Lucas’ Rough Draft Of THE STAR WARS Becoming A Comic

Joke this is not: Dark Horse has gotten Lucas’ permission to take his original 1974 screenplay for what was known as The Star Wars and adapt it into an eight-issue comic book series!

We’ve all heard of Anakin Starkiller and some of the other clunkier ideas that Lucas kicked around in his earliest conceptions of Star Wars, but this will be the first time those ideas are fully realized and treated as their own in this new comic series. Mike Mayhew (Avengers, Vamiprella) will provide art while J.W. Rinzler, the author of the 2007 behind-the-scenes book The Making Of Star Wars, will assist with the adaptation.

Here’s the full press release, and the art above is official work from the series that will begin in the fall of this year.

It’s no April Fools’ prank! Dark Horse is honored to announce a dream project: working with J.W. Rinzler, executive editor at LucasBooks, and artist Mike Mayhew (Avengers) to adapt the rough-draft original screenplay which spawned the biggest franchise in film history! Three years before his 1977 film, George Lucas put down on paper his first story set in a galaxy far, far away—a tale of fantastic adventures, daring escapes, “lazer swords,” romance, and monsters. A story of Jedi Annikin Starkiller and General Luke Skywalker, an alien named Han Solo, and evil Sith Knights. The screenplay was titled The Star Wars! “I’m not sure where I first read about The Star Wars—it was years and years ago—but the idea of Luke Skywalker being an older Jedi General, and Han Solo being a six-foot-tall lizard, turned my Star Wars fan brain on its side,” said longtime Star Wars editor Randy Stradley. “I always assumed this would be one of those stories that would be ‘lost to history,’ so getting to work on bringing it to life is kinda like a dream come true.” “While researching in the Lucasfilm Archives I’ve found many treasures—but one which truly astounded me was George’s rough draft for The Star Wars. His first complete imaginings were hallucinating to read—mind blowing,” said writer J.W. Rinzler. “While working with George on another book project, I once asked if we could adapt his rough draft. He was hesitant. Years later, with Dark Horse’s invaluable help, we showed him a few drawn and colored pages of what it might look like. He gave us the okay.” Originally conceived in 1974, The Star Wars has been the subject of rumor and legend in the fan community throughout the history of the galaxy far, far away. Now, Lucas has seen fit to grant Dark Horse the right to adapt this fabled story into an eight-issue comic series launching in September!

Source | Coming Soon (via Movies.com)