Marvel Comicshas grown into a brand every bit as successful and recognizable asStar Wars, but the House of Ideas may have gone under if not for George Lucas’ immortal space saga. Now both brands are owned by Disney, but the truth is thatStar Warssaved Marvel at a time when the publisher was struggling, much like the Millennium Falcon swooping in at the last minute to help Luke Skywalker blow up the Death Star.
Writing in a post on his own website,Jimshooter.com, former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter detailshow Marvel Comics acquired the license toStar Warsahead of the 1977 film’s releaseand how securing those rights kept the publisher afloat during some lean years in a post titled “Roy Thomas Saved Marvel.”
“Sales were bad and falling,” Shooter writes of Marvel Comics in the late seventies, painting a dire portrait of the company before they got thelicense to makeStar Warscomics: “The comics overall were breakeven at best…It seemed like the company as a whole was in a death spiral.”
Marvel Comics Acquired the Rights toStar WarsJust as Trouble Loomed, Potentially Saving the Entire Company
Comic Sales Were Slipping in the 1970s
It wasn’t just Marvel. The comics industry as a whole was struggling in the late seventies. This was before there was a widespread direct market of specialty comic book stores, when most comics were still sold via the classic newsstand distribution system (grocery stores, gas stations, drug stores, etc.).The newsstand market was becoming untenable for many publishers in the 1970s, as sales began to slump and interest in comics waned. Perhaps the greatest evidence of this was the“DC Explosion,” an initiative from DC Comicsthat was supposed to launch several new titles, only for all of them to be quickly canceled.
At the time, Shooter was an associate editor working at Marvel, and he minces no words about the general state of the publisher during this period: “Marvel was a mess throughout the mid-1970s and during my two years as ‘associate editor,’ from the beginning of 1976 through the end of 1977.“According to Shooter, it was fellowMarvel editor Roy Thomaswho brought Lucas’ new movie to the publisher’s attention. “Roy proposed that we license some upcoming science fiction movie calledStar Wars,” Shooter writes, only for Thomas to be met with resistance.
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Shooter further describes Marvel’s reluctance to take on the adaptation: “The Prevailing Wisdom at the time said ‘science fiction doesn’t sell.’ Adapting a movie with the hokey title’Star Wars’seemed like folly to most.“With sales flagging, it’s understandable that Marvel would be hesitant to take a risk on an untested movie. Much like how nearly every studio in Hollywood passed on Lucas’ weird space movie,Marvel almost passed on the chance to makeStar Warscomicsas well.
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“There was a lot of opposition toStar Wars,” Shooter explains, before going on to state that the animosity went pretty high up in the company:“Even Stan [Lee]wasn’t keen on the idea.” Shooter goes on to tell an anecdoteinvolving Lucas himself, aboutthe time the filmmaker supposedly came to the Marvel offices to discussStar Warscomics:
“I was told—don’t know for sure—that George Lucas himself came to Marvel’s offices to meet with Stan and help convince him that we should licenseStar Wars. I was told that Stan kept him waiting for 45 minutes in the reception room. Apocryphal? Maybe. Roy would know. But if so, it still reflects the mood at the time.”
Even though there was a lot of resistance to the idea, Thomas was able to secure the rights toStar Warsfor Marvelbefore the release of the film in 1977. “I don’t know how Roy got it done,” Shooter writes,“But, Roy got the deal done and we publishedStar Wars.”Star Wars#1 hit the comic book racks on April 12th, 1977, a full month and half ahead of the film’s May 25th release. Coming from the creative team of Thomas and Howard Chaykin, the first six issues adapted the film before continuing with all-new adventures.
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Fortunately for Marvel,Star Warswas not just a hit, buta once-in-a-generation success story that would change cinema and shape popular culturefor decades to come. Shooter describes how the comics sold in the wake of the movie, and it’s hard not to feel the palpable excitement of the time:
“The first two issues of our six (?) issue adaptation came out in advance of the movie. Driven by the advance marketing for the movie, sales were very good. Then about the time the third issue shipped, the movie was released. Sales made the jump to hyperspace.Star Warsthe movie stayed in theaters forever, it seemed. Not since the Beatles had I seen a cultural phenomenon of such power. The comics sold and sold and sold. We reprinted the adaptation in every possible format. They all sold and sold and sold.”
Star Warswas able to harness the power of licensed media in a way that few other movies had before, and Marvel benefited in a big way. At the time of the original film’s release, having the nameStar Warson a product was essentially a license to print money. For Shooter, this success was crucial toMarvel’s survival as a publisherat the time: “In the most conservative terms, it is inarguable that the success of theStar Warscomics was a significant factor in Marvel’s survival through a couple of very difficult years, 1977 and 1978.”
Marvel is still publishing Star Wars comics to this day. Don’t forget to check out its latest mainStar Warstitle by Alex Segura and Phil Noto, launching May 7th, 2025.
It’s easy to seewhyStar Warsdid so well at Marvel. At the time of the original film’s release, the concept of “film franchises” was still in its infancy. There weren’t video games or many other forms of tie-in media, so the only place for audiences who were thrilled at theadventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia on-screen to read new adventures starring those characters was the ongoing Marvel series. Marvel benefited greatly from this, with many reports of sales figures at the time suggesting thatStar Wars#1 had sold a million copies over the course of 1977.
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The Answer Is Pretty Clear
It may sound overly dramatic, but Shooter’s assertion thatStar Warssaved Marvel in the late seventies paints a picture ofhow important Lucas’ film was not only to the publisher, but to the entire comics industry. While the series remained a strong seller throughout the release of the entire original trilogy, interest eventually started to wane with no new films on the horizon. Marvel canceled the book in 1986, and the license was later acquired by thesmall indie publisher Dark Horse Comics.
It’s wild to think about, but Marvel Comics might not exist today if not forStar Wars.
Marvel got the license once again in 2015, bringing the Galaxy Far, Far Away home once more to the publisher that took a chance on it all those years ago. No matter who is publishing its comics,Star Warshas been a fixture of the comic book industry for several decades now, with no shortage ofStar Warscomics readily available for fans eager to explore Lucas’ world on the printed page. It’s wild to think about, butMarvel Comicsmight not exist today if not forStar Wars.
The originalStar Warscomic book series is available now from Marvel Comics.
Source:Jim Shooter
Star Wars
Star Wars is a multimedia franchise that started in 1977 by creator George Lucas. After the release of Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope (originally just titled Star Wars), the franchise quickly exploded, spawning multiple sequels, prequels, TV shows, video games, comics, and much more. After Disney acquired the rights to the franchise, they quickly expanded the universe on Disney+, starting with The Mandalorian.
