In honor of today’s big Disney/Star Wars news

by Mike Hansen

If you haven’t heard the BIG NEWS, read this first.

Here’s a feature from 1990’s Marvel Age Preview #1, a preview of Star Wars: Dark Empire, the Star Wars project that (even before the Timothy Zahn novels) brought the property back to life. Unfortunately for Marvel, Dark Horse ended up with the Star Wars license and published Dark Empire, creating one of 1991’s biggest hits in comics and Dark Horse’s biggest license scoop since the Aliens/Predator/Terminator trifecta.

(click to embiggen)

Back when I worked at Dark Horse, I was Assistant Editor on several Star Wars titles for a couple years. I got my first professional writing credit on a Star Wars Handbook, too, giving me my first taste of creative freedom (I got to invent a lot of material for the project) – and POWER… I still get shivers thinking about the many days I was stuck at the color photocopier, making confidential reference copies for all of the Episode I creators.

Related articles

• Dark Horse React to Disney’s Acquisition of Lucasfilm (comicsbeat.com)
• The Middle Ground #127 | A galaxy far, far away (robot6.comicbookresources.com)
• Disney Buys Lucasfilm and the Star Wars Sequels Begin (nerdist.com)
• STAR WARS at Disney – Industry Reacts (newsarama.com)
• Disney Buy Lucasfilm; Announce New Star Wars Film (comicsbeat.com)
• SHOCKER: Disney Buys LucasFilm; New ‘Star Wars’ Planned (huffingtonpost.com)

DISASTERLAND, a Disney parody art show: opening tonight in L.A.

by Mike Hansen

From here:

Disasterland is Mexican artist Rodolfo Loaiza‘s tribute to pop culture, fashion, animation, horror films and the undeniable attraction of celebrity. The stage is set for fantasy to collapse and surrender to the inevitable apocalypse of 21st century Hollywood. Fairytale characters continue to dominate his latest project –this time caught in the headlines of our favorite tabloid stars.

Continuing his penchant for cleverly depicting the “uncouth” customs of our dichotomous society, Rodolfo explores what would happen to our fables if they were flesh and blood and confronted with the frenetic and excessive world of fame. Who among them would prove susceptible to the excesses of drugs, alcohol, harassment or vanity?

With his sharp and characteristic black humor Loaiza captures images once morbidly circulated by the media, and proposes a novel way of reviewing them. In Disasterland, heterosexual happy endings have been discarded; outdated. In this story, discriminated minorities will finally achieve the resolution they’ve yearned for, beyond any bias or phobia.

Behold an apple infused with truth; behold a mirror in which we can truly see our reflection. This is our magical world of disaster.
What are we waiting for? Let’s enjoy it!

Here are a few highlights – click here for the gallery info and more images.

This next one might be a tad NSFW: