The Star Wars comic trailer lands

George Lucas' ability to wrangle cash from the Star Wars franchise is almost as legendary as the Millennium Falcon's Kessel Run.

So back in April when we heard that Lucas' 1974 rough draft of a screenplay for The Star Wars was to be turned into an eight-part comic book series by Dark Horse Comics, we threw more fuel on the Jar Jar effigy.

And yet, Dark Horse's new trailer for the comic series has quelled our pre-emptive hate fires like a bucket of Nerf piss. The comics look nothing short of fantastic, revealing a bizarre parallel universe of Star Wars: Luke Skywalker who looks remarkably similar to Lucas himself, is a tired old general rather than a young dreamer; Han Solo is a lizard (or an alien equivalent) and the central hero is a young Annikin Starkiller. Also, the whole wider battle between the Empire and the fledgling Rebel Alliance look to have subtly different tones, as does the battle between the Sith and Jedi.

Rather than annoying Star Wars fans, this series is a fascinating look into the gene pool of the franchise, the patchwork of ideas that would become one of the best known film franchises ever created. And it's totally free of Jar Jar. We're now more excited about The Star Wars than Star Wars VII.

The Star Wars will be available on September 4

(Images: Dark Horse Comics; YouTube)