Writer Archie Goodwin and artist Carmine Infantino took over the series as of #11 (May 1978). This and the " sacred cow" status that the franchise had obtained led to Thomas's departure. Lippincott told Thomas that Lucas disliked his new green rabbit character, Jaxxon. Thomas continued the series with a Seven Samurai-style storyline focusing on Han Solo and Chewbacca, after being told not to use Darth Vader, cover the Clone Wars, or develop a romance between Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia. Original stories began appearing as of issue #7 (January 1978) by the same creative team. Issues #1–6 featured an adaptation of the events of Star Wars by Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin. The series was one of the industry's top selling titles in 19, with the 100,000 copy sales quota being surpassed, allowing Lippincott to renegotiate the royalty arrangements. The comic gave Marvel much-needed income during a time when the comic industry suffered generally because of rising newsprint costs and a declining number of retail outlets like traditional newsstands and mom-and-pop stores-until the direct market concept established itself in the late 1970s. At that point, legal arrangements could be revisited. Since movie tie-in comics rarely sold well at that time, Lee negotiated a publishing arrangement which gave no royalties to Lucasfilm until the series' sales exceeded 100,000. According to former Marvel Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter, the strong sales of Star Wars comics saved Marvel financially in 19. Issue #1 of Star Wars was released for sale on April 12, 1977, and Marvel published the series from 1977 to 1986, lasting 107 issues and three annuals. Lucas also requested artist Howard Chaykin, who was allowed to visit Lucasfilm's offices on the Universal Studios Lot to gather reference art. Stan Lee was persuaded to greenlight the project in a second meeting arranged by Thomas in 1976, reportedly when he heard that Alec Guinness would be involved. Thomas decided to accept the commission when Lippincott showed him a production sketch of the Cantina sequence, convincing him that the project was a space opera along the lines of Planet Comics. Writer Roy Thomas met Lippincott around this same time, and was asked to write the comic at Lucas's request, based on his work on Conan the Barbarian. Charles Lippincott, Lucasfilm's publicity supervisor, approached publisher Stan Lee at Marvel Comics in 1975 about the project, but Lee declined to consider such a proposal until the film was completed. Star Wars creator George Lucas initially approached Warren Publications and DC Comics to publish a Star Wars comic book prior to the film's release as a means of publicity. In 2019, the series was revived for a single issue. The series chronicled their subsequent adventures for 107 issues and three annuals, including a six-issue adaptation of the 1980 sequel film The Empire Strikes Back in 1980–1981. Featuring classic Star Wars characters Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2, the first six issues adapt the May 1977 film Star Wars. Star Wars is a comic book series published by Marvel Comics from Ap to May 27, 1986.
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