, as Marvel told him it actually was published, but ultimately that turned out to be an inadvertent red (golden?) herring.
If he still has it when I see him again, I will photograph it and add it to the blog later. It’s fun, and I would own it if it had actually been published.
Here’s an absolutely iconic scene from the original Star Wars film. (“New Hope.”) Darth Vader faces his former master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, on the Death Star. As any Star Wars fan knows, things don’t go well for old Ben.
Or do they?
It depends on a certain point of view, I suppose.
If you scan the word balloons, you’ll see that there’s a slight twist to this Dark Horse storyline, although I’m not going to be the one to spoil it for you.
Paul Gulacy and P. Craig Russell provide creative storytelling (I love the top sequence) and excellent draftsmanship (of course) for the 1997 Dark Horse Series, Crimson Empire.
This is one of my favorite pages in the first issue, with Darth Vader landing and bowing before his master, The Emperor.
Here’s a stunning Jim Balkie page from the Dark Horse mini-series, Star Wars: Empire’s End, a fitting sequel to the acclaimed Dark Empire saga.
Both stories feature the writing of the talented Tom Veitch, although Cam Kennedy illustrated the Dark Empire series.
Each page — by either artist — is fully painted, and most of the originals I’ve seen, including this one, are terrific.
Nice Star Wars iconography on this page too, featuring Han and Leia, a great action shot of the Millennium Falcon, and of course the Emperor frying one of his officers who displeased him.
How did the Empire ever get anyone to sign up for the officer’s school?
Fun fact: The Emperor “lives” in this 90s saga because of — you guessed it — clones. If this storyline didn’t influence at least some of The Rise of Skywalker, well, we can chalk up to: “Great minds think alike.”
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.
