Blue Moon Blog

Star Wars was first released in 1977 when I was 13. I wasn’t a big science fiction fan, but walking into the theater as the movie was already playing, I knew what I was on the screen was like nothing I’d seen before. At that age, it was right in my wheelhouse and I became a Star Wars fanatic, seeing the movie multiple times that Summer.

All the stories I wrote and comics I drew were heavily influenced by Star Wars, for better or worse. I created a comic called Star Lords and drew tons of robots of varied shapes and names. I was enthralled.

I was about to start high school and for me that meant new freedom. Grammar school rules were more strict: no gum, no sneakers, no shirts with writing or images. That all changed in high school, so my wardrobe changed, too. I bought and had received tons of Star Wars items for my birthday and Christmas, and realized I owned five Star Wars shirts. This is the point, at 14, I started doing my own laundry, to ensure I had a different Star Wars shirt for each day of the week. I became known as the Star Wars expert, and a dork, what with my long hair and glasses.

After having attended many comic book conventions over the years I realize I’m a piker in terms of my Star Wars love and knowledge. Most anyone at the show would put me to shame in a Star Wars Trivial Pursuit challenge.

But even now when I pop in that DVD of Star Wars: A New Hope, it’s like I’m in that theater for the first time again, entering a magical world, familiar yet fully new.