Star Wars 1 Star Wars 1 is the first issue of the " Marvel Star Wars " series of comic books . It closely follows the opening events of . Released for sale on April 12 , 1977 , this first issue actually predated the release of " A New Hope " by a month . Plot summary . Imperial Forces led by Darth Vader capture Princess Leia Organa ' s ship , which is on a mission for the Rebel Alliance . Two droids , R2 - D2 and C - 3PO , manage to escape from the Rebel ship with data critical to the Princess ' cause . After arriving on the nearby planet Tatooine , the droids are acquired by young moisture farmer Luke Skywalker and his uncle Owen Lars to work at their farm . Luke finds part of an urgent message from Leia to Obi - Wan Kenobi in R2 ' s memory . R2 escapes from the farm with the intention of finding Kenobi on his own ; Luke , fearing punishment from his uncle for losing the droid , pursues R2 to the Jundland Wastes , only to be attacked by a band of ferocious Sand People . Development . In celebration of " Star Wars " Day on May 4 , 2016 , Marvel re - released " Star Wars 1 " as part of its " True Believers " budget reprint program , which reprints popular comic titles for the suggested retail price of $ 1 . Behind the scenes . This is part one of the six - part adaptation of . The story in this issue includes a couple of Tatooine scenes that were cut from " A New Hope " , including Luke Skywalker witnessing the opening space battle , Luke telling Camie and Fixer ( who refer to Luke by his nickname " Wormie " ) what he saw , and Biggs Darklighter telling Luke of his plan to join the Rebellion . This issue contains one page of text titled " Star Wars : The Ultimate Space - Fantasy " , describing the background of the film ' s story and creators . Since there were no fan letters to publish in the first issue , writer Roy Thomas used the letters page , titled " Star Warriors " , to explain how Marvel Comics came to acquire the rights to the comics adaptation . The " Bullpen Bulletins " page , which is used to highlight important events in Marvel Comics that month , mentions the first issue of the " Star Wars " comics adaptation . The cover for this issue was based on Howard Chaykin ' s original convention poster , which became one of the most valuable posters in the " Star Wars " collecting world . The artwork includes Obi - Wan Kenobi and Han Solo , although they would not appear in the series until , and X - wing , Y - wing , and TIE fighters , which wouldn ' t appear in the series until . Also , Darth Vader is incorrectly colored green and Luke Skywalker and Obi - Wan Kenobi ' s lightsaber blades are incorrectly colored red on the cover . On the cover of both this issue and the following one , the first and last two letters of the " Star Wars " logo are not attached to each other . The original cover price for this issue was 30 cents , but Marvel printed a 35 - cent version with a limited distribution of about 1500 copies to six markets within the US . Due to the low print run , the 35 - cent version is considered more valuable than the 30 - cent one . There were also several reprint versions . Reprints are noted by the word REPRINT that runs along the spine of the book inside of the logo box , the phrase " THIS IS A REPRINT OF A PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED ISSUE " on the inside indicia , or both . There is a common misconception about using a diamond vs . box to identify reprints in this series . This misconception was first widely spread when the published the technique as a valid method of differentiation . The Overstreet guide stated that issues # 1 - 9 were reprinted and that they should have the word " REPRINT " in the upper left - hand corner of the cover or inside , " or price and number inside a diamond with no date or UPC on cover . " In actuality , not all reprints from the early part of this series have the price and number inside a diamond , and not all copies that have their price and number inside a diamond are reprints . Comic books distributed through to newsstand clients were returnable for a full credit in the event that they did not sell . The diamond box cover modification was the primary method used by Marvel to distinguish between copies sold through Curtis Circulation and other distributors . The primary client for these cover - modified issues was , which distributed non - returnable issues in " Whitman three - packs " to drugstores in the 1970s and 1980s . There are believed to be eight versions of Marvel Comics Star Wars issue # 1 : A 35 - cent Newsstand first printing with UPC ( 1500 printed , 400 estimated to still exist ) , a 30 - cent Newsstand first printing with UPC , a 30 - cent Newsstand reprint with marked cover with UPC , a 35 - cent Diamond Series first printing with UPC ( only two known to still exist ) , a 30 - cent Diamond series first printing without UPC , a 35 - cent Diamond series reprint with marked cover and no UPC , a 35 - cent Diamond series reprint with clean cover and no UPC , and a 2007 reprint included in Hasbro ' s Comic Packs , which included action figures of Darth Vader , a green - colored IT - O Interrogator , and a " Rebel Officer . " This is one of the most reprinted comics of all time . It has been reprinted along with the other five parts of the adaptation in standard formats , and also large treasury size and small novel size editions . In 1994 , Dark Horse Comics acquired the rights to reprint this issue and the other parts in the adaptation . Since the return of the the franchise to Marvel in 2015 , this issue has been twice reprinted in collections . The comic includes the first reference to the concept of the Cosmic Force . Darth Vader ' s iconic line " " The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force " " is modified to specify " the Cosmic Force . " Over 35 years later , in " Voices , " an installment of " " , the Cosmic Force ' s connection to the Living Force was revealed .