The central idea going into this image was depicting planet Dagobah itself as a portrait of Luke’s subconscious in it’s most interesting and unformed phase. In a nightmarish sequence, Luke runs into the mist where he thinks he saw Vader. Luke finds him and a lightsaber duel ends with Vader’s decapitation . The mask cracks open on the severed head, exposing the frozen face of a dead Luke Skywalker. The suggestion here is that somewhere within Luke’s psyche there is a potential for ultimate evil. Luke’s greatest challenge isn’t the Galactic Empire and it’s endless, faceless troopers, but the magnetism of the dark side; the seductive idea of choosing his own potential for power over everything else.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This year at SXSW, I was lucky enough to hang out with David Frost from the design firm, All City Media. If you’re not familiar with All City, check them out by clicking HERE. They have done some amazing work for films such as BAD LIEUTENANT, WALTZ WITH BASHIR, GOMORRAH, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, A PROPHET and MAN ON WIRE, among many others. David was one of the judges this year for the SXSW poster design competition and also spoke on a panel called Floating Heads are Dead: Why Traditional Posters Suck. As you can see, their MOON poster is anything but traditional. This is actually an unreleased version that All City made and were gracious enough to let us release.

We had to make one small change to it, though. The image used of Sam Rockwell was a photograph and therefore was not able to be screenprinted, so we asked our good friend and illustrator Martin Ansin to illustrate it. I remember seeing the poster in a theater lobby here in Austin and it making me do a double take. I distinctly remember saying “wow” outloud. With lobby’s full of giant pictures of actor’s faces, it’s great to actually see some design fighting back. We salute All City Media for being one of the leaders in bringing creativity back to poster design.

-Justin

Poster design by All City Media. Sam Rockwell illustration by Martin Ansin. 24″x36″ screen print w/ glow in the dark metallic inks. Hand numbered. Printed by D&L Screen Printing. Edition of 80. Click HERE to buy.

Poster design by All City Media. Sam Rockwell illustration by Martin Ansin. 24″x36″ screen print w/ glow in the dark metallic inks. Hand numbered. Printed by D&L Screen Printing. Edition of 80. Click HERE to buy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Raider” by Dave Kinsey. 24″x36″ screen print. Hand numbered. Printed by D&L Screen Printing. Edition of 350. Click HERE to buy. When asked about his memories of STAR WARS, Kinsey said “When I first saw Star Wars as a kid, I remember being intrigued by the Tusken Raider’s mystique and anonymity.”

The Tusken Raiders, like Gonk, have really stayed with us at Mondo over the years; easily one of the most unique characters of the Original Trilogy. Even with very little screen time, the look, mannerisms (riding single file to conceal their numbers) and even the sounds that the Sand People made are classic.  We are proud to make this our second offering in the series.

Click here to view the embedded video.

24″x36″ screen print w/ metallic inks (glow in the dark for variant). Hand numbered. Printed by D&L Screen Printing. Edition of 235 and 100 for the variant.  Available at 6/30/2010 at 11am CST $45 or $80 for variant.

Poster by Ken Taylor. 18″x24″ screen print. Hand numbered. Printed by D&L Screen Printing. Edition of 160. £30 limited to 160, available 6/30/2010 at 11am CST

Mondo is pleased to announce that we have teamed up with Lucasfilm LTD for a completely licensed and official STAR WARS poster series. We have been secretly working on this for over a year, but we are finally ready to unveil the first in a series of original, limited edition screen printed posters. First up in the series is Jeff Soto with a GNK Power Droid or, as he is known to most people, Gonk.

“Scrap Yard Power Droid” by Jeff Soto. 24″x36″ screen print. Hand numbered. Printed by D&L Screen Printing. Edition of 350. Click HERE to buy.

We asked Jeff to explain why he wanted his entry to be a power droid and here is what he had to say:

Star Wars was a pretty big deal for me as a kid. I was only 2 when the movie came out, and I can’t even remember if I saw it or not in the theater. The characters and story were known to many of us mainly from the toys! The toys! Oh they were wonderful, and we played with them for hours (and wore out the BEST and Sears catalogue)!  One of my favorite action figures was the Power Droid, and I didn’t really know much about the little guy, but for some reason he (I pictured it being male for some reason) captivated my imagination. I realized at some time that he’s barely even in the movie, which added to his mystique. Over the years he functioned as the worn out, floppy-legged power supply for numerous Transformers, GI Joe’s and Construx. He is small and cute, and found a place in my childhood heart. I still have the little guy. This piece is an ode to the Power Droid!

Here are some images of the print in progress.  Everything was drawn by hand, then the color separations were drawn out on the light table.  This is truly an intensive piece of handmade art.

If you miss out on this online release and are in Austin, TX, come by our brick and mortar store at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar. We will be having a release party starting at 5pm with copies of the poster for sale and will also be joined by the 501st Legion!

Last I heard, Stormtroopers, R2-D2, Tusken Raiders and several other characters would be in attendance! This is a very exciting time for Mondo and we’d love to see you all out tonight. If you have any questions about tonight or the series, feel free to email us at Store@MondoTees.com or respond in the comments. Thanks all for their support throughout the years as you all helped make this happen! If you want the quickest updates, sign up to our TWITTER account and our MAILING LIST.

P.S. Most people know that I’m a toy nut, so the first few people in line tomorrow night at the shop will be getting a vintage Gonk toy from my collection. Get there early!