when was the first star wars comic released
Star Wars comics Charles Lippincott, Lucasfilm's publicity supervisor, initially approached publisher Stan Lee at Marvel Comics in 1975 about publishing a Star Wars comic book prior to the film's release as a means to appeal to its most likely audience. Lee initially declined to consider such a proposal until the film was completed, and was only persuaded otherwise in a second meeting arranged by Roy Thomas, who wanted to edit the series. Since movie tie-in comics rarely sold well at that time, Lee negotiated a publishing arrangement which gave no royalties to Lucasfilm until sales exceeded 100,000. At that point, legal arrangements could be revisited.[2] Issue #1 of Star Wars was released for sale on April 12, 1977,[3][4][5][6] and Marvel published the series from 1977 to 1986, lasting 107 issues and three annuals.[7] According to former Marvel Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter, the strong sales of Star Wars comics saved Marvel financially in 1977 and 1978.[8] Marvel's Star Wars series was one of the industry's top selling titles in 1979 and 1980.[9] The only downside for Marvel was that the 100,000 copy sales quota was surpassed quickly, allowing Lippincott to renegotiate the royalty arrangements from a position of strength.[10]