Spotlight on artist Dave Dorman (Star Wars, Aliens, D&D, Indiana Jones)

Dave Dorman’s a lucky guy.

I mean, the talent notwithstanding, it’s the subject choice that he gets to work with that makes any card-carrying geek seethe with envy.

Do you remember back the amazing cross-over event Marvel ran with its Star Wars titles just before the New Year? I’m not a fan of recent cross-overs; they haven’t been story continuity supportive and they just wind up costing the comic fan time and money away from really decent stories.

Except this one. The Vader Down cross-over really tapped into a great little premise: Darth Vader gets ambushed and winds up on a planet surrounded by an overwhelming amount of opposition. Of course, to Vader, he just saw a planet full of dead guys.

Awesome.

As I mentioned in my review of comic titles for that month Marvel really brought its A-talent to bear on this event. It was simply written and eloquently drawn. It made no pretensions except that it really captured the power and majesty of the most dangerous villain to ever be featured in literature and films in the 20^th and 21^st centuries.

Dave Dorman had a hand in that.

Check out this amazing variant that he did for Vader Down #1; it’s absolutely astonishing. Vader’s stance is defensive in nature, his cloak is tattered but there is no sense of trepidation in his positioning. Dorman has really captured the essence of this character. Standing amidst fire and ruin, the Lord of the Sith’s lightsabre is drawn and he stands ready to face his foes as you would expect him to.

This is available for sale, by the way. If you go to Dave’s website, www.davedorman.com, you can purchase his art but you can also see examples of some of Dave’s other Star Wars works.

Though the Vader Down variant has to be my absolute favourite, I’m also particularly fond of this piece. Though fans of The Force Awakens will enjoy this rendition of BB-8 and Chopper:

However, I love the detail ]in this rendition of an aged Han Solo from The Force Awakens. Likenesses are tough, but I think that Dave manages to really capture the image of the Corellian smuggler.

But though the bulk of Dave’s art on his website is Star Wars oriented in nature; his good fortune in subject matter also includes Marvel Comics’ variant of Spider-Gwen, G.I. Joe and Battlestar Galactica. Like I said, Dave’s a lucky guy.

Dave is scheduled to be at San Diego Comic Con this July. His booth number is #4500. I’m sure that he’d be happy to talk Alien, BSG, and his work with Magnetic Press. Check it out and if you get a chance, make sure you ask him about his Cthulhu stuff coming up. If you’re a Cthulhu fan like me, then you’re in for a great experience.

In fact, I think that’s something that we at PopMythology need to ask him about as well! Stay tuned for more information because I think we’ll be taking another look at that continues to develop.

Huh … maybe Dave’s not as lucky as I originally thought. It seems to me that we’re the lucky ones! We’ll look forward to talking more with Dave at San Diego!