As early as 1977, while Star Wars was still in theaters, scenes from the movie were released by both Kenner and Ken Films. Kenner had a toy movie viewer that allowed you to crank a handle and view scenes that came in cartridges. Ken Films released Super 8 reels with scenes from the movie. The length of these early reels determined the runtime, with some as short as 4 minutes all the way up to 16 minutes. These were the only way for home audiences to view scenes from Star Wars before the movie was released on VHS and Betamax in the early 1980s.
The cover to Sabrina The Teen-Age Witch #53 shows Sabrina and her two aunts, Hilda and Zelda, watching Star Wars on a projector perched atop their flying broom stick. Because of the size of the projector, I can only assume it is meant to be a Super 8 projector and not a movie house projector.
Sabrina The Teen-Age Witch #53a - Archie Comics, U.S. (June 1979) Star Wars on cover
They must be watching the lightsaber duel between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi on the Death Star, which is the only time we see Darth Vader brandishing his lightsaber in the movie. On the other hand, they are witches, so it is possible they are watching Vader and Luke Skywalker's battle in Cloud City before The Empire Strikes Back was released to theaters.
Bootleg and knockoffs of Star Wars toys began appearing soon after Star Wars became a hit in theaters. No kid in the 1970s was immune to getting one of these items by accident from an unknowing parent or relative. (I myself received the Star World action figure case which was undoubtedly less expensive than the licensed Kenner Star Wars case.)
On the cover of Archie Giant Series Magazine #468, it looks like even Archie plays with Star Wars action figures.
Archie Giant Series Magazine #468a - Archie Comics, U.S. (March 1978) Star Wars on cover
On Archie's nightstand are action figures for R2-D2 and C-3PO knockoffs as well as a Jawa. R2-D2 is clearly a knockoff because of tiny legs protruding from the bottom of the body and arms where R2-D2s legs should be. C-3PO is missing much of his art deco body plating. The Jawa is not the early version with the vinyl cape, but the more common version with the cloth cloak.
Mad House Comics #111 was published by Archie Comics with a cover date of February 1978. This coincides with the date on Spidey Super Stories #31 which has a Star Wars movie poster homage on the cover and a story titled Star Jaws. Howard the Duck's famous 2-part Star Wars parody starts in issues #22 with a date of March 1978.
I am unaware of any pamphlet-sized comic book with an earlier date than Mad House Comics #111 and Spidey Super Stories #31 that contains a Star Wars reference on the cover. Mad, Cracked, and Crazy all have multiple Star Wars covers, with Cracked having a whopping 5 covers before the end of 1978 and its first cover having a cover date of November 1977, preceding the other 2 magazines' Star Wars covers.
Mad House Comics #111a - Archie Comics, U.S. (February 1978) Star Wars on cover
In addition to caricatures of R2-D2 and C-3PO on the cover, there is also a 2 panel joke inside the comic that contains another C-3PO parody that is a closer resemblance to the character we love.
