Via Official John Cassaday on Facebook:

While wrapping up my final issue (#6) and the first arc of STAR WARS, I thought I’d be remiss to not show the process of our very first cover. With this being the first issue, I needed to show the cast but didn’t want to go the movie poster montage route (of course, there’d be time for that later). There was a lot to fit in, so I went with what reminds me a lot of the publicity shots the cast did, especially for the first two films. Action poses from all, sort of backed into a corner and essentially contained to the space of an 8X10 glossy… Maximum impact in a small space. And what’s a Star Wars first issue cover without star fighters? So X-Wings and TIE fighters made their way in. Notice I initially had a set of Vader style TIE fighters in the center, but our friends at Lucasfilm balked at having more than one (there was a fleet constructed, in my mind), so I scrapped them in favor of more standard issue ships.

As a framing element I wanted the ever recognizable silhouette of Darth Vader. At first, I was just going to place a star field in there, but in the end, I couldn’t resist using the lightspeed effect. It’s just so symbolic of the franchise. I also like how it emanates from Luke, reinforcing the Christ-like “chosen one” aspect. Digital coloring by Laura Martin. And just to be a completist, I’ve also thrown in the 2nd and 3rd printing covers.

— J!

Click Here (goes to Facebook) or the image below to see all the covers progress and leave a comment for John if you’d like. Comicbookresources.com posted that Stuart Immonen will be the book’s next series artist, joining with July’s “Star Wars” #8.