Maikel Das

Maikel Das is a German writer, artist, editor, and publisher. His first fan activities took place in the early 1980s when he published illustrations and comics in fanzines and joined the Star Wars Fan Association (SWFA) based in (West) Berlin and then the "The German Jedi" (Remscheid) which was the largest German fan club at that time. 
Throughout the years he has remained a Star Wars fan, even during the "Dark Years" when little new Star Wars material was being produced by Lucasfilm. He provided illustrations to the fan run ESWFC (European Star Wars Fan Club), before it became the official German Star Wars fan club in 1994 (OSWFC). He contributed articles, reports and covers for the club's magazine. He also contributed reports and illustrations to the US fanzine Blue Harvest (Zine) from 1994 to 2000.
His other fannish activities include:
*Playing C-3PO during the opening show of Jedi-Con (the German Star Wars convention) in 1994 where his costume fell apart on stage. Anthony Daniels gave him acting lessons how to move as C-3PO. 
*Attending the Star Wars Celebrations Convention #1-3. The Celebrations Convention is a series of worldwide Star Wars conventions sponsored by Lucasfilm. He attended Celebrations Convention #2 & #3 with a press pass as a OSWFC reporter. 
*Visiting the "Magic of the Myth" Star Wars exhibition in Washington D.C. 
*Participating in the US Star Wars documentary "Millennium's End - the fandom menace" by Jeff Cioletti of Fadproductions 2000. The interview was taken while he attended Celebration 1 in Denver.
*Becoming part of the Star Wars saga, when US artist Joe Corroney modeled the character of mad Grand Admiral Il Raz after him (2002/2003). 
*Working as one of the guest star hosts at Jedi-Con in 2004
*Designing the membership card for the Star Wars Fan club OSWFC in 2006. 
*Attending promotion events in Hamburg running around dressed as an Imperial Officer. 
Bio: Born 1963 in Hamburg, Germany. Early influences: SF serials of the 60s and 70s, comic books and Perry Rhodan novels. Perry Rhodan is the largest SF novel series in the world, published weekly since Sept. 1961 Started collecting Marvel Comics in 1976, in 1980 Schwermetall (Heavy Metal) opened him up to the wider world of European and American comics. Heroes: Will Eisner and Carl Barks. 
In 1987, he became a Donaldist, a fandom centered on the Donald Duck cartoons and joined the Ducktorium group as an editor for 2-3 years. Since then he has been an active member of the D.O.N.A.L.D. (Deutsche Organisation nicht-kommerzieller Anhängers des lauteren Donaldismus or 'German Organization of non-commercial followers of sincere Donaldism') in various functions. He is currently the editor for "Der Donaldist special publications" and is a member of the local group in Hamburg. 
In addition to his role in Donald Duck fandom, he has participated in a John Carpenter fan club since 82, running it from 1983 to 1987. In the 1990s, he began making contact with the German comic artists/cartoonists scene and worked with them on various projects and exhibitions. This then led to him becoming a comic book publisher in 2008. Together with Kai Hirdt, he took over the publishing house Alligator Farm and began publishing the licensed Perry Rhodan SF-Comic under the name "PERRY - unser Mann im All (our man in space)". He is serving as both editor as well as the color artist on short-stories.
==Gallery==
All images copyrighted by Maikel Das. Images taken from here.
Image:Maikeldas_SW_gal03.jpg|The Phantom Menace
Image:Maikeldas_Star_wars_Luke_gal27.gif|Luke Skywalker
Image:Maikeldas_xfiles_gal10.jpg|X-Files cover
Image:Maikeldas_echo_3_cover_gal02.jpg|Cover of 'Echo 3' fanzine
Image:Maikeldas_terminator_gal46.jpg|If The Terminator Were Santa Claus
Image:Maikeldas_SWars_Leia_gal23.gif|Princess Leia
Image:Maikeldas_obiwan_gal58.jpg|ObiWan & Anakin
Image:Maikeldas_madmax_gal42.jpg|Mad Max
Image:Maikeldas_lukeleiagal43.jpg|Hamil & Fisher as Luke & Leia
Image:Maikeldas_disco_luke_gal60.jpg|Disco Luke
Image:Maikeldas_donald_duck_gal07.jpg|Cover of the fanzine Der Donaldist #113
Category:German-Speaking Fandom
Category:Fanwriters
Category:Fanartists
Category:Zine Publishers