A tale of Martín Comoglio based on the story and characters created by George Lucas
In December 1977, I was six years old.
At that time, during a short vacation with my family in the town of San Clemente, they took me to the cinema. I must confess that on my previous visits to movie theaters, I remember running around in the dark, between empty seats, having finally freed myself from the tedium of silently and motionlessly watching whatever was projected on the screen and didn't capture my interest.
But December 1977 had arrived.
“La Guerra de las Galaxias” was the Spanish translation of “Star Wars”.
It's impossible to convey the impact, right from the first seconds of the opening scene: that Imperial Destroyer with its unwavering trajectory and infinite dimensions, pursuing a small Rebel cruiser. It's dazzling today to contextualize what the genius of George Lucas, his story and his vision, together with his entire team at Industrial Light and Magic, managed to imprint on screen in that analog era of cinema.
I was also impressed. In my seat and in my soul. Motionless and ecstatic, forever changed.
Almost 50 years later, with profound admiration for George Lucas and his legacy, I offer my hypothesis on an aspect never before addressed in the saga. A 10-page story, pure reading and imagination, to contrast with the A.I. eruption of these times. An essential aspect of the central character of the “Star Wars” saga: why does Darth Vader look like that? And no, I'm not referring to George Lucas asking his illustrators to make Vader look like a cybernetic samurai. No. I'm referring to why, IN the story, in the plot, Vader looks the way we know him.
“The vital capsule.” A short story.
Martín Comoglio (February 20, 1971 – La Plata city, Argentina).
Designer in Visual Communication, graduated from the Facultad de Artes – Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Faculty of Arts - National University of La Plata).
He has been teaching at the Facultad de Artes since 1994. Currently, he holds the position of Full Professor of Visual Language 2. He has also taught at University Extension programs of the Facultad de Artes and at the Universidad de Palermo (University of Palermo - Buenos Aires city), in the subject of Portfolio and Professional Practice.
As an illustrator and designer, he has worked and published for a variety of clients. Among the most notable are the legendary rock band KISS (USA), Bruce Kulick (formerly of KISS – USA), Club Estudiantes de La Plata (Argentina), Correo Oficial de la República Argentina (Argentine Official Postal Service), and Grupo Carburando (Argentina), among others.
He has published articles on Foroalfa.org (a platform for professional training and debate) and in Metal (IPEAL – Papel Cosido – Facultad de Artes), a magazine that publishes on artistic production and artistic education in Argentina and Latin America.
He is a tattoo artist at “Comoglio Tattoo Atelier,” his own tattoo studio since 2015. Several of his works have been reposted by celebrities such as KISS, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Deftones, Mariano Andújar, among others.
Martín Comoglio and Javier Batic (Darth Vader)
THE VITAL CAPSULE