I'm 30 years old and am just getting started in teaching high school English classes. My Star Wars collecting began in 1977 with the gum cards, which I soon completed and moved on to bigger things. I discovered that the posters were both graphically appealing and provocatively nostalgic at the same time, which hooked me instantly. While most would relive the films through toys, I found that a single image could deliver in the span of a moment the spirit and mood of an entire story, depending on the success of the artist.

I am not a completist. I prefer to seek out those posters which have used a particular piece of artwork in the most aesthetically pleasing format. For example, both the Japanese and Australian posters for The Empire Strikes back use a stunning illustration by Noriyoshi Ohrai--I personally find the Australian version superior to it's Japanese counterpart, with the language of the poster playing no small part in my decision. So my collection will not be as painstakingly thorough as the listing in the Tomart guide, but I hope it will be representative of the different styles and talents of the many artists commissioned to do a Star Wars poster.

Next to the release posters, my favorites are the advertising and event posters. I seek out the ad posters almost exclusively for nostalgic appeal, since few of them have the sweeping epic feel of release posters. I especially like those ad posters that capture the time in which they were released, be it in the style of the graphics or the font of the lettering. The event posters are typically both attractive and nostalgic, since they were printed for well-financed exhibits or concerts and dated with the time and venue of the event.

Since there were no books or websites that exhaustively represented Star Wars posters beyond domestic release posters, I wanted to give those with the interest a small idea of the vast amount of graphic wonders the trilogy has produced. My hope is that this catalog will expand with submissions from collectors that have posters I have yet to discover, which is where I derive the most pleasure in my collecting experience.

I can be reached via email at: pvilmur@webtv.net.

Back to Special Feature Main Menu
Back to SWCA Main Menu