ThereÂ’s been a lot of talk recently about the rivalry between East Coast and West Coast Star Wars creators. Hardly a day goes by when I donÂ’t hear "East Coast sisters canÂ’t draw a lightsaber to save their lives!" or "West Coast brothers couldnÂ’t write a decent Star Wars story even if George Lucas himself was helpinÂ’ out!" Well, my friends, IÂ’m here to convince you otherwise and hopefully put an end to all this senseless bickeringÂ…
Jan Duursema proves without a doubt that East Coast sisters definitely got it goinÂ’ on in the pencilling department. Long-time comics illustrator, Jan calls New Jersey her home and has worked on such prominent titles as Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor, and Hulk for Marvel Comics before coming to Dark Horse to work on Star Wars. In a way, Star Wars is responsible for guiding Jan toward her career as an artist. When asked about the connection, Jan explained, "I was at a local comic shop showing a painting sample I had done of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. They liked it and asked me if I'd ever heard of the Joe Kubert School of Cartooning. Soon I was attending JKS and learning drawing and storytelling from comic book masters." Once she was but the student and now she is the master! This is clearly evident in her work on the ongoing Star Wars story arc "Twilight," which appears in issues #19 through #22. When Jan isnÂ’t drawing, you can find her studying a form of Japanese sword fighting know as Iaido and brushing up on her martial arts. These skills should come in quite useful when Jan picks up her pencil to illustrate the upcoming four-issue series Darth Maul, which hits the stores in September.
Representing the West Coast is Kevin Rubio. Kevin is, according to some, a graduate of Long Beach State University Film School. He directed college and community theater productions in his home town of Gilroy, California before moving to Los Angeles in 1988. Though a newcomer to the comics field, Kevin has worked in every capacity of the film and television industry, having created cartoon characters for the Fox Kids Network, restored animation cels, and even (though he won't admit it) colorized films for Ted Turner. But Kevin's most noted work to date is the 1998 internet hit TROOPS, a Cops/Star Wars parody. It was TROOPS that first brought Kevin to the attention of Dark Horse. Some may say we hired Kevin merely to justify watching his hilarious film over and over and overÂ…but thatÂ’s only partially true. Kevin is an excellent writer, and if you missed his tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek debut story "A Death Star is Born" in Star Wars Tales #4, you should run out and buy a copy today. Kevin is a bright star, and IÂ’m certain youÂ’ll be seeing much more from him in the future.
I hope IÂ’ve helped to settle this whole East/West dispute and that people can now see that we must embrace one another not disgrace one another.
Keep it real,
--Dave Land