Star Wars: Empire, Issue 25, Page 01

Star Wars: Empire issue 25 came out in 2004. That was right in my heyday of being a con exhibitor and attending the first four Star Wars Celebrations. Most of these events I was assisting an assortment of Star Wars artist friends, including my longtime pile Joe. From this issue’s release until around 2009 I picked up a number of pages from Joe, and also from issue 31 released a year later. I’ll never have the complete issue 25, as George Lucas bought the last two pages of the story. George also bought the cover to issue 31. Darn that first right of refusal clause! But, I’m still adding pages occasionally when I find them.

Publisher’s summary - The Beast and the Beauty join forces when Chewbacca teams up with smuggler Sheel Odala to free Han Solo from the clutches of a crime lord in the employ of the Empire. Odala is handy with a blaster, and an old friend. But there are some trust issues. See, she's the one who betrayed Han to the Empire in the first place. Oh, and did we mention that Vader was on his way?

This issue was colored directly over scans of Joe’s pencils, as can be seen in the additional images. Also included is a scan of Joe’s layouts for the page, done in pencil and marker on a sheet of 11x17 copier paper.