Dark Horse Comics on Wednesday delighted Star Wars fans throughout the galaxy by taking the original rough draft of the 1974 Star Wars script and turning it into an eight-issue comic book mini-series.
The comic books have the blessing of Star Wars creator George Lucas, who lives in Marin County, despite the fact that the storyline is reinvented. Luke Skywalker is an old man and a military general (who sort of resembles Lucas himself). Hans Solo is green. And on page one of "The Star Wars," the stage is set on the fourth moon of Utapua - nothing like the start of the original 1970s-era blockbuster hit.
Series writer J.W. Rinzler, an executive editor at LucasBooks, called the series a ``once in a lifetime project'' and the chance to tell the first story in the ``Star Wars'' pantheon.
The story has similarities to ``Star Wars,'' but the differences throughout ``The Star Wars'' (note the word "The" at the beginning) are plentiful and noticeable, Rinzler said, and readers will notice many of them as they explore each page, some big, some small.
The comics went on sale all over, including at Lee's Comics in Mountain View where Clayton Ikler said he was excited to read the stories, though sales, early Wednesday, weren't soaring.
Matt Moore from the Associated Press contributed to this report.
