As part of a clever marketing campaign orchestrated by Charles Lippincott, the first of the Star Wars comic books was on store shelves in April 1977, a month before the movie entered theaters. That six-issue movie adaptation began a 107-issue original comic run, which has grown significantly at Marvel, Dark Horse, and other publishers.

Howard Chaykin, who had designed the first Star Wars promotional poster in ’76, provided the art on the first 10 issues of the comic. Hake’s Auctions recently sold the original art of Star Wars #2 page 27 for $24,272, topping their high-end estimate by over $4,000. The page by Chaykin and inked by Steve Leialoha was rendered in pen and ink on 10-1/2” x 15-3/4” artboard.

Made for the second part of the A New Hope adaptation, it features the scene when Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, C-3PO, and R2-D2 leave Mos Eisley on the Millennium Falcon with Han Solo and Chewbacca. The art is split into four panels with the first showing Mos Eisley patrons and the second has the Millennium Falcon fleeing from a trio of Star Destroyers. The third is a close up of Han, followed by the fourth with the characters gathered in the cockpit exchanging dialogue that closely mirrors lines from the movie.

This is Hake’s second consecutive auction with an estimate topping sale of Chaykin’s Star Wars original art. In November 2019, they sold an original page from Star Wars #3 for $33,748. Bidding on that page escalated significantly before selling for nearly triple the preauction estimate.

Top items from Hake’s recently completed Auction #229 can be viewed on their website under tabs for lots that closed Wednesday and Thursday.