Sorry for the late follow up on my first blog. I'll be making up for it with contstant posting soon I'm sure but these past few weeks have been incredibly busy for me. I've had five separate event appearances this past month which is about four more than I can normally handle. Early May was a Free Comic Book Day signing in KY with Mary Oyaya (Luminara Unduli) and Motor City Comic Con in mid-May was especially cool because I got to catch up with my good pal Chris Trevas (fellow SW illustrator and writer for Insider) and finally got to check out his studio and private SW collection. Basically, he kicks my butt across the board on all things creative, technical, and Star Wars-wise but at least he gives me something to aspire to He's a great and hugely talented guy so be sure to check out his official website at www.ChrisTrevas.com when you get the chance.

Also, while at Motor City I found myself hanging out and having dinner Friday night with Tom Braidwood aka Frohicke of the the Lone Gunmen from one of my favorite TV series of all time The X-Files. He was just way cool with a great sense of humor and so intellectual, so he hit off it off really well with my buddy Justin (of WorldFamousComics.com fame). Tom was assistant director on many of the episodes and being a big film buff some of my questions for him were "what was it like working with Rob Bowman, Kim Manners, Morgan and Wong, etc". We talked about horror and sci-fi novels and films, Stephen King, and other geeky things which was fun. Then on Sunday my friends and I ended up having dinner with Robert Beltran aka Commander Chakotay from Star Trek Voyager. Admittedly, I'm not a huge fan of that series, the buck kinda stops with me with at TOS and TNG but I still had fun chatting with him since he was such a cool cat.

Just so you know, besides hanging out with friends this is my favorite part about doing conventions, meeting celebrities like Tom whose work I admire and getting to know them as real people. I always find it fascinating, granted most of the ones I get to chat with are B-level type celebrities so they're usually humble and down to earth most times anyway but it's still always a big thrill for me.

The other three appearances I did this month were for the Episode III premiere last week at two different movie theatres here in Columbus, OH and I really enjoyed each one, especially the midnight show at the Arena Grand downtown. Folks from the 501st were there, they had the RotS video game playing on the big screen (actually just projected gigantic like on a blank wall above the lobby floor) along with Episode V which was fun to see. Lots of fans in costume too and a few other vendors set up in the lobby, generally a mini-CIII experience which was kinda cool. So after setting up from 8pm to midnight I got to check out the midnight premiere. I actually had about three chances to see the movie a few weeks before everyone else, there were a couple of charity screenings, one in NY and the other in Chicago, that I was invited to, and then an advance screening for the press which I had an invitation to but unfortunately work and traveling kept me from catching it early. If they had arranged a press screening actually in Columbus though I probably would have tried harder to make it. I don't regret it though, I think seeing the film for the first time with the midnight crowd, with all of the fans stoked and primed and in costume with Hasbro and Master Replicas lightsabers blazing was the right way to see it for the first time. It was a such a blast

Overall, I truly loved the movie. Definitely the best of the Prequels. It ranks up there with Eps IV and V in my book. It was... overwhelming. I'll have to spare everyone from a complete review since I'm really busy at the moment illustrating for SW Insider but more or less I share the same sentiment with most fans - Ian as Palpatine/Sidious was deliciously evil, Yoda and Ewan were awesome, Wookiees ruled, Hayden and Natalie stepped up their game for this one (minus some of the hokey, mushy dialogue). The experience filled me with mixed emotions of "Oh, that's so incredibly cool looking!!!" but at the same time it was incredibly heart breaking like Mace Windu's death scene for example or even Vader's 'birth' in the medical facility.

After the second time I saw the film it finally sank in that this was indeed the end of an era. It's especially sad when you feel so connected and close to it, when it's been a part of your life ever since you were a kid, but I know SW will go on in other media and there are definitely many more stories to be told. I'm just really hoping to continue to be part of that storytelling experience for years to come. I'll probably check it out again later this week on the IMAX Ultra-screen here in town. It's not IMAX formatted or even digital, they're just showing the regular print on the really huge screen which should still be really cool regardless.

I have a few new projects for Insider in the works. One involves my favorite character to illustrate, Darth Vader, and the other project involves one of my favorite writers I like to work with, my good pal Abel Pena. I'll have more info on these projects for everyone down the road soon so stay tuned.

My next issue of Empire shipped last week, Empire #31 written by Scott Allie (Star Wars: Empire 'Betrayal') and it features a Vader solo tale on the planet of Tiss'sharl which means I got to draw a lot of cool dinosaur alien people. I love drawing Vader, he's so dynamic and iconic, I found a while back that drawing him suits my graphic style well so I really enjoyed drawing this latest issue featuring him. Check it out and drop me a line or sound off on the Dark Horse message boards here if you enjoyed the issue...

http://www.darkhorse.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=7331&sid=25eba942a22a2d654d7a4bd0f63d8ee5

If you want a behind the scenes look at my artwork for the cover (colored by Brad Anderson) then check out this week's Comics 101 feature at WorldFamousComics.com here...

http://www.worldfamouscomics.com/comics101/back20050519.shtml

Really hope everyone likes the new comic and I'll be back soon...

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http://www.JoeCorroney.com