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Rare Al Williamson Star Wars Art Lands at Hake’s

or the young Al Williamson, it all Each strip retells the opening
started with Flash Gordon, the sequence of Star Wars (retroactively A
Faction-filled, meticulously illus- New Hope), measures approximately
trated adventure comic strip of the 7.25” x 20-1/8” on artboard, and
1940s by the late master Alex feature characters, situations, and
Raymond. In fact, different stages of his styles familiar to millions of fans
career would revolve around the work worldwide.
of Raymond. The Spirit, Will Eisner’s While they never appeared as part
smoky creation, Hal Foster’s exquisitely of the newspaper strip’s continuities,
rendered Prince Valiant, and other the strips have been published in two
strips followed close behind, but books, The Art Of Al Williamson by James
Raymond’s was the true lasting impact. Van Hise (1983) and more recently in
Fans and historians know Williamson Star Wars: The Classic Newspaper Comics
for his highly evocative art in comic books Vol. 2 (2017) from the Library of
and comic strips for over fifty years. American Comics and IDW Publishing.
Many, though, don’t know the full scope In Star Wars collecting circles, Hake’s
or variety of his efforts. Auctions has distinguished itself with a
He did everything from penciling and string of record prices and a compelling
inking stories in EC’s Weird Science- One of six prototype Star Wars comic strips illustrated by Al Williamson array of rare action figures, including pro-
from the estate of Lucasfilm marketeer Charles Lippincott.
Fantasy in the 50s, where he displayed the Image courtesy of Hake’s Auctions totypes, and related materials. Their June
influence of Raymond’s Flash Gordon, 22 auction was a one-day Star Wars
but also brought his own take to the telling of adventure stories. Also in Special Event Auction, which brought in $903,000 in sales, boasted a
the 1950s, he collaborated with John Prentice, the artist who took over 100% sell-through rate, and set multiple new records. Combined with
Rip Kirby in 1956 following the death of Raymond, its creator. the auction before that, Hake’s recently sold 500 lots of Star Wars mate-
Among other assignments in the 1960s, he illustrated Flash Gordon rial for a total of $2.1 million.
before he and writer (and frequent collaborator) Archie Goodwin took on The Boba Fett rocket-firing prototype L-slot AFA 80+ NM soared to
the comic strip Secret Agent X-9, co-created by Raymond with writer a record-breaking $236,000. This prototype is famous in collecting circles
Dashiell Hammett. Retitled Secret Agent Corrigan, their run lasted from because it was pulled from Kenner’s 1979 Star Wars toy line when the
1967 to 1979. rocket-firing aspect was deemed a choking hazard. The
In 1980, Williamson and Goodwin adapted The 3-3/4” figure is unpainted and has the L-slot mechanism.
Empire Strikes Back for Marvel Comics. Then, in 1981, Just a few weeks after again setting the world record,
following a decline in writer-artist Russ Manning’s Hake’s is now selling yet another Boba Fett rocket-firing
health, the duo took over the daily and Sunday Star prototype in the auction that closes July 26-27. The
Wars newspaper strips, bringing Williamson firmly into latest example is also an L-slot, but has a slightly higher
that galaxy far, far away. They would collaborate on the grade of AFA 85 NM+. On the auction’s opening day it
newspaper strip until it came to an end in 1984. already secured $85,000 in bids.
This tenure was not Al Williamson’s first encounter One of the June auction’s key rarities was the Jawa
with Star Wars as a newspaper strip. Unknown to many, (vinyl cape) 12-back-A AFA 80 NM that achieved
he was the first artist on the project years earlier. In fact, $40,887. The 2-1/4” tall figure comes with the initial
Williamson had created 12 daily strips as part of the first vinyl cape before it was repackaged with a cloth one and
proposal to do Star Wars as a regular comic strip. While Another of the six prototype Star Wars it’s on an unpunched card.
comic strips illustrated by
that early deal fell through, those twelve sample daily Al Williamson from The Charles A surprise price came when the Hungarian bootleg
strips still exist. George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, Lippincott Collection. Return of the Jedi Boba Fett AFA 50 Q-VG more than
owns the first six, while the late Charles Lippincott, the Image courtesy of Hake’s Auctions doubled its pre-auction estimate when it realized
marketing and promotions man behind Lucas’ creation, $20,768. Part of a series of ten Hungarian figures
received the second set of six daily strips from the proposal. released in 1987, it is recognizable for its smaller size, lack of copyright
Lippincott’s efforts in marketing and merchandizing Star Wars had a information, and was made of lower quality injection-molded plastic.
profound impact on film promotion. He secured the copyright to Star The Lili Ledy La Guerra De Las Galaxia loose Boba Fett (removable
Wars intellectual property, led deals for the movie’s novelization, comic rocket) figure AFA 80+ NM shot its way to $14,278. The Mexican vari-
adaptation at Marvel, and creation of toys with Kenner. ety features a removable rocket with a small fin that locked it into the
Lippincott’s six strips, among other items, have now landed at Hake’s backpack. It was quickly revised, resulting in a
Auctions in their auction that closes in just a few days on July 26-27, much scarcer sampling of this coveted figure.
2022. The strips will be offered as individual lots, and should be consid-
ered very rare. It’s possible that some Williamson Star Wars comic strip
art has traded hands privately, but there are no previous reported auction J.C. Vaughn is Vice-President of Publishing
sales for his work on the strip readily available from any of the major for Gemstone Publishing. Amanda Sheriff is
auction houses. Gemstone’s Editor – Digital.
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