I first got chatting to Brian Hickey on Friday evening at the Beer & Burger get-together before the events and festivities of the 26th Farthest From weekend began. Having lived enough of a life and being a stand-up comic, I’d like to think I’m fairly adept at ‘getting a vibe’ from people and I was instantly struck by Brian’s friendliness, openness and how humble he was. Over the course of the weekend, I was happy to get to know Brian and more of his work, and he has made a lasting impression on me.
I was hyped for Brian’s panel. Only a few hours before, Mark and I had spoken to him for the Making Tracks podcast where he was simply fantastic and dropped something in there that he was announcing at his panel later. When he told me, I had goosebumps; I haven’t geeked out like that as a fan or collector in quite some time.
When it came time for Brian’s panel he took us through his early years in Ireland and how he had all of the original Star Wars toys. Alas, like so many of the era they were destined for the landfill when his parents threw them out. Brian also joked how the ending of Toy Story 3 still gives him nightmares when Buzz, Woody and the gang are heading for certain doom as that would have been the journey that his own childhood toys took.
Brian’s career has led him to working at the Irish Museum and in the late 2000’s something wonderful happened. His son was getting into The Clone Wars and Brian began to pick up the action figures related to the series. (a fantastic toy line I must add.)
Brian craved the nostalgia hit, so he went back to buy all the toys he had as a child and then created a comic book of photos that depicted the action with figures and custom-built sets. The comic was called Jungle Boogie and featured Clone Troopers, but Brian felt his creative juices running out by page 7. He wanted something meatier, something grander. Something special.
That project came in 2017 when he began work on Star Wars: Creating Adventure, a one-of-a-kind coffee table book that retold the entire story of the original trilogy using vintage action figures and playsets. Brian isn’t confident that the book could ever go to print as it features a story which is under copywrite and thus Disney would be reluctant to give it the greenlight. This is a travesty as the book was on display at Farthest From and is simply breathtaking. You really do have to see it to believe it. Luckily, an online version can be found at totaltoybooks.com.
Next in Brian’s career came the well-received and beautiful book My Palitoy Story, a collaboration with Bob Brechin. So well-received was the book that it won an Irish Print Award earlier this year. That campaign was a success and was funded into production. Star Wars was only briefly touched upon, which led us to Brian’s announcement.
Launching in the first few months of 2025 will be Brian’s next book – Total Star Wars. This book will be crowdfunded and cover everything from early talks in the Palitoy offices to the production of the toys themselves and everything in between. Earlier when I mentioned I had goosebumps from something Brian said, it was this – Brian has been given unfiltered access to Bob Brechin’s personal archive of materials and photos to document them in this book. History will literally be preserved if this book goes into production. This is THE project that UK Star Wars fans and collectors have been waiting for.
Of course, there will be stretch goals, including a deluxe hardback case for the book and early Marvel UK artwork, and the project will have an ‘early bird’ offer whereby fans who back the project in the first 72 hours would only pay around £30.00 + £9.00 shipping for the book. Further and final pricing will be announced and decided but if Brian gets his wish then this will be a bargain.
A placeholder page can be found here where you can receive updates and bag the chance to secure your copy.
You can hear our chat with Brian on the latest episode of Making Tracks.
This has clearly been the ultimate passion project for Brian, and his love and artistry shine through. I hope I get the chance to spend more time with Brian at future events because being in his enthusiastic company was an early Christmas gift in itself.
