Star Wars, Yoda #1 variant cover by Ken Lashley

Ha! Nice one! Such a li'l bad @$$... And I agree that this got cropped mercilessly and for no good reason. Thanks for sharing the uncropped version for us all to enjoy.

RIGHT???  I understand the mandatory requirement for logo space on a cover piece (which there is on the original anyway).  But in looking at the published cover, there is so much space between the logo and his head.  As you said, there was really no reason to drop the artwork down so far.  Thanks for the comment Hiro.

All the tentacles were cropped out. The horror, the horror.

I know!  What do they have against tentacles?  Unless the editor was nervous about any perceived hentai undertones.  Hmm, I may never look at Doc Ock the same way again.

Well, love that we get to see Ken's original vision of the art with this post!

Yesterday, I watched Empire Strikes Back for the first time with my 3 boys. Still one of the best sci-fi movies ever made!

First of all, I'm going to assume when you say "the first time", you mean as a shared experience with your sons and not the first time you have ever seen the movie.  That is so great and I am actually quite envious.  With any experience, there can only be one first time.  Which is what makes them so special.  No matter how much you enjoy or love something, there is nothing like the first time.  And it applies to the art we all love and collect.  No matter how long we've owned a piece of art or how many times we've looked at it, nothing matches the first time you saw it.  Which is why I love it when people visit and look through my collection.  Because even if I can never have that first time moment again, being able to see it in someone else's eyes is the next closest thing.  I'm sure when you watched the movie with your boys, you were paying more attention to them and seeing the pure joy, excitment, and awe in their faces.  So happy that you were all able to share that moment together.

Damn!  Should've thought about holding this back for a May 4th post.  I guess I'll have to go out and buy another Star Wars piece before then.  Ha!  Thanks for the comment buddy!

Guessing Yoda was cropped because you'd see he's wearing pants. Eehh... cropped it is.  Editor Sith is. 

Jedi Masters don't wear pants?  I don't remember Qui-Gon or Mace Windu going commando.  Anyway, I don't think that applied to the CG Yoda.  Just the puppet Yoda (because he had Frank Oz's hand up his butt).

Wow, they really left a lot of great art out on the published cover. Really great work from Lashley!

Super cover!  It's great to see the whole image.  I wonder if there was some issue with continuity re the way Lashley drew Yoda's body or if it was just an editorial decision to go for a close-up on his head

Had I not seen the original artwork, I would have thought the published cover looked fine; after seeing the entire image I agree that it was a terrible decision to crop out so much of Ken Lashley's finely detailed work.  Ken has really grown as an artist since those Excalibur days; congratulation on adding this terrific cover to your incredible collection!

You pretty much echoed what I said in my description.  If the published variant was drawn that way, fine.  But obviously that wasn't the case.  What bothers me so much (which is kind of silly since I'm not even the artist) is that the editor didn't tell the artist what he wanted/needed.  If all they wanted for the cover was a headshot, that should have been made clear when they hired Ken for the job.  Instead of letting him go to town on this incredible piece and then wasting all that hard work.  Sure he would've gotten paid either way, but that's not the point here.  Anyway, thanks for the comment buddy.

I really like the rendering on his face and hands.

This issue had a number of covers, and as published this one didn't grab me at all. But here, I like it more than the primary cover that Noto did. Nice pick up!

Thanks Jeff.  It's funny, but before you mentioned the Noto cover, I never even bothered to look up the regular version of the published cover.  Now I love Noto as much as the next guy, but when I finally saw it, for me it wasn't even close.  Not sure how many variants were done for this issue but between this (OA version) and the Noto, it's a no-brainer for me.  But I still think Marvel missed an opportunity to put a great cover on the stands by not using the entire image.

It is strange to cut that much good artwork. I can only assume that the editor has a 'series look and feel' to adhere to, but the loss on the bottom section is a shame. At least you still have it here in the original, shared with the community! Great, determined Yoda face as well.

post you must

Wonderful likeness and detail!