Star Wars #35, May 1980. This cover was perfect for its time. After the first movie came out in 1977, Marvel Comics had a number of restrictions placed on them in their monthly
Star Wars storytelling in order to keep them from treading into territory to be touched by the subsequent movies. As such, as much as readers were hungering for Darth Vader, they had to settle for proxy villains such as Crimson Jack and the House of Tagge. After three years of this, fans knew
The Empire Strikes Back was on its way, and were already well aware that the iconic image being used in
Empire's marketing was Vader's helmet. Seeing Vader finally loom large on a comics cover was just what fans were hungry for. Something to point out here: more than once have artists composed Vader on the cover in such a way that the triangular shape of the letter "A" makes it look like Vader's wearing an old style pointed German helmet. I really want someone in the 501st to recreate this scene with
Star Wars action figures.
The chess board image is so effective at painting the portrait of a villain mastermind that it really can't be beat.
