"Star Wars," as fans know it today, is an iconic film franchise and now that the franchise completes forty years in 2017. It is worthwhile to remember that the comic book version of the space story was quite different.

It is exactly forty years ago that "Star Wars" arrived on the cinematic horizon and the story that unfolded with seven sequels needs no introduction but the initial comic book version was quite different from how viewers perceive the franchise. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the first two comic book versions of "Star Wars" had been published before George Lucas' film hit the theaters.

Nevertheless, the creators Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin had referenced the raw screenplay of the film for adaptation and this is what led to the differences. The first comic book issue sees Luke meeting Biggs pretty early on to tell him about his plans to join the rebellion and the second issue has a very different Jabba the Hutt than the one the movie brought on screen.

Also, the tone of the comic books and the movie has different shades. The Marvel comic shows a pretty colorful and vibrant world. The walls of the Death Star are pink and blue and the armor of Darth Vader is blue with dashes of red in his helmet. The narrative also sees a shift as the comic book shows characters explaining their purpose, which is not required on screen

Roy Thomas had a distinct approach in dialogues as well which seemed fun in the book, but when one takes the movie into account, it just appears wrong. Still, the books had their unique charm and when seen from the perspective of the movie, one can easily cherish the differences the two genres displayed.

It is worth mentioning here that the next "Star Wars" film, "Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi" is eagerly awaited by fans and is slated to release on Dec 15.