Marvel Comics Announces C3PO Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens One-Shot

The “Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens” officially started today with the release of the novels Lost Stars, Moving Target, Smuggler’s Run, The Weapon of a Jedi, and of course the first book in the new canon to take place after the events of Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Aftermath. The five books are just the start, of course, with around twenty books and comics announced as part of the initiative.

The first comic from Marvel Comics is Shattered Empire, which kicks off next week from Greg Rucka and Marco Checchetto, also taking place in the timeframe immediately following Return of the Jedi, giving a look at what the remnants of the Empire do after their leader is killed.

Today, Marvel announced a new one-shot under the same banner coming in December, starring none other than everyone’s (second) favorite droid, C-3PO. The protocol droid fluent in over six million forms of communication has found himself smack in the middle of virtually every major event in the galaxy over the course of about forty years, after being created by a very young Anakin Skywalker. It makes sense, then, that he’d finally get a story all his own.

The story will be told by James Robinson and Tony Harris, a team that has worked together for almost as long as Threepio and Artoo. Taking place between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, the one-shot will tell the story of why C-3PO suddenly has one red arm in the latter film, Episode VII. The comic book was announced on StarWars.com in honor of the big day.

“That’s a really exciting part of doing this story,” Robinson said in the announcement. “I saw a photo of C-3PO with his red arm the other day and I thought ‘Wow, I’m the writer who gets to explain that.’”