It’s the very day on which Jack’s world – and life – seismically shift! A case of: life before – life after… Continuing on from the previous strip, Jack finally experiences what almost everyone around him has been raving about for ages. Seeing Star Wars in 1977, for the first time!

The Lucky Ones: seeing Star Wars in 1977

Like me, many of you reading this will also have experienced Star Wars – that’s the original Star Wars mind you – when it came out in 1977. Could you imagine being a child of the seventies and not being in that special club?

But no doubt, many adults – and parents especially – will have rolled their eyes as they heard the hype about the new smash-hit. And all the more so, when their kids started going on at them about it; and the merchandise was appearing all around them, in greater intensity, in every Newsagent, clothes shop and Supermarket! Perhaps now, decades later they can understand what a profound impact it had – especially on the young.

‘Star Wars age 9’

I won’t blather on about what a life-changing experience it was for me; instead, I’ll let the strips do the talking. However, if you really need proof I’ll let you in on another project of mine which I started in late 1977 when I was 9 – and re-discovered and published for the first time (online) in 2009 – 32 years later. Without that comic, I never would have made the one that you’re reading right now. That’s it, below. Complete with a clipped out newspaper ad – for the aforementioned Dara Cinema!

That’s right, without my rediscovery of that comic, I wouldn’t have been reminded so forcefully of my childhood dreams of one day becoming a comics artist. In fact, I mightn’t have got back into drawing as much as I have. I barely drew for about 16 years! I wasn’t so into it after Art college. A couple of years ago, I was even interviewed, and SWa9 got a feature in Spain’s leading Cinema magazine! Quite something really, because I can assure you, it’s not the sort of thing I’m accustomed to.

So you see, we can learn a lot from our younger selves. If we only listen back to them!

But tell me, what was your first viewing of Star Wars like in 1977? And how has it influenced your life and work?

** Stay Groovy, all you 1970s kids! **

– John White