Before Star Wars even reached theaters in 1977, Marvel had already started publishing its comic adaptation of the movie.
That is where one of the strangest early Luke Skywalker details comes from.
Star Wars #1 was released on April 12, 1977, about six weeks before the film opened in theaters. At that point, the movie was not called A New Hope yet, and it was not even labeled Episode IV. To most people, this was just a strange new space fantasy called Star Wars.
But on the cover of that first Marvel issue, Luke Skywalker is shown holding a red lightsaber.
Obi-Wan has one too.
Looking at it now, that feels completely wrong, because red lightsabers are so strongly connected to the Sith. But this was before Star Wars had become the fully defined mythology fans know today. The comic was being made before audiences had even seen the movie, and Marvel was working from early material, scripts, production references, and artwork that did not always match the final film.
That is why the early comic has so many strange differences.
Luke and Obi-Wan have red lightsabers on the cover. Han Solo’s jacket is yellow. Darth Vader’s helmet looks green. In the next issue, Obi-Wan is still shown with a red lightsaber on the cover, while the comic itself even uses early oddities like “lightsabre” spelling and details that feel closer to earlier script material than the final movie.
The first Marvel adaptation also included scenes that were cut from the film, like Luke watching the space battle from Tatooine and talking with Biggs before Biggs joins the Rebellion. So this was not just a clean copy of the movie. It was a version of Star Wars being published while the movie and its public identity were still brand new.
In the actual film, Luke inherits Anakin’s blue lightsaber from Obi-Wan. The red blade in the comic was an early coloring and marketing choice, not a secret Sith version of Luke. It is just one of those weird pieces of 1977 Star Wars history, from a time before the rules of the galaxy were fully set.
And Marvel got even stranger after the movie adaptation finished.
Once the first six issues completed the film’s story, the comics started telling new adventures. That is where characters like Jaxxon came in, a human-sized green rabbit-like smuggler who became one of the most infamous characters from early Star Wars comics.