A few weeks ago, new photos were released for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, one of which featured the famous droids R2-D2 and C-3PO. The image confirmed that the latter droid will have a red arm in the film (a feature that was spotted in early merchandising). At the time, everyone wondered why the golden protocol droid had one red arm, but as we all know, director J.J. Abrams keeps his “mystery box” securely closed.

Now, it turns out we will soon find out how C-3PO got that new red arm in Star Wars Special: C-3PO #1, a new one-shot comic book from Marvel that’s part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens program that will see 20 new stories in various formats (books, comics, and activity books, and more) leading up to the new movie.

Chin Music #1
Written by Steve Niles
Illustrated by Tony Harris
Lettered by Bill Tortolini
Image Comics
Release Date: May 8, 2013
Cover Price: $2.99

Chin Music #1 from Image Comics is the tale of a man who skirmishes with mystical forces, mobsters, and law enforcement. Taking place in Chicago during Prohibition, this new series, written by master of comic book horror Steve Niles and illustrated by Tony Harris, has such a fascinating concept “” an idea that could easily fall apart if not handled correctly; and sure enough, Chin Music falls apart.

An unknown man is chased through the streets of a Middle Eastern country and forced to use his supernatural powers to fly into the air in one last attempt to escape. Outnumbered by and inferior to three cloaked figures with red, glowing eyes, the man’s flesh is torn off and he is cast out of the city. Crawling on the ground and near death, the man is almost run over by a vehicle. Ness, the driver of the car, gets out and attempts to help the dying carcass. Just before death, the man grabs Ness’ arm and transfers a massive burn to Ness’ wrist, revealing that he’s taken on the stranger’s abilities. Moving forward through time to Chicago, mobsters are rising to power, but someone begins to remove them from the equation; but where does Ness fit in here?

There are a great deal of comic books that are released on a monthly basis, so many in fact that some of the best of the lot can fall through the cracks of hardcore comic book fans’ pull lists because quite frankly, you can’t buy everything. So, it’s working under that assumption, as well as weekly beatings from my editor, that I will begin proving you with a somewhat consistent installment of Comics You Should Be Reading. And when I think of a comic that everyone should absolutely be reading, none comes to mind quicker right now than that of The Shade by James Robinson.

The September Relaunch of the entire line of comics from DC Comics caused a huge commotion. Fans were notified that the publishing company would be throwing out all of its continuity, which ended up being more selective continuity than anything else, and while that shocked many of its readership, it provided a whole new landscape of creative possibilities for a wealth of brilliant minds. Fifty-two titles were announced initially, and then came the announcement of a handful of mini-series. Enter The Shade.

Another day, another Mark Millar project moves forward. Say what you will about the guy, but he’s definitely beloved amongst Hollywood producers.

THR is reporting that the Millar and Tony Harris book War Heroes has been picked up by Universal, with the team of Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer aboard to script the picture.

In the wake of the disappointment of Superman Returns, Warner Bros. has had to rethink its Superman franchise. However if Mark Millar has his way, the Superman franchise may very well have nothing to fear, not even Kryptonite.

Mark Millar, the award-winning Scottish graphic novelist most famous for The Ultimates, Wanted, and the current arc of Wolverine, was interviewed by G4 recently, and revealed the possibility that he could be involved with a reboot of the Superman franchise.

In addition to revealing that the movie adaptation of his comic Kick-Ass is going to be done with $70 million, rather than the measly $30 million previously reported, Millar referred to a close and very famous director that has asked him, if WB agrees, to join him on a Superman project.

Millar is definitely not new to the Superman world, being completely obsessed (apparently he owns the stuffed white cat that Superman saved in one of the movies”¦ ?) with the DC powerhouse. Not surprisingly then, Millar revealed that he has a Lord of the Rings-style epic in mind.