Allen, Andrew :: Key SciFi: STAR WARS WEEKLY (1970's Marvel UK)

Star Wars Weekly 98 COVER by CARMINE INFANTINO

Artists: Carmine Infantino (Penciller) , Bob Wiacek (Inker) , Andrew Allen (Restorer)

10 Comments - 1,174 Views - 8 Likes

Star Wars Weekly 98 COVER by CARMINE INFANTINO Comic Art

Additional Images:

Cover as-is

Published Cover

Cover + 2022 Overlay

Infantino's Likely Inspiration

Next Item:
Star Wars Weekly 105 COVER by CARMINE INFANTINO

Artwork Details

Title:	Star Wars Weekly 98 COVER by CARMINE INFANTINO
Artist:	Carmine Infantino (Penciller)
Artist:	Bob Wiacek (Inker)
Artist:	Andrew Allen (Restorer)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Cover
For Sale Status:	Permanent Collection
Views:	1,174
Likes on CAF:	8 9
Comments:	10
Added to Site:	7/22/2022
Comic Art Archive:

Description

This cover, while not a 'perfect example' of a vintage Infantino Cover, still hits a lot of nerdbuttons for me. Just look at those classic examples of Infantino X-Wing and T.I.E. fighter. (Though one might note the split-engine X-Wing, which suggests Infantino was using early McQuarrie concept drawings as ship reference.)

A few obvious things to note here.

For whatever reason, Infantino decided to execute this cover on an American-proportioned and formatted page. (You can see the difference if you compare with other U.K. examples, such as HERE and HERE) So the proportions are off from the get-go; British weekly comics are wider in their magazine-shaped format.

It looks to me that part-way through, Editorial saw that significant changes were going to be needed to conform with UK print proportions. Even so, someone had already begun the process of attaching the cover dress anyway (you can tell from the glue residue and correction fluid). Those premature cover elements would have needed to have been removed before flip-flopping the image to a 'stat' copy so that the 'floating head' of Luke Skywalker would be facing away from the fold, a typical editorial preference to this day. Additional 'starfield' artwork was then added to that stat copy (by John Tartaglione or Howard Bender, I'd bet), details which are missing on this original.

To hopefully improve its display-ability, I've generated a replica of the original cover dress on a clear acetate page to go along with the cover (which is otherwise untouched). Working from a hi-rez scan of the final published cover, I've retained as much of the background 'starfield' art as I could, (though horizontally flipped) to produce an effect approximating how it may have looked had the U.S. proportions been retained.

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About the Owner

	Andrew Allen ( 2 ) Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	November 2007
Last Login:	September 2025
Website:	http://comicbookinvest.com/2017/09/15/collector-spotlight-andrew-allen-part-2/
Country:	UNITED STATES
On CAF:	Premium Member Q&A Andrew's Want List Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF Read More About AndrewAllen

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Comments on this Artwork

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Bill J
Member Since 2009

Posted on 7/22/2022

Awesome cover! A great addition to your stellar collection!

Alexandre Collection
Member Since 2010

Posted on 7/22/2022

Perfect!

Kenneth Gagnon
Member Since 2012

1 - Posted on 7/22/2022

The Force is with you Andrew ! Killer Cover !

A N H
Member Since 2018

1 - Posted on 7/22/2022

I like what you did with the overlay. Great cover!

Timothy Finney
Member Since 2006

Posted on 7/23/2022

Sockamagee!

Dino Mauricio
Member Since 2009

Posted on 7/23/2022

Fantastic Star Wars cover!

Andy Wurst
Member Since 2004

Posted on 7/23/2022

Fantastic cover.

McSpidey Fan
Member Since 2005

Posted on 7/23/2022

Awesome!

Jeffrey Wedding
Member Since 2009

1 - Posted on 7/24/2022

Nicely done with the overlay. A classic floating head layout of the period, especially for the UK series. Excellent pick up!

Marcus Wai
Member Since 2005

Posted on 7/29/2022

Classic Star Wars imagery from the hand of one of comics' best sci-fi innovators! It has all the Infantino earmarks of bringing in all the elements over from Star Wars and his own long experience with space comics to make this cover more dramatic and appealing.

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