GOODBYE, KAZUHIKO SANO...

From last night up until mid-afternoon today my ISP was on the blink, so I've only just found out the sad news that 1983 RETURN OF THE JEDI poster illustrator/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC painter Kazuhiko Sano has passed away. His US poster work for JEDI (above) was a terrific composition and captured all the vital ingredients that would make this particular STAR WARS film -the spectacular conclusion of the saga-so popular both then and now...

He was also the talent behind one of the 1984 EWOK ADVENTURE posters, as well as numerous other STAR WARS related contribution pieces, like his work on the TOPPS CARDS MASTER VISIONS series from 1995.

In honour of Mister Sano's work, I think it would be great if LUCASFILM could perhaps put on their STARWARS.COM site some of his prior, and much liked in 1982/83 by Lucas, unseen art concepts for JEDI-at least five were done in all (B/W)- before the final poster was created, approved and released.

Our condolences to Mister Sano's friends and family. As a person and for his talents he will be greatly missed. The Force will be with him...always!

CLASSIC POSTER ART: LUKE AND TAUNTAUN ON HOTH

I'm a big fan of this great artwork for EMPIRE that was used back in the early eighties for a National Philharmonic Orchestra recording of John Williams timeless score (currently available on CD from Varese Sarabande music). As far as I'm aware, it's appeared on several sci-fi related magazine covers over the years but has never been commercially available as a poster or other piece of memorabilia in the UK. If anyone's got any more information on this art-who its by (I don't have this CD or the magazines its graced the covers of), or, even better, if they have a higher res scan that shows the full image so that I could use it on the site, please get in touch - thank you.

STAR WARS : A NEW VARIATION

This is a very unusual and kinda quirky interpretation of the Tom Jung/ Hildebrandt Brothers STAR WARS poster. It has a very basic but interesting retro simplicity about it, almost like one of those young teenage girl pop art posters from the seventies. I'm assuming its linked to a European release (like Poland or the former Yugoslavia, perhaps?) from the same period, or some kind of merchandising linked poster for something STAR WARS related somewhere across the world.

With so many different posters and variations over the years, does anyone out there have any more info on it-who it was by and which country it was originally used in?