Marvel Star Wars Comic Will Explain C-3PO's Red Arm

Anthony Daniels may not be too fond of Disney’s secrecy over Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but now The Mouse is opening up about one of the mysteries surrounding the movie that involves Daniels’ own character.

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C-3PO will get his Marvel comic one-shot in Star Wars Special: C-3PO #1, due out in December according to the official Star Wars site. This won’t be a series like the other Marvel Star Wars lines, but rather a standalone issue that’s covers a small piece of the backstory between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.

This particular issue, as you can tell by the cover, will explain how C-3PO got that red arm that we’ve seen in some of the Force Awakens promo images. There have already been plenty of theories as to the significance of the protocol droid’s new accessory, but this comic should connect the dots prior to the film’s release.

The comic will be penned by James Robinson and illustrated by Tony Harris, a well-known duo most famous for their collaboration on DC Comics’ superhero series Starman.

This is Robinson’s first foray into the Star Wars universe, although he’s contributed to high-profile series starring the likes of icons like Superman and Batman. Harris has also worked on a number of superhero comics, both Marvel and DC, although he’s most known for Starman and Brian K. Vaughan’s series Ex Machina.

Although it’s not a full series, C-3PO is the latest supporting Star Wars character to receive the comic treatment. A series starring Lando Calrissian debuted this summer and is already on its third issue, while Chewbacca’s own series is set to publish in October. A one-shot issue feels just right for C-3PO, who’s a fun character but probably couldn’t sustain a full-on story arc by himself.

I hope that we get more standalone Star Wars comics in the future, as sometimes they work better for certain characters than others. Marvel already kind of attempted this with Star Wars #7, which took a break from the main story to tell a brief episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s adventures while in exile on Tatooine.

These are segments of the chronology that are worth telling but probably don’t justify an entire series, and a Marvel one-shot would suit them well.

Next: Jedi Council: The Best of Force Friday

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Marvel Star Wars Comic Will Explain C-3PO’s Red Arm

By Kyle Warnke | Sep 5, 2015