First major guest I met and bought a commission from was Howard Chaykin. He’s been illustrating comics since at least the Seventies, when I first saw his work. His biggest, most famous material everyone would recognize is Star Wars in 1977 with the legendary Roy Thomas writing. Howard and Roy got the nod well before the movie hit theaters about a year in advance. According to the book I read about Marvel and Howard, the higher-ups at Marvel needed extra convincing to publish the comic. The book said only Roy thought the movie would be a hit. Howard added, Marvel was also reluctant to do licensed properties. On the upside, George Lucas insisted on Howard being the artists because Lucas like Howard’s earlier work.
So I asked Howard to draw my favorite character he and Roy added when first six issues covering the movie ended, Jaxxon, a green-rabbit humanoid alien who was a contemporary and ally of Han Solo. They teamed up in a Seven Samurai storyline after (I think) Han either lost his reward money or Jabba upped the debt. After they defeated the bad guys terrorizing a farming community, Jaxxon didn’t re-appear until a cyborg caught up with him, trying find the pilot who destroyed the Death Star. I don’t think Jaxxon ever returned in the expanded universe books or when Dark Horse took over the comics around 1993. There’s also rumors that Lucas hated the character.
Doesn’t matter anymore, Jaxxon is allegedly canon as per the IDW comic Star Wars Adventures!
I think Howard did a phenomenal job drawing the character my 10-11 year-old self loved. (There wasn’t much Star Wars stuff beyond the Marvel comic and the three Brian Daley novels then.) I thanked him graciously for making my childhood fun. One bright spot, Howard said he enjoyed drawing Jaxxon more than he planned. Meanwhile I also thanked him for his recent work on The Ruff n’ Reddy Show, Hawkgirl and long ago, Twilight.
Now I hope that Hasbro makes an action figure. I’d buy it in a heartbeat!