On the run up to The Force Awakens, many questions were asked of our return to a galaxy far, far away. “Who are Rey and Finn?”. “What’s Kylo Ren’s connection to Darth Vader?”. “Are they really wheeling out another Death Star?”. Some of these questions were answered, and begat more questions. But the one everyone wanted answered, concerning why everyone’s favourite golden protocol droid was sporting an ill fitting red arm, JJ Abrams pulled a Lost and kept the answer tantalisingly out of reach. But now we finally have our answer, all thanks to a comic.
A one shot in fact, entitled Star Wars: C-3PO #1 coming from the legendary creative team of writer James Robinson and artist Tony Harris, responsible for Starman, one of the best series in DC Comics' long history. This one shot is actually a deep and heart breaking examination of droids, a seemingly very overlooked part of the Star Wars mythos, and one I urge you all to read. But if you really can’t wait to find out what happened, scroll down.
So, the book begins with a space transport crash landing on a hostile alien planet. The resulting explosion kills all the human resistance fighters on board, leaving only C-3PO and a group of droids, including a captive enemy droid named Omri, to get off planet and complete their mission to get vital information regarding the whereabouts of a kidnapped Admiral Akbar to resistance high command. One by one, the droids are destroyed by deadly alien creatures, while C-3PO and Omri debate the purpose of a droids existence and the horrifying way humans treat them, spurred on by protocol droids requiring a higher degree of sentience than most other droids. In one really smartly written moment, the subject of wiping a droids mind is brought up, causing C-3PO to vaguely recall memories of the prequels, lost to him after his own mind got wiped at the end of Episode III.
Anyway, only Omri and C-3PO, his arm ripped off by tentacled lake monster, are left with their salvation, a beacon that will call a rescue ship to them, in sight. Suddenly, a deadly acid rain begins to fall. Omri, having grown close to C-3PO and thinking of him as a friend, transfers the information the resistance seeks and sacrifices himself by operating the beacon while the other droid takes shelter, falling apart in front of him.
The only thing left of him intact his left arm, it’s metallic sheen stripped away to expose the red primer underneath. Rescued by Poe Dameron and BB-8, C-3PO takes the arm to remember his fallen comrades. Probably a more traumatic story than you expected, huh?
A one shot in fact, entitled Star Wars: C-3PO #1 coming from the legendary creative team of writer James Robinson and artist Tony Harris, responsible for Starman, one of the best series in DC Comics' long history. This one shot is actually a deep and heart breaking examination of droids, a seemingly very overlooked part of the Star Wars mythos, and one I urge you all to read. But if you really can’t wait to find out what happened, scroll down.
So, the book begins with a space transport crash landing on a hostile alien planet. The resulting explosion kills all the human resistance fighters on board, leaving only C-3PO and a group of droids, including a captive enemy droid named Omri, to get off planet and complete their mission to get vital information regarding the whereabouts of a kidnapped Admiral Akbar to resistance high command. One by one, the droids are destroyed by deadly alien creatures, while C-3PO and Omri debate the purpose of a droids existence and the horrifying way humans treat them, spurred on by protocol droids requiring a higher degree of sentience than most other droids. In one really smartly written moment, the subject of wiping a droids mind is brought up, causing C-3PO to vaguely recall memories of the prequels, lost to him after his own mind got wiped at the end of Episode III.
Anyway, only Omri and C-3PO, his arm ripped off by tentacled lake monster, are left with their salvation, a beacon that will call a rescue ship to them, in sight. Suddenly, a deadly acid rain begins to fall. Omri, having grown close to C-3PO and thinking of him as a friend, transfers the information the resistance seeks and sacrifices himself by operating the beacon while the other droid takes shelter, falling apart in front of him.
