As you may have read previously in this earlier blog, I provided the artwork for the side paneling of Hasbro's new Star Wars Marvel Comics Two Packs action figures which included the following three sets - Darth Vader with Rebel Fleet Trooper, Han Solo (in stormtrooper disguise) with Chewbacca and Governor Tarkin with Stormtrooper.

Receiving this assignment was a big thrill for me as an artist since 1) I grew up playing with the original Kenner figures as a child, 2) the Marvel Comics adaptation of Star Wars was my very first comic book I ever owned and actually got for my fourth birthday and 3) Star Wars + comic books = Joe Corroney Star Wars artist and comic book illustrator. So this really was a special project for me to be able to finally contribute Star Wars artwork to a new action figure line from Hasbro.

I dropped by my local Toys R Us this Saturday afternoon and as usual I bee line straight to the action figure aisle to peruse the latest Star Wars offerings on display. Even though these figures have been available since earlier this Spring I still have to pinch myself whenever I see them on store shelves or at conventions (like Celebration IV) . But today was the first time I saw the new Star Wars Marvel Comics Two Pack set of Luke Skywalker (in stormtrooper disguise) with R2-D2 which is included in Hasbro's second wave for this series. This was a set of figures I unfortunately wasn't hired to do the artwork for.... or was I?

Curiously, as I push aside small children and grab the Luke/R2 two pack off the shelf with my greedy hands (just kidding... my hands aren't greedy) the first thing I notice is the side panel artwork of our favorite plucky astromech hero. I thought to myself, wait a minute... that artwork looks really familiar. I bought the figure to complete my set of course and upon further inspection once I got home I realized... it was my artwork. Actually, it was only my linework for R2-D2 that Hasbro used since they colored my drawing in-house (like they did for my art for the first wave of figures). I assume they (or rather the artist they hired) must have just grabbed and used my line art from my official website.

For a visual comparison check out the link for my R2 art in my online sketch book here and then check out the final Hasbro package art in the Rebelscum.com photo archives here.

As much as I would have liked to have been paid to actually do the artwork for both panels for this fourth and final Marvel set I'm at least extremely flattered and honored to still have contributed (albeit unwittingly). So if you catch me at Celebration Europe or San Diego Comic-Con next month bring your entire set of Marvel Comics Two Packs and I'll sign 'em all.

By the way, be sure to buy the new Dark Horse Comics Two Pack featuring Quinlan Vos and Vilmarh (Villie) Grarhk. Seeing my good pal (and real life Quin model) Doug Wangler immortalized into an action figure (from a character created by my friend Jan Duursema and John Ostrander) is pretty spectacular. Congrats guys! I'm excited to see even more Expanded Universe figures from Hasbro in the future (bring on the Kai Justiss figure).

~J

http://www.joecorroney.com/
http://www.myspace.com/drawingintheempire