Star Wars #44 by Marvel - Stan Lee: Duel A Dark Lord on Boxed Canvas
Few moments in cinema are as famous as the climax of The Empire Strikes Back. Star Wars #44 brings that chapter to the wall: the cover of the Marvel comic that told the story in print in 1981, presented as a limited edition on boxed canvas and hand-signed by Stan Lee. It is a piece for anyone whose love of Star Wars goes back to the original trilogy, and for anyone who admires comic illustration as an art form in its own right.
What the work shows
Marvel published Star Wars comics from 1977 to 1986, the first official comic book adaptation of the saga. When The Empire Strikes Back arrived, Marvel adapted the film across six issues, and Star Wars #44, cover-dated February 1981, is the sixth and final part, titled "Duel a Dark Lord!". It covers the confrontation between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, including the moment Vader reveals he is Luke's father.
The issue was written by Archie Goodwin from George Lucas's story, with artwork by Al Williamson, who also drew the cover. Williamson was one of the great adventure illustrators of his generation, admired for a classic, cinematic style, and his Empire adaptation is still regarded by many fans as a high point of Marvel's Star Wars run.
From comic cover to fine art
In his later years, Stan Lee curated and hand-signed a series of fine art editions that translated Marvel's Star Wars comics into gallery pieces, created through a collaboration between Choice Fine Art and Acme Archives, Marvel's fine art publisher. The collection drew on covers penned and inked by artists including Carmine Infantino, Walt Simonson and Al Williamson, and it was released in both boxed canvas and giclee on paper.
Stan Lee died in 2018, so the works carrying his own signature form a finite group. For Star Wars collectors that combination is unusual: an image tied to one of the defining moments of the saga, signed by the best-known figure in comics publishing.
For fans who first met the story on the page, Williamson's cover is as much a part of the memory as the film itself. Seeing it at gallery scale changes how it reads: the drama of the composition, the confidence of the drawing and the clarity of the design are far easier to appreciate when the image is no longer a few inches tall on a shop rack. It is a reminder that comic covers were always designed to work hard, catching the eye in seconds.
This edition
Dane Manor's piece is the boxed canvas version, a limited edition hand-signed by Stan Lee, with an image size of 16.5 x 24 inches. A boxed canvas is stretched over a deep frame, so it can hang without glazing and has a clean, contemporary presence on the wall. With no glass in front of it, the colour reads directly and there are no reflections to work around, which makes it easy to place in rooms with windows on several sides.
It comes with a Certificate of Authenticity, and we deliver it fully insured across the UK and internationally.
Living with the piece
Star Wars #44 suits a home cinema, a study, a games room or a hallway that needs a talking point. In a collection that spans contemporary painting and limited edition prints, it adds something different: a direct link to the pop-culture images many of us grew up with, drawn by a master of the comic page. As with any canvas, keep it out of strong direct sunlight and away from damp walls, and it will look after itself.
It also pairs naturally with its companion in the gallery, Wolverine #17, another Marvel cover signed by Stan Lee. You can browse everything else we hold in the gallery.
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