early 1978 | age 9 This is a part of the film with the Dianoga creature which we never saw. So much for: “I don’t know, it just let go of me and disappeared…” Nah. Borrrring. Bring on the gore!

Art Notes: (Near) Death, by giant Calamari rings

I wonder what that inset panel 2 was going to be? A smiling Chewie with a bit of Calamari ring hanging from the side of his mouth? We’ll never know, readers. Actually, there’s a thought: maybe you can suggest something funny. What do you think should be in there?

calamari

Actually, I prefer my Dianoga beast deep-fried a la Romana, in batter

And now that I ponder it, in case you think I’m just being too silly; don’t forget that the laughable Admiral Ackbar Muppet character from Return of the Jedi was written as being of the Mon Calamari species. I presume George came up with that one.

I’m still puzzled by that now-familiar greeny-black biro that seems to be scribbled all over the characters. Is it added grime? I’d initially guessed that it was the contribution of my then, 1 year old little sister—but the word ‘SPUT’ is also in greeny-black. So maybe I did it (very roughly) myself. This is one of the oldest, earliest pages though. Very rough and wobbly, on the paper with the tables printed on the back, and each eye is drawn as an irregular shape with a little dot inside it.

I’m still not sure if that green biro that shows up in the comic always was green, or if it was black which just discoloured over 4 decades.

Nit-picky Literary Notes

Han and Chewie in the garbage masher

Silly Han doesn’t know what double-quotation marks are for, and that he needs an apostrophe in ‘walls’. Tut—tut—tut!

THE WALLS “GETTING” CLOSER

So the walls are “getting” closer. Is Han quoting someone else who’d mentioned the possibility earlier?

“Hey, everyone! Do you you remember when so and so said ‘look out when those walls start getting closer, because that means you’re all about to die’?  Well, guess what? The walls actually are “getting” closer.”

share-banner