Eli Roth's Star Wars Comic Book is Kind of Adorable

Star Wars opened 35 years ago today, which prompted Movieline pal Mike Ryan to probe the memories of contemporary filmmakers for a collective glimpse at the film's towering influence. It's a pretty diverse sample, from Jon Favreau to Diablo Cody to Gary Ross to Simon Pegg, but for my money, nothing beats Eli Roth's illustrated Star Wars comics... from age 8.

On the one hand, the guy's art hasn't improved that much in 30 years. On the other, it was kind of adorable then! He explains:

Star Wars was the movie that changed my life. I can honestly say there was life before Star Wars and after. I obsessively drew pictures of it and in school took it upon myself to write the next few chapters of the story since I couldn't wait for the next films to come out. Star Wars became the center of my universe. It was all I wanted to talk about in school and on some level influenced everything I write. I wanted to be Han Solo, but deep down knew I was more of a C-3PO.

Aww. Roth's accompanying Exorcist illustration is equally if not more inspired; if nothing else, check out the piece for Joe Johnston's incredible story of working with George Lucas. Lucky guy. Also: God, I am old.

[HuffPost Entertainment]