I haven’t actually been able to find out exactly when this comic strip was made.
according to this source , Al Williamson drew the 12 strips in 1978 and they were first published in The Art Of Al williamson book in 1983 . I also seem to remember reading that Al had some commitments to his Secret Agent X9 strip that he was doing with Archie Goodwin that prevented him from doing the original adaptation, as he was George’s first choice, and he did not feel like he could give his all to the project . When x9 ended , he was freed up to come on board for Empire . anyway , here is the link I mentioned…http://www.battlegrip.com/spotted-online-unpublished-star-wars-comic-strips-by-al-williamson/
The X9 commitment explanation is actually a professional courtesy cover story for some unfortunate business that happened behind the scenes. The original conceit of the daily Star Wars strip was that it was just going to be a straight adaptation of the original film. To this end, George Lucas was a huge fan of Flash Gordon and Al Williamson’s work. So they commissioned Williamson to create these 12 test strips to see how he’d handle Star Wars.
Unfortunately, there was a mix up at the Lucasfilm offices. Here’s an excerpt from an interview Williamson did where he discusses the incident:
“I was contacted to do it when the movie came out,” Williamson recalls. "I had heard that ‘Lucas loves your work,’ and I thought it was bologna, frankly. I finally got a call from somebody at Lucasfilms, saying that they wanted me to do the strip, and would I consider it? I figured ‘Why not? It sounds like a good idea.’
"I got a hold of my friend Archie Goodwin, who was a wonderful artist and terrific writer, and he adapted two weeks of the first movie. I sent it in, and didn’t hear from them, and I needed the money. I called up and got the young lady that I was dealing with said, ‘I’ll have someone get in touch with you.’ I get a call from this guy, who is absolutely insulting and yelling at me, saying ‘How dare you ask us for more money!’ He’s going on and on.
"Finally, when he stopped, I said, ‘Let’s get one thing straight: I haven’t been paid, I just want my money.’
"Then there’s this silence on the other end. ‘Oh, okay.’
“I decided then that I wasn’t going to work with these people.” Williamson laughs. “I finally got the check, and I said ‘No, I can’t do it.’ Then they got a hold of Russ [Manning], and he did a nice job. That’s what happened, but I never mentioned it to Lucasfilm, since I figured to just let it go.”
Thankfully years later they were eventually able to bring in Williamson and Goodwin to the strip after the departure of Manning. I can also post an excerpt where Williamson discusses this if anyone is interested.
It’s interesting though, George or someone in the offices must have really loved those test strips. They appear as blown up wall decoration in some behind the scenes ESB photos that are floating out there.