Now, before everyone gets in a rant about how Star Wars came out a year before the original Battlestar Galactica, chill -- I'm not talking about that Starbuck. I mean Cody Starbuck, a comic character created by Star Wars comic book artist Howard Chaykin for an obscure underground comic series called "Star Reach" in 1974.

As a Star Wars poster collector, what makes this character so intriguing is his appearance on a 1976 issue of Star Reach. As some fans may know, Chaykin was sought out by Star Wars publicist Charles Lippincott in 1976 to do the Star Wars Poster #1 for that year's Worldcon and Comic-Con shows. Interestingly, it appears Chaykin used the cover artwork for Cody Starbuck (which is actually dated 1975) as a template for the Luke Skywalker depiction on that early 1976 poster. Check out the comparison here.


In addition, the female character that appears on the wraparound cover of the issue strongly resembles the pose of our favorite princess, as depicted on the 1976 Star Wars poster -- check out the comparison.

Reading the actual story within, it's interesting to note some similarities between Starbuck and Star Wars -- phrases like "hyper space drive", "clone droids", and "plasma torpedo" are strewn throughout, making a strong connection between the two properties. Undoubtedly a happy coincidence, but one that makes this obscure underground comic all the more interesting to a Star Wars collector.