Star Wars Artist Series: Dan Parsons

Starting out as a self publisher, Parsons came to be known in the independent comic crowd for his "bad girl" comic, Harpy. His work on the comic earned him enough of a reputation to start getting assignments such as the covers and interior work for the Battlestar Galactica comic. Soon enough, Parsons was onto more projects including the Sci Fi channel's First Wave comic book. He also illustrated various trading cards projects for the titles Witchblade, Vampirella, Lexx, The Crow and The Lord of the Rings, as well as the ever popular Star Wars Heritage and the Revenge of the Sith sets for Topps.

"I have must have drawn nearly every Star Wars character in the galaxy when you put together the Heritage and the Revenge of the Sith sets," Parsons smiles. "Of course my favorite will always be Jedi Master Plo Koon! Who else in the galaxy has a small intestine for a face? I like working on the bounty hunters a lot too. Bossk is another face only a mother could love!"

However, before he was sketching his favorite characters on cards for Topps, Parsons found himself chatting with his favorite Star Wars artist -- Jan Duursema -- in hopes of teaming up with her on a future project. "I was at the San Diego Comic-Con back in 2002 and I had a spot in Artist Alley not far from artist Jan Duursema," Parsons recalls. "Little did I know she was on the hunt for a new inker. I showed her some of my work which at the time had a real Al Williamson flavor. I think it was a King Kong type piece that caught her eye. I inked some sample pages and we have been working together ever since. We both have a realistic, illustrative approach that works well together."

For his first official Star Wars project, Parsons was hired to ink an 18-page Obi-Wan/Anakin tale for the double-sized 50th issue of Star Wars: Republic. "I went on to ink the first four issues of Jedi and then Jan [Duursema] and I signed on as the regular team for Republic," Parsons says. "We worked on the title until the series end with issue #83."

Parsons continues his creative partnership with Duursema as they tackle the newly released Star Wars: Legacy series. He also has lent his penciling and inking talents on King Kong for Dark Horse. "King Kong was always a favorite of mine so that is a real treat to work on," Parsons says. "I also continue to work on my creator-owned series Harpy and Savage Planet here and there. Some Harpy stuff is scheduled to come out this summer from Amryl Entertainment. I am also working on an oil painting for a pirate novel called Tales from the Sea. There are other things that are in the works, but I don't want to get yelled at for 'giving up the ghost.'"