The Force (Star Wars zine)

The Force is a Star Wars zine. It ran for four issues and is non-fiction.
The first page says "published June 14, 1977" but all the articles are dated July 1977. A review below also refers to this zine as having been published in July.
The editorial mentions an earlier "issue": 
==Its Place in Star Wars Zine History==
The first Star Wars zines:
* Hyper Space (fiction and non-fiction) ties with The Force (non-fiction) as the first zines with a focus of Star Wars. Both zines were published in June 1977.
* Warped Space #26/27, a multimedia zine published in July 1977, had a Star Wars cover, the artist was Gordon Carleton.
* Warped Space #28 published the first Star Wars story in a multimedia zine in July 1977.
* Moonbeam #3 (focus of Star Wars fiction and art) The editor of "Moonbeam" says: "I believed for almost 30 years that it was in fact the first primarily Star Wars fiction fanzine, but I recently learned that Skywalker, the exceptional Star Wars zine edited by Bev Clark, was in fact first by a couple of weeks. Ah well. I was still one of the first, and probably the first on the East Coast..".Actually, according to the dates on the zines themselves, "Moonbeam" was first; perhaps there was an understood wiggle-room with the distribution? and the letterzine, Alderaan, a letterzine with a Star Wars focus, were both published in February 1978.
* Against the Sith (Star Wars fiction and non-fiction) and Skywalker (Star Wars fiction) were both published in April 1978.Nancy Duncan in "Against the Sith's" editorial: "We know of two other SW zines so far, Hyperspace .... and Skywalker." This statement is contradicted in December 1985 by the editor of "Skywalker," Bev Clark, in comments to Southern Enclave #10: "AGAINST THE SITH came out a few weeks before SKYWALKER, no more than six. Neither was the first SW fanzine, exactly. The very first fanzine was a small, poorly produced effort out of Long Beach, called THE FORCE; it was more like a traditional SF fanzine in that it didn't have much fiction. It was also what is bluntly called in SF fandom, a crudzine. The first fanzine to print all SW fiction, though admittedly as a single issue of a fanzine that was not devoted to SW to the exclusion of all else, was MOONBEAM 3, which came out in the late fall of 1977 or the early spring of 1978 before either AGAINST THE SITH or SKYWALKER, at any rate. SKYWALKER was certainly in preparation by then, however, it began in September, 1977." It appears that either Bev Clark is mis-remembering the date of her own fanzine's publication, or there is a difference of opinion about what constitutes the "beginning" of a zine, and that perhaps Clark is referring to when she first started collecting material, rather to when the zine was available to fans.
==Issue 1==
The Force 1 was published in July 1977 and contains 14 pages (7 pages of material, printed on one side only).
From the editorial: 
* Editorial, by Victor Koman (2)
* Space Opera—From Smith to Lucas, article by Samuel Edward Konkin III (3)
* The Jedi—Two Analogues, article by A. Thornton (4)
* The Star Wars Music, an analysis by J. Neil Schulman (6)
File:force1-1.jpg|inside page from issue #1
File:force1-2.jpg|inside page from issue #1
==Issue 2==
The Force 2 was published in September 1977 and contains 14 pages. Like the first issue, the pages are only printed on one side, which means there is content on only 7 pages.
From "Saint George and SF": 
* Editorial by Victor Koman (2)
* Saint George and SF, article by J.J. Pierce (3)
* Darth Vader: True Jedi, article by John E. Staib (4)
* a fan's letter asking about light sabers and why it went out when Obi Wan Kenobi was killed by Darth Vader (6)
File:force2-1.jpg|inside page from issue #2
File:force2-2.jpg|inside page from issue #2
==Issue 3==
The Force 3 was published in October 1978 and contains 8 pages.
* latest Jedi news by Victor Koman (2)
* preview of an upcoming Star Wars novel by Lynn Dal Santo and Paula M. Sigman, "If this sample of fan fiction meets approval, we'll try to run some more "Daughter of Jedi" (3)
* What Does Obi-Wan Kenobi's Name Mean? by Lee Gold, a bilingual analysis (4)
* "some important advice in our Letter Column" (6)
* "fans come through with items for our Collection Column" (6)
* back cover is by Sue Martin and portrays Obi-Wan Kenobi
==Issue 4==
The Force 4 was published in 1978.
==Reactions and Reviews ==
==References==
Category:Star Wars Non-fiction Zines
Category:1977 Zines
Category:1978 Zines