Star Wars Legacy (Vol. II), Issue 18, Page 7

I love Brian Thies' brushwork! This page opens with a fantastic action shot of a Sith killing a stormtrooper, as well as having two of the main characters of this second Legacy run in Sauk and Ania Solo.

This particular issue means a lot to me, as well - it is the very last comic book from the pre-Disney Expanded Universe. I grew up reading every Star Wars comic book and novel I could get my hands on, and I have a particular soft spot for the Dark Horse era of Star Wars comics. Although I understand why Disney made it all non-canon, they threw out a ton of great writing and art. At the time of this issue's publication, the Dark Horse team knew it would be the last, and they ended on a hopeful note - that these characters live on, even though our lens into their version of the galaxy is closing.

Back to this page. Brian Thies works by doing very rough pencil layouts, which he prints out as bluelines and then does more refined pencils, brushed inks, and white paint over top. The bottom two panels are taped on over the layouts, which I can see from the back are in a very different pose than the printed page. Interestingly, some elements of these specific panels match the printed page exactly, and other parts of the figures appear to have been either overlaid from a separate page or digitally altered. The top 2/3rds of the page are printed without alteration.