Star Wars #1 (1977)

A comic that beat the movie to market

Star Wars #1 carries a July 1977 cover date, but it was shipped on March 8 and went on sale on April 12, 1977. The film it adapted did not open until May 25. For roughly six weeks, the only way to see Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Darth Vader in color was in a 30-cent comic book.

The issue is the first chapter of a six-issue adaptation of the film. Its 17-page story, titled "Star Wars" inside and announced on the cover as "Enter: Luke Skywalker!", follows Imperial forces led by Vader as they capture Leia's ship, the escape of R2-D2 and C-3PO to Tatooine, and Luke's discovery of part of Leia's message to Obi-Wan Kenobi. It ends with Luke chasing the runaway R2 into the Jundland Wastes, where Sand People attack him.

Because the comic was drawn from the screenplay and production material rather than the finished film, it preserves scenes that were cut from the movie: Luke watching the opening space battle from Tatooine, telling his friends Camie and Fixer about it, and his friend Biggs Darklighter confiding that he plans to join the Rebellion. It also changes one famous line. Vader's warning that the ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force reads, in the comic, "the Cosmic Force."

The series ran for 107 issues and three annuals until 1986, with original stories beginning at issue #7.

Lippincott, Thomas, Chaykin and a reluctant Stan Lee

The deal began with Charles Lippincott, Lucasfilm's publicity supervisor, who approached Marvel in 1975 about a comic to promote the film before its release. Lucas had first tried other publishers. Stan Lee, Marvel's publisher, declined to consider the idea until the film was finished. Roy Thomas, the writer behind Marvel's Conan the Barbarian, met Lippincott around the same time and was asked to write the book at Lucas's request. Thomas said yes after Lippincott showed him a production sketch of the cantina scene, which convinced him the film was a space opera in the tradition of the old Planet Comics.

Thomas arranged a second meeting with Lee in 1976, and Lee was reportedly won over when he heard that Alec Guinness was in the cast. Because movie tie-ins rarely sold, Lee negotiated terms under which Lucasfilm received no royalties until sales passed 100,000 copies. Jim Shooter, then Marvel's associate editor, later recalled that the prevailing wisdom held that science fiction did not sell, that the project drew jeers inside the office, and that even Lee was not keen on it.

Lucas asked for Howard Chaykin as the artist, and Chaykin was allowed into Lucasfilm's offices on the Universal Studios lot to gather reference. The main index of comic credits lists Thomas and Lucas for the script, Chaykin for pencils and inks, Marie Severin for colors and Jim Novak for letters. One sales listing instead credits Tom Palmer with inking the interior; the sources disagree, and this page follows the index.

Thomas also edited the series. He left after issue #10, when, by his account, Lucasfilm's restrictions and the franchise's sudden untouchable status made the work less appealing. Archie Goodwin and Carmine Infantino took over with issue #11.

Marvel in 1977

Marvel was in poor shape when the comic appeared. Shooter later described the mid-1970s company as a mess: nearly every book late, unscheduled reprints and fill-ins, sales bad and falling, almost all of them on newsstands, with the magazine division losing millions. Rising newsprint costs and the disappearance of traditional newsstands and corner stores were squeezing the whole industry before the direct-market comic shop took hold later in the decade.

Then the movie became a phenomenon. "The comics sold and sold and sold," Shooter wrote, and Marvel reprinted the adaptation in every format it could. In his judgment, the success of the Star Wars comics was a significant factor in Marvel's survival through 1977 and 1978. The series was among the industry's best-selling titles in 1979 and 1980, and once sales cleared the 100,000-copy mark Lippincott was able to renegotiate the royalty terms.

Outside the comic shop, 1977 opened with Jimmy Carter's inauguration and the television run of Roots, and ended with the Atari 2600 on store shelves. Between them came the New York City blackout, Elvis Presley's death and the launches of Voyager 1 and 2.

Thirty cents, thirty-five cents and the reprints

Most copies of Star Wars #1 carry a 30-cent price. A small number were printed at 35 cents as a test of how selected markets would react to a coming price increase. One collecting guide reports evidence from distribution markings that the 35-cent copies went to four cities, and both that guide and the grading company cite an estimated print run of about 1,500. They have become the most valuable copies of the issue.

The true 35-cent first printing has a square price box, the word "July" under the issue number and a bar code in the UPC box, just like the 30-cent copy. It should not be confused with the much more common 35-cent Whitman copies sold in multipacks, which have the price inside a diamond. The reprint versions also say "REPRINT" in the corner box and lack the bar code. The main comics index lists five variants of the issue besides the regular 30-cent copy, and forgeries made by doctoring the price box of a 30-cent copy have been reported.

The cover, drawn by Chaykin and inked by Palmer, is based on Chaykin's 1976 San Diego Comic-Con poster for the film. It shows Obi-Wan Kenobi and Han Solo, who do not appear inside until issue #2, and a Darth Vader colored green. Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2 are missing from it. The whereabouts of the original cover art are unknown. On both this issue and #2, the first and last two letters of the Star Wars logo are not joined.

This entry is the regular 30-cent edition in CGC 9.8, the highest grade recorded for the issue. Copies were plentiful; the grading company had certified 8,808 standard copies by November 2019 with a median grade of 9.4, and more than 17,000 by mid-August 2024. The rarity at the top lies in the 35-cent variant, not the 30-cent book.

From the spinner rack to the slab

Marvel kept the story in print for decades: in an oversized Marvel Special Edition in 1977, in Star Wars Weekly in Britain from February 1978, as a dollar True Believers reprint on May 4, 2016, and as facsimile editions in December 2019 and again in April 2025. Dark Horse and later Marvel recolored the adaptation for new collections. In 2015 Alex Ross painted a realistic reimagining of the cover as a variant for the first issue of Marvel's new Star Wars series.

For a 30-cent copy in CGC 9.8, published sales sit in the low thousands of dollars. An unrestored 9.8 brought $9,600 in April 2022, and a 9.8 signed by Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker and David Prowse realized $20,400 that September. Sales of unsigned 9.8 copies in mid-2026 were reported between about $2,300 and $3,400, with fixed asking prices around $3,100 to $4,700.

The 35-cent variant trades in a different bracket. A CGC 9.4 sold for $23,900 in November 2017 and another for $27,111 in 2018. A 9.4 reached $56,400 in November 2022, and another realized $40,800 at auction on August 8, 2024, which the grading company called tied for the third-highest sale of the variant.

The numbers

Cover price

30 cents; test copies at 35 cents

Pages

36; the story is 17

Print run, 30-cent edition

Not documented in the sources consulted

Print run, 35-cent variant

About 1,500, an estimate cited by a collecting guide and the grading company

Census, December 2016

195 graded copies of the 35-cent variant; the highest two at 9.6

Census, November 2019

8,808 standard, 448 reprints, 235 of the 35-cent variant and one bookstore edition; standard median grade 9.4; highest grade 9.8

Census, mid-August 2024

More than 17,000 standard copies; 327 of the 35-cent variant, only three of them above 9.4

Known copies

No count outside the census is published in the sources consulted

Timeline

1. 1975

   Lucasfilm publicity supervisor Charles Lippincott approaches Marvel about a Star Wars comic; Stan Lee declines to consider it until the film is finished.

2. 1976

   Roy Thomas arranges a second meeting and Lee approves the project; Howard Chaykin draws the San Diego Comic-Con poster that becomes the basis of the cover.

3. Mar 8, 1977

   Star Wars #1 ships to distributors.

4. Apr 12, 1977

   The issue goes on sale at 30 cents, with a July 1977 cover date.

5. May 25, 1977

   The film opens in theaters.

6. Sep 13, 1977

   Issue #6 goes on sale, finishing the six-part adaptation.

7. Feb 8, 1978

   Star Wars Weekly #1 begins reprinting the adaptation in Britain.

8. 1986

   Marvel's original series ends after 107 issues and three annuals.

9. May 4, 2016

   Marvel reissues the comic as a one-dollar True Believers reprint.

10. Nov 2017

    A 35-cent variant in CGC 9.4 sells for $23,900.

11. Nov 2019

    The grading company's census shows 8,808 standard copies, 448 reprints and 235 of the 35-cent variant.

12. Dec 4, 2019

    Marvel publishes a facsimile edition of the issue.

13. Apr 2022

    An unrestored CGC 9.8 regular copy realizes $9,600.

14. Nov 2022

    A 35-cent variant in CGC 9.4 sells for $56,400.

15. Aug 8, 2024

    A 35-cent variant in CGC 9.4 realizes $40,800; the census lists more than 17,000 standard copies and 327 variants.

16. Apr 9, 2025

    A second printing of the facsimile edition is released.

The world in 1977

• Jan 20, 1977

  Jimmy Carter is sworn in as the 39th president of the United States.

• Jan 23, 1977

  The miniseries Roots begins its run on ABC.

• May 25, 1977

  Star Wars opens in 32 theaters across the United States before going nationwide.

• Jul 13, 1977

  A blackout leaves New York City without power for 25 hours.

• Aug 16, 1977

  Elvis Presley dies at Graceland at 42.

• Sep 5, 1977

  Voyager 1 is launched, two weeks after Voyager 2.

• Oct 1977

  The Atari 2600 home video game console is released.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Star Wars #1 (1977) is number 50 of 100 in the comics entries of the FLOAT 100. 92 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (52 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The comic went on sale on April 12, 1977, about six weeks before the film opened.
• Stan Lee was reportedly persuaded to take on Star Wars when he heard Alec Guinness was in the cast.
• Lucasfilm got no royalties until the comic passed 100,000 copies in sales.
• Darth Vader is colored green on the cover, which also shows Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who do not appear inside until issue #2.
• In the comic, Vader speaks of "the Cosmic Force," a phrase the film does not use.
• The issue includes Tatooine scenes with Biggs Darklighter that were cut from the movie.
• Roy Thomas left the series after Lucas reportedly disliked his new character, a green rabbit named Jaxxon.