A long time ago, in a magazine published far, far away George R.R. Martin wrote And Seven Times Never Kill Man! The plot included furry war-mongering creatures. Illustrator John Shoenherr came up with the corresponding image, and it was published in July 1975.
The Wertzone is reporting that George Lucas gave conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie an image from the story. Alas, the wookiee was born with a striking resemblance to Martin’s creation down to Chewbacca’s bowcaster weapon. (Interestingly enough, McQuarrie’s sketch has Chewie holding a rifle, while the Shoenherr image has the walking carpet holding a bow-like weapon suggesting the prop department might have used the original sketch as reference.)
We’ve been playing spot the differences with both pictures and haven’t found many things to point out that have been changed. I have a bad feeling about this…
[via Binary Bonsai Editor’s note: Set aside about 30 minutes to read through this whole thing.]