Steve Purcell, the Eisner Award-winning artist, talks about creating an illustrated homage to the Star Wars series that connects back to two other key moments in his career.
Since its earliest iterations, the story of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew has been tied to another Lucasfilm pirate adventure: the Monkey Island games from LucasArts.
Series creators Jon Watts and Chris Ford count The Secret of Monkey Island from 1990 among their childhood inspirations for the story of Captain Silvo and his brigand crew, and among their own behind-the-scenes crew, Skywalker Sound’s Matt Wood and David W. Collins worked on the beloved gaming franchise. “Monkey Island was a huge thing for me as a kid,” Watts tells StarWars.com. “I loved Monkey Island, and still do, and so getting to do space pirates was something that allowed me to check back in.”
“During the press junket, Monkey Island came up a lot,” adds Ford, “and we talked about how much we loved the artwork from that era of LucasArts.” That gave the team an idea for promoting their series in a way that would bring their inspiration full circle. “I think it was Jon who actually thought ‘Hey, maybe we could ask someone at Lucasfilm if they actually know [Monkey Island cover artist] Steve Purcell and maybe he could do some art for Skeleton Crew?’” Ford recalls.
Luckily, production designer Doug Chiang had worked with Purcell during their early careers, and he placed the call that would bring Watts and Ford in touch with one of their heroes.
“I was taken aback to hear from Doug since it would have been decades since we had crossed paths at Lucasfilm,” Purcell tells StarWars.com. Purcell’s career has included creating the Eisner Award-winning Sam & Max franchise as well as work in games and animation, illustrating the cover art for the first two Monkey Island games and working on stories for Pixar including writing the screenplays for Brave as well as Cars on the Road. On the phone with Watts, Ford, and Skeleton Crew producer Chris Buongiorno, Purcell learned about the team’s influences for the latest Disney+ Star Wars series. “I wondered how they came up with my name to do a Star Wars piece and they mentioned my Monkey Island game covers for LucasArts. I hadn’t really done [anything] Star Wars themed besides my parody Sam & Max strips for the LucasArts newsletter, back in the day. What a pleasure and privilege it was being asked by this creative team to contribute something that ties into this fun, nutty and enthusiastic series.”
The piece, which debuted on the Star Wars social channels to celebrate the finale, reimagines Jod — with blue lightsaber ignited! — alongside SM-33 and Snowball, and Wim, Fern, KB, and Neel in Purcell’s unmistakable style. The full-color illustration captures the whimsy of the series and the spirit of the LucasArts covers that helped inspire it.
And in the shadows, an array of pirates peer out from the page, including Brutus, Vane, and Pokkit. “My first concepts had a smattering of the pirate characters and the feedback from the team was that it would be fun to see even more of the denizens of Port Borgo,” Purcell recalls. “There was a funny note that they might feel like the bizarre characters you would find populating a Sam & Max comic panel. The picks were selected based on who might be there and who is fun to draw, and I was also eager to include Pokkit since it was a treat to find Kelly Macdonald in that role after having worked with her when she played Merida in Brave.”
The final piece is as much an homage to the stories that inspired Watts and Ford as it is a love letter to Purcell’s own contributions to animation and illustration. “We were both huge fans of his work on those games and Sam & Max comics and on,” Ford says. “Copying his art was how I learned how to draw hands. It was a thrill just getting to talk to Steve on the phone, let alone get him to create original art of our characters! They all look so right in his art style, I think, because he was such an early inspiration for us. His sense of humor really made a strong impression on us and we hope it comes through!”
Watch all episodes of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew now streaming on Disney+!
