But, Hal, the Star Wars comic books were derived from the movie, not vice versa. I thought about Barbarella, but did that have the kind of A production status that Superman did? I'm not familiar with Modesty Blaise---I've never seen it. So, I guess the answer could be the musical version of Li'l Abner.

Wait a minute! Didn't Universal pump a lot of dough into the first Flash Gordon serial? Wasn't it supposed to have a million dollar budget? That would have been pretty high for the 1930's. That could be the answer.