“Who agrees to help take down BB-8 before he becomes the next Elmo?”
Star Wars: Droids Vol. 2 #3
Dark Horse (June, 1995)
“Rebellion” part 3 WRITER: Ryder Windham ARTIST: Ian Gibson COLORIST: Perry McNamee COVER ART: Kilian Plunkett LETTERER: Ellie DeVille BOOK DESIGN: Scott Tice EDITOR: Peet James
Forno, not happy about taking orders from a droid, nevertheless follows B9D7 request to follow and bring in R2-D2 and his skiff…and then B9d& stuns Forno! He leaves behind a message cube for Forno and takes R2 in a smaller craft after the droid barge. On said barge, C-3PO is taken over by a new persona that halts the memory wipe and convinces the other droids to go after Boonda the Hutt, who plans to turn droids into secret weapons. All this appears to be the plan of Movo Brattakin, who claimed to be a friend of droids before his passing but even B9D7, his former assistant, is surprised by Threepio’s new attitude, and nobody is ready for the droid graveyard outside of Boonda’s palace.
What they got right: Droids are an odd creature in the Star Wars Universe. They’re given personalities and often show some kind of emotional response, especially R2, 3PO, and Chopper from the current Rebels cartoon. And yet they’re treated as less than friends but slightly more than tools, depending on who you ask. Even our usual human heroes have put the droids in harm’s way, like the time Padme used Threepio to distract fire from cloaked enemies using…a cloak, fittingly. This tale works on that, showing the droids perspective, right down to the memory wipe. In hindsight, it recalled the end of Revenge Of The Sith where Threepio (and oddly not R2) was ordered to have a memory wipe seemingly out of nowhere. It makes them, for lack of a better word, slaves to the organics but this makes them, again for lack of a better word, human. I also like how Threepio’s eyes change color to reflect the new persona.
What they got wrong: I’m questioning Movo’s methods if what I remember about Threepio’s new persona is right. He wants droids to be treated better so he brainwashes Threepio? There’s a disconnect here.
Recommendation: This is a very interesting tale that uses the droid/human (or whatever species) relationship to create a new look at that relationship while putting together a mystery of sorts. Next week is the conclusion of this arc but I recommend it based on what I’ve seen thus far.
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