Every week, I will be sharing with you three comic book "easter eggs." An easter egg is a joke/visual gag/in-joke that a comic book creator (typically the artist) has hidden in the pages of the comic for readers to find (just like an easter egg). They range from the not-so-obscure to the really obscure. So come check 'em all out and enjoy! Also, click here for an archive of all the easter eggs featured so far! If you want to suggest an easter egg for a future column, e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com (do not post your suggestion in the comments section!).

Today we take a look at a few easter eggs from Star Wars comics!

First up, based on a suggestion from Ethan Shuster, Terry Dodson sneaks Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy into this crowd scene alongside Luke Skywalker in Dark Force Rising #3...



Next, reader Philip reminded me of a neat bit in Star Wars #16, written by Archie Goodwin. As I noted in a recent Comic Book Legends Revealed, the character Jaxxon (based on Bugs Bunny) was jettisoned from the Star Wars comics because George Lucas didn't like the character. That was pretty much it for Jaxxon, however, he made one last appearance in #16 where Goodwin has him be captured by, in effect, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd!



Finally, Ed D. pointed out a pair of tributes to the great Anime creator Leiji Matsumoto by Jo Duffy during her Star Wars run.

In Matsumoto's Space Battleship Yamato (also known as Star Blazers), there is a planet Gamilon and a planet Iskandar.

Well, in Star Wars #74, Duffy introduces us to planets Iskalon and Gamandar...





In addition, in Star Wars #79, Lando Calrissian is undercover as "Captain Drebble" (art by Ron Frenz and Tom Palmer, who were quite a good pairing back in the 1980s).



He is clearly modeled on Matsumoto's character, Space Pirate Captain Harlock...



Great suggestions this week, folks! If YOU have a suggestion for a future edition of Comic Book Easter Eggs, e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com!

Star Blazers and Captain Harlock at the end of each paragraph. Hopefully you can

use these suggestions for a future edition of Comic Book Easter Eggs. Thanks for

your time. Leiji Matsumoto-Wiki