Star Wars was released in 1977. But almost a year earlier, it was publicized and promoted at San Diego Comic-Con. Craig Miller (Lucasfilm's original director of fan relations and the author of Star Wars Memories) gives a slide show on the early association between Star Wars, Comic-Con, and fandom, including stories about how the film was publicized and promoted at SDCC in 1976 and how fans got involved and were kept involved from even before the film came out, including stories about 20th Century Fox's market research on making Star Wars, George Lucas's original explanation for the Millennium Falcon's 12 parsec Kessel Run, picking Leigh Brackett to write The Empire Strikes Back, Underwear That's Fun To Wear, taking Droids to Sesame Street, and more.
