Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: charles soule, Dark Droids, star wars

Star Wars Gossip For Dark Droids Includes Lando & L3-37 (Spoilers)

Dark Droids is a Star Wars event by Charles Soule that includes a Droid rebellion with warrior-priest droid activist Ajax Sigma, from Marvel

Ever since watching the original Star Wars movie, and underlined with every subsequent episode, I have had major issues inside my head over droids being depicted as sentient beings, able to experience emotion, with their own desires and drives,  but also being enslaved, traded, tortured, and often sacrificed. I was the annoying kid who enjoyed those films but would then talk for ages about why Luke Skywalker and the like didn't free the droids they'd bought, or at least not use them as cannon fodder. Subsequent films just made this worse, especially Jabba The Hutt's torture chambers. While Kevin Smith was making films asking about the deaths of all the contractors on The Death Star, I was worried about all the droids blown up without a care. And the prequels just made it worse.

It took decades before any of this was even addressed, courtesy of Solo: A Star Wars Story, which as a result, became my favourite film in the franchise, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge's character L3-37 who tells Qu'ra that Lando Calrissian is in love with her. In the moment, it is played as if this is a delusion on L3-37's part, but in the moment of her death, it seems very real indeed, given Lando's reaction, The film concludes with her memory core being integrated with the Millennium Falcon, which is retconned to explain its manoeuvrability and navigation skills. And also the "peculiar accent" that C-3PO referred to in the first movie.

Of course, trying to deal with the issue may have made it worse, as it is undeniable that Solo, Chewbacca, and Lando now know very well that droids shouldn't be treated the way that they are. Including the one they have locked up within the systems of the Millennium Falcon, removing her voice in the process.

We got a "very special" episode of Star Wars: Andor, which saw an artificially-created droid rebellion on one planet, though there were evil human machinations behind it, and a group of droids trying to help the humans, hide from any attention and save their own skins.

Now from Marvel Comics, we have the much-promised Dark Droids, a Star Wars crossover written by Charles Soule set between Empire and Jedi. that will include a Droid rebellion. With warrior-priest droid activist Ajax Sigma revived from the days of the Old Republic. And The Sourge, a spirit that possesses droids and turns them into its army. So what do we know? Here's a little Dark Droids gossip, but Marvel Comics promises some very surprising twists along the way.

Dark Droids will absolutely play up the slavery allegory, especially the American experience, showing droids like R2D2 in the fashion of "house slaves". but also as throwaway junk to fulfil a purpose and then dispose of. It will show a society dependent upon them, unable to function without droids, yer treating them as furniture, sometimes literally.

Dark Droids will confirm that Lando Calrissian and the Millennium Falcon, with the silent mind of droid L3-37, are lovers. We don't know how that works, but I'd check the exhaust port. But it definitely underlines the subtext of what happened when Han Solo "won" the Millennium Falcon from Lando and his desire to get the Falcon back. And its future, stolen by a succession of criminals and thieves, ends up owned by trader Unkar Plutt on Jakku.

The Spark Eternal was an artificial intelligence created by the Ascendant cult in their battle against the Sith Order, an attempt to replicate the Force through technology, one created by Miril, the other by Ilith and both were made to fight the Sith. It re-emerged centuries later, sought by Crimson Dawn, and possessed Doctor Aphra, last seen in the disc from the Fermata Cage, that may have combined it with whatever was actually in there.

The Spark Eternal, let loose on an Empire ship, leaps like electricity, and turns droids into a zombie or vampire-style uprising and turns a Star Wars comic into a full-blown horror movie. It is now The Scourge. The Colony Of The Second Revelation, a group of sentient droids who stood alongside Ajax Sigma, who stand in its way.

Will the humans end up being saved by a droid rebellion? Is this to be an allegory of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment? Well, it is the fourth of July…

STAR WARS DARK DROIDS #1
MARVEL COMICS
MAY230938
(W) Charles Soule (A) Luke Ross (CA) Leinil Yu
"SCOURGE OF THE DROIDS!" A STAR WARS EPIC LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE! Who or what is THE SCOURGE, and why is no droid safe? As a corruption spreads from one droid to the next THE REBELLION and THE EMPIRE face chaos! What role does AJAX SIGMA play in all of this? And whose side is he on? Find out when horror comes to a galaxy far, far away! Charles Soule continues his legendary run on STAR WARS with the most ambitious event in STAR WARS comics history! Joined by his WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS collaborator Luke Ross, the superstar team carves a new path for the future!
Rated T In Shops: Aug 02, 2023 SRP: $5.99

STAR WARS DARK DROIDS #2
MARVEL COMICS
JUL230783
(W) Charles Soule (A) Luke Ross (CA) Leinil Yu
The horror continues as THE SCOURGE begins to execute its grand plan, orchestrating its droid minions across the galaxy. It learns more with every passing moment, grows stronger…and is selecting the next targets on its path to total dominion over all mechanical intelligence! Standing in its way, only the warrior-priest droid AJAX SIGMA and the sentient droids of the SECOND REVELATION.
Rated T In Shops: Sep 06, 2023 SRP: $4.99

STAR WARS DARK DROIDS D-SQUAD #1
MARVEL COMICS
JUL230792
(W) Marc Guggenheim (A) Salva Espin, David Messina (CA) Tom Reilly
THE UNSUNG HEROES OF THE CLONE WARS RETURN! A terrible scourge is corrupting the galaxy's droids! To fight this menace, ARTOO-DETOO has to assemble a team of droid heroes: THE D-SQUAD! Filled with guest stars from across the galaxy, including a special appearance (and showdown!) by CHOPPER from STAR WARS REBELS. PLUS: THE BOOK OF AJAX provides the missing pieces linking REVELATIONS, DARK DROIDS and HAN SOLO & CHEWBACCA – read to see how IT'S ALL CONNECTED.
Rated T In Shops: Sep 20, 2023 SRP: $5.99

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