I was thinking about "Star Wars" films a lot lately. The anticipation of "The Phantom Menace" played as a theme in 1999 in my daily-syndicated comic "The Norm" (http://www.thenorm.com). Thinking back, I realize I have seen each of the four films on opening day in a different city. And each time, not only was I in a different city, but in a different place in my personal-life-journey-thing. These films are like well-placed mileage markers in my life.

I saw "Episode IV: A New Kind of Film" (which I swear wasn't on the title crawl of the first print of the film, but I'm probably wrong, so I won't bring it up) on an early summer day in my hometown of Normal, Illinois. My friend Brad and I rode my bikes out to the Eastland Mall and got in line early. It was a wonderful experience watching that movie. It made me realize the potential of filmmaking, how fun and immaginative a story could be. Brad and I rode our bikes home, chasing each other like an X-Wing and a Tie fighter in combat. This was the last summer before we both started high school, where we would both follow our individual interests. It was the last summer we would be friends.

"Episode V: The Empire Strikes a Nerve" was released the summer before I became a senior in high school. A group of us decided to see the film on opening day, but the small theatres in Normal were no longer big enough. The film would have to be previewed at a grand palace. So we drove the forty miles to Peoria (what'd you think I was going to say? Chicago? That's a hundred miles! We would have all been grounded!) By then I was drawing cartoons for the student newspaper and making some of my first films, spoofs of the "Rocky" movies. And this film proved to me that sequels could be as good as the original work.

When "Episode VI: The Reconnoitering of the Jedi" arrived, I was in film school in Los Angeles. So I made the trek with a friend to Marin County to watch it at the Corte Madera theatre on a huge screen with state-of-the-art sound. Sure, we could have seen it in the city, but this was a special private screening. Having begun my Jedi film training, I was armed to be more critical of the movie. And I was, that's what young Turks do.

Years passed, jobs were started and stopped, dreams were realized. I was working at Industrial Light + Magic while the first of the prequels was being finished. I quit only four months before the release of "Episode I: The Phantom Medicine" to follow my wife's career to Portland, Oregon and focus on my comic strip "The Norm." After the release of probably the best trailer in film history, the anticipation for the film was contagious. That's when I decided that Norm would sacrifice everything to sit in line for the film. I couldn't wait to reconnect with my past. I saw the film at the biggest theatre in Portland Oregon with my wife and 150 of her employees. They had shut down the office and rented buses to the theatre. It was more than a party. It was obvious to me this was a cultural moment in our society. Norm's line story documented the feelings so many of us felt.

So four movies, four cities, four pivotal moments in my life. And now there will be five. Five. Five movies, five cities and a fifth moment to remember. Each film has become like a mile marker in my life, a reference point. This time it will be in Boulder, Colorado at the age of forty. My comic character Norm will be celebrating the fifth film in his trademark fanatical fashion. I think I'll do the same.

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The Norm ? Michael Jantze, distributed by King Features, Inc. On the web at http://www.thenorm.com/starwars. All images used with permission.

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Michael Jantze is the creator of the comic strip "The Norm." It is syndicated in newspaper around the world and can be seen online at The Norm.com (http://www.thenorm.com). You can meet Michael at this summer's San Diego Comic Con.