Darth Vader by Howard Bender

You know how artists sometimes do those quick doodles on art packaging? Well, Howard Bender did that when shipping my Star Wars Weekly cover commission. And boy, do I love it! Almost as much as the piece I wanted originally. Definitely keeping this one in the collection.


There is something spontaneous and classic about how Howard portrayed the Dark Lord of the Sith here - a character he's very familiar with, since he drew multiple Star Wars covers with Bob McLeod as his inker in the 70s.

The "Do Not Bend" command by Darth Vader is also very fitting. I wonder if my post(wo)man thought (s)he get Force-choked if they did bend it?

Now to make sure that my girlfriend doesn't think this is part of the packaging to be tossed out.

Size of the art is around 8x10.