Here follows my own account -- sidebarred by the welcome contributions of each of the seven artists, in the chronological order in which they became involved with Star Wars the Comic Book.

Howard Chaykin

[Excerpted from e-mails dated March 2 & 4, 2007, in response to Roy's invitation to share his thoughts about working on the Star Wars comic:]

Actually, I'm feeling just this side of ancient. Can't wait to see those photos [of Chaykin, Thomas, & Lippincott at the 1976 San Diego Comic-Con] -- we were both pretty sleek young men then. I've got nothing from that period -- other than a profound regret that, if I'd had some prescience of the phenomenon it was to become, I'd have worked harder.

I couldn't agree more about the fact that we ended up getting [so little] dough on the project -- and no reaction from Lucas. I resent my own occasional bouts of bitterness -- but hey, what the hell.

Steve Leialoha

[Excerpted from undated email, February or March 2007.]

Winter '76, NYC. My small part in the Star Wars comics began by coincidence in an elevator at Continuity Studios [owned and operated at the time by artists Neal Adams and Dick Giordano], heading out to 48th, when Howard Chaykin mentioned that, due to a shortened deadline time, he would be inking only the first issue of Star Wars and needed an inker. So I volunteered and eventually ended up inking the middle four issues of the six-part adaptation.

Back in San Francisco, I was invited up to the Lucasfilm production office in San Anselmo, on Valentine's Day, to pick up reference material from Charley Lippincott, and to see a rough cut screening, along with many of the people working on the film (like John Williams), as well as various film biz friends of George. I watched it sitting alongside Philip Kaufman, Brian DePalma, and Tom Orzechowski. Of particular interest, in terms of the comics version, were newly added scenes such as the "chess" game aboard the Millennium Falcon and the Cantina sequence that had just been re-shot. The film was scheduled for release three months later, and it seemed like it was only half finished. An incredible amount of work still needed to be done.

Another highlight of that afternoon was seeing the Spirit magazines around the offices and Prince Valiant originals on the walls, next to a Frazetta painting. Clearly, the man had good taste.

A short time later, I visited the L.A. production offices on the Universal lot, to see if I could get a few more reference shots. It was remarkably difficult to find a clear shot of Darth Vader or one of Princess Leia actually smiling. As I got there, Harrison Ford was just on his way out, so I showed him the penciled pages I had with me. "He's a handsome fellow," he said, indicating the Han Solo figure on the splash of issue #5. Everyone was very helpful, and I even found a picture of the Princess smiling.

Carl Gafford

[Excerpted from e-mail dated March 6, 2007.]

I was brought in to help Steve Leialoha by doing the coloring. The last page of the first ish I got to color was the splash page of issue 2 -- which picked up immediately after issue 1. "Isn't this issue 3?" I asked. "It looks like it takes up right after issue 1." "No, it's issue 2," he said, to which I sputtered, "B-but issue 1 is already on the stands!" On a monthly comic, that's cutting it pretty tight.

Some time later, I was coloring the book again, this time with Archie Goodwin as writer/editor and Carmine Infantino as penciler, which was a treat, as I'd naturally grown up admiring Carmine's work. So many fine artists and writers passed through the Star Wars books that it was like a Who's Who of comics!