In our first episode of Collecting Tracks, Chris Leddy and I went on a journey to look at the very early items of Star Wars collecting. Initially, we planned to focus on items available before the infamous early bird certificate was released by Kenner in Christmas 1977, but then we found this article by Pete Vilmur which was a real treasure and deserves to be shared again.
Here we look at some of the items discussed on our show – good luck in your hunts!
It shouldn’t be a surprise to learn that anything cheap and fast to produce would be released first such as this sticker featuring “The Star Wars” as the movie’s original title. These are not too difficult to track down today, available in two different sizes, but sadly there are fake versions available. The McQuarrie concept version of Luke is incredibly exciting as he holds his laser sword ready for defence!
As stated on our episode, you have a slim to none chance of tracking one of these down, but I love it! The text is incredibly exciting as it describes the adventures of our heroes and their fight against an evil empire in a Fox campaign book highlighting upcoming movies. I love the image with what looks like early Y-Wings in the distance instead of the more typical X-Wing which appeared on posters and other products shortly after.
Other items which are cheap and fast to produce are badges (buttons!). This badge on the left features a different version of the Star Wars logo which went through many iterations as shown on many of these early products. This version has been dubbed “the pointy W” by collectors and features on posters also. There are many different styles of badges, some featuring characters, which are mostly text based.
Two contrasting posters I’d like to highlight are the Chaykin poster, designed by comic artist Howard Chaykin, and a standard theatre poster. The Chaykin poster was a very limited run given out to attendees of San Diego Comic Con and WorldCon in Kansas during the summer of 1976 by none other than Charles Lippincott himself who we thank immensely for all the wonderful stories he shared with fans on Facebook before his untimely death. The menacing red eyes of Darth Vader captivated comic fans’ imaginations and these posters today trade hands for quite significant amounts of money. The advanced preview movie posters for me personally are not as appealing, although I fully appreciate their history. Printed on heavy mylar stock these are hard to find in good condition but do appear from time to time. Notice the pointy W’s appearance.
Something that is easier to track down, although first editions are very expensive, are the original Star Wars novel, written by Alan Dean Foster, and the first issue of the Marvel comic adaption featuring the Chaykin art on its cover. The novel is a must read for any Star Wars fan which features clear contradictions to the movie. The novel sold out of its initial print run due to the popularity and hype of the impending movie.
There’s an amazing shot in the new Kenobi TV show which is a homage to this depiction of Vader with purple light used to accentuate his face mask.
Watch out for the price changes in the Star Wars comic series. The 30 cent comic, which was reprinted, is more difficult to acquire than the 35 cent later reprint. These comics were very popular with the first 6 issues covering, with some artistic license, the events in the movie.
The more familiar logo used on the comic is quite different to the one used on the novelisation cover.
Speaking of logos, another item that was cheap to produce was the patch which is becoming increasingly popular as swag items during Star Wars Celebrations. What I like about this one is yet another iteration of the Star Wars logo. I’d love to see a book chronicle all of the iterations of the Star Wars early promotional materials to show how the logo and story evolved in this form.
These items are known as “Cast and Crew” items are do appear from time to time on auction sites. I love the Lucite paperweight star which is arguably my favourite of all the items available in this period.
There are far more items featured on Pete’s article such as the press kit below, which featured glossy stills from the movies, behind the scenes information and more. Although these are very difficult to track down there are many other items such as magazine articles and posters, often in unexpected publications, which are easier to acquire due to the juggernaut publicity machine that was in motion at the time.
As we know, Star Wars hit the US movie theaters May 25th 1977, but for children wanting to re-enact those adventures at home the action figures didn’t come out until the Spring of 1978. However, that’s not to say that Kenner had nothing available in the lead up to Christmas ’77 and this article from theswca editor Ron Salvatore is also another brilliant guide which should be read.
As well as discussing promotional materials and internal paperwork, this shows the items wanted on every kids’ Christmas list from Santa.
I guess it’s only natural that the early bird certificate at the bottom is the most desirable item but don’t ignore the others. The incredibly boring “Escape from the Death Star” game is very easy and cheap to acquire, as are the jigsaw puzzles. One has to wonder about how difficult these puzzles must have been especially the one featuring the X-Wing in black space!
Collecting early Star Wars items can be very rewarding and is a fantastic snap-shot of the artistic and energetic drive to push the brand everywhere. Yes, there were flops and mistakes, but that shouldn’t deter from the importance and desirability of these items. The Darth Vadar lives transfers and badges are a great example of this.
We hope you enjoyed our first episode, which you can listen to below and make sure to check out the second episode when it lands on Fantha Tracks Radio soon.
Photos (c) theswca.com, Pete Vilmur, Gus Lopez