New Marvel comic will explain C-3PO’s red arm in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

As you may have noticed, C-3PO looks a bit different in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. While he still dons his signature gold plating in the upcoming film, there's one noticable change — his red arm.

As expected, there's a story behind the golden protocal droid's new arm, but to learn the origin you'll have to read a special one-shot from Marvel. Announced today, Star Wars Special: C-3P0 #1 "follows 'golden rod' on a solo adventure leading up to his appearance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens — and reveals how [and why] he received his red arm."

Star Wars Special: C-3P0 #1 is part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens publishing program, and will be available this December. The project will reunite the acclaimed and award-winning writer and artist team of James Robinson and Tony Harris.

“That’s a really exciting part of doing this story,” said Robinson. “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.’”

As intriguing as C-3PO's new arm is, I guess it's not too pertinent to the overall story of The Force Awakens, as Disney sees it fit to tell the story in a one-off comic. Still, I hope they at least acknowledge the new arm in the film for those who don't particularly care for comics or reading, or just don't want to shell out the extra cash to learn more.