082: “It’s not wise to upset a Wookiee…”
A nice find! I like these panels. So I’m very pleased to have rediscovered them in the attic. They must have been cast-offs, rejects. Otherwise they wouldn’t have ended up in this state. See the edges of the paper? They’re the extra pages I found in the attic, in a briefcase full of bird nest debris and shite. What a bonus!
The Gang’s High-Q
My Warlord comic secret agent wallet
Seriously! The briefcase was there, overflowing with straw from the nearby hay sheds. Mum and dad’s house is in the Irish countryside you see?—surrounded by farmland. So, when the birds made their nests over the years, in the apex of the attic gable, they used whatever was near at hand. Thankfully they didn’t use my artwork! The briefcase was right underneath, open for about 20 years probably. John S, Kerry H, Niall F and I had a gang or club that made its headquarters—or High-Q as I mistakenly called it—up there, between 1978 and 1980-ish. We were the Warlord/Star Wars Eagles. It had formerly just been the Warlord Eagles but was then merged into our new interest: the latterly arrived Star Wars. A bit like the way Star Lord comic merged into 2000ad comic.
Art Notes
I’m enjoying this page. See how confused I still was, at that age when drawing cheek bone lines and facial creases—on Han Solo? I also like:
- Threepio’s bewildered pose (looks a bit familiar – from Marvel?)
- Chewie’s belligerent rampaging—like he’s about to stamp around the Falcon tearing things apart
- Han’s relaxed but suggestive sideways glance
- Chewie does that reclining, paws smoothing back his hair gesture that Niall F and I reminisced over in the schoolyard, and which I mentioned in the <previous page
Aw, cute
This was originally drawn in green biro, and probaby not finished after I drew that teeny pointing-Han in the bottom panel. But later it looks to have been finished and tweaked in blue biro, and coloured-in. I could’ve been one of those multi-tipped pens I’ve mentioned before. The early version seems to have been relatively good. I must have felt that a few new touches would suffice to make it acceptable.
By the way, here’s a good MAD Magazine cartoon that deals with Light-speed related issues:
PANEL 1
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(Onboard the Millennium Falcon, Artoo and Chewbacca are playing Dejarik)
Chewbacca is furious because he might be about to lose the game to Artoo.
"Uh!" Threepio says, "Now, now, Artoo made a fair move so stop sceaming."
PANEL 2
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Han Solo looking sideways to C-3PO says, "Let him have it. It's not wise to upset a Wookie!"
"I can sympathise with that opinion sir," replies Threepio, "but it's very bad sportsmanship to..."
PANEL 3
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Close-up on Chewie. Han in the background in the Falcon's cockpit, warns, "Well I hope you'll bear that in mind when Chewie's ripping your arms out!"
Chewie looks pleased that he's getting his own way, smiling calmly now, hands behind his head.
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