A few weeks ago a friend clued me in to a Duron Star Wars sketch that a fellow member had in a Facebook Star Wars group (Topps Star Wars Collectible Card Traders) in which we are both members. Galaxy 5, and in full color, so I was definitely interested. I was unfamiliar with the character, but the owner had done some research and found out it was Maris Brood, a Zabrak who was first a Jedi Padawan who initially escaped the the Great Jedi Purge ("order 66") and hid with her Jedi Master Shaak Ti on the planet of Felucia. After Shaak Ti was killed, Maris was corrupted by the Dark Side and later had run ins with Darth Vader's Sith apprentice Starkiller. Her story seemingly fades away or is unfinished.

   The Maris Brood character is also found in the Wii game "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II" as a playable character in the multiplayer fights. She wields twin red lightsabers, as shown in Mike's sketch. I admittedly am woefully lacking in knowledge of Star Wars Extended Universe and Star Wars video games, although I have picked up some recognition of EU characters over the years from sketch cards, but it's definitely not a strong point for me. 

   On to Mike's sketch of Maris Brood, it's full color and has really nice detail. It's from Galaxy 5, which has a bit of an unknown factor for Duron fans as Mike didn't post much of a preview of his cards on the social media outlets back then. So I had never seen this card until it surfaced in the Star Wars group 10+ years after the product was released. Admittedly, Galaxy 5 wasn't my favorite Galaxy set as the watermark background on the sketches from that set was so obvious it almost detracts from the sketch as it's so noticeable. Mike solved that problem for most of the card with the colored in background, but you can still see part of the watermark on Maris' arm. Nothing Mike (or any other artist) could do, it's just the way the sketch blanks were made. Mike did a fantastic job on this Maris sketch as the details are great for a pack inserted sketch. Many artists (especially back then) frankly didn't put as much effort into the pack inserted sketches. When you have deadlines and Topps is only paying you a nominal fee for the pack inserted sketches, at times those factors show up. Artists made their real money with their Return cards, in which they could charge whatever price they could get. Again I digress.. back to the sketch. I really enjoy everything about this sketch- how Mike drew her hair, the horns, her mouth, eyes, lightsabers, and the barely PG boobs lol. I wasn't going to mention them, but come on- they are very prominent in the sketch!  Most likely not a character that has many sketches, so I was very proud to add this one to my collection. Thanks to Sam for selling it to me, and Justin for telling me about it. 

   If you're so inclined, leave a comment and tell me what you think of today's sketch. And as always, thanks for stopping by and reading!

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