R.I.P

I've had this poster for about 14 years.

I'm sad to say I've received news that director Irvin Kershner has past away. Kershner expanded upon George Lucas's Star Wars universe by directing The Empire Strikes Back. The depth of influence this movie has had on my life is almost indescribable. I lived in a room littered in Star Wars action figures, banks, posters, folders, stickers, notebooks, pillows, blankets and just about everything else you can think of for almost the entirety of my childhood. If i wasn't drawing I was marauding the galaxy with my Boba Fett toy.

Kershner showed the world a side of the Star Wars universe that had been previously unseen. The film has a fun and immediately engaging tone yet is quite menacing at the same time. The pinacle of the dichotomy achieved in the film is the fact that, for the first time that I had seen at age seven, the bad guys win. I wish more writers/directors had the gall to allow such things to happen in their creations. Rest in peace Mr. Kershner!