Star Wars in Look-In, 40 years ago

Growing up in the 70s, I was a big fan (and avid reader) of Look-In magazine (I wrote about it here),  published by Independent Television Publications Ltd and subtitled ‘The Junior TV Times’.  Back then, you have to remember, there was no Internet so everything you knew about TV shows, music and films came from whatever was on the news - but Look-In changed that.  Designed and written for kids, it featured major film and pop stars, sports people and TV stars of the day, along with comic strips of popular shows and occasional behind the scenes articles.  I loved it.

Back in 1977 and 1978, a lot of us had gone Star Wars mad and the clamour for information and memorabilia was incredible.  We had the Marvel comics, of course (which I wrote about here) and the Collectors Edition but otherwise, there wasn’t a great deal.  Thankfully, my favourite magazine was on hand to help out and Look-In became, in 1978, a terrific resource for Star Wars.  The film appeared a lot within the magazine as the year went on and made the cover three times.

It’s first cover appearance was No. 1 1978 (w/e 31st December 1977) and the issue included an article, a fantastic centrespread poster and a competition to win 25 sets of albums and t-shirts. 

Mark Hamill took to the cover, along with Donna Summer, in No. 6 (w/e 4th February 1978).  The issue included a feature on Stewpot’s Newsdesk (“Letraset Star Buys” about the transfers and stationery, which I wrote about here), a feature on Mark Hamill and the centrespread poster featured two pictures of him, in his flight suit and on Tatooine.  Also of interest to me, there was a poster of Lee Majors on the back cover.

The third appearance, in No. 11 (w/e 11th March 1978), came complete with a free gift (“2 Star Wars Letraset Transfers”) and an advert on TV.  In addition, there was a poster of Han and Chewie on the inside cover and Gerry Anderson wrote about the film in his weekly column (“I can honestly say that I wish I had been the one who made it!”)

 The full set (curiously, no sign of Han Solo...)
pic courtesy of action-transfers.com

Look-In magazine was launched on 9th January 1971 and in addition to the weekly issues published twenty annuals (dated between 1971 and 1990) and a Summer Special each year.  The final issue appeared on 12th March 1994.

sources:

Look-In no. 1, at Little Storping Museum

Look-In no. 6, at Little Storping Museum

Look-In no. 11, at Little Storping Museum

Action Transfers (with special thanks to Tom Vinelott)
cover scans by Graeme Wood, courtesy of the Look-In Facebook group