Return of the Jedi – Jabba’s Palace #1
THE FOUR FAVORS
With the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire locked in a civil war for control of the galaxy, criminals, scoundrels, and gangsters find new ways to profit from the chaos.
Chief among these is the crime lord JABBA THE HUTT, who rules over a criminal empire based on the Outer Rim planet of TATOOINE.
From his palace, Jabba commands his organization of thugs, thieves and bounty hunters by appealing to their greed—and taking advantage of their fear….
Writer: Marc Guggenheim
Artist: Alessandro Miracolo
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Colorist: Dee Cunniffe
Cover artist: Ryan Brown
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: March 29, 2023
In a film so richly designed and detailed as Return of the Jedi, there were always plenty of opportunities to tell stories and vignettes based on small moments and background characters, and here in the first issue of Marvel’s Jedi 40th celebration issues we learn the fate of the protocol droid who preceeded C-3PO as the last of his cyborg servants. Opening with the scene from the film where EV-9D9 encounters Artoo and Threepio, we are cast back to that prior protocol droid, an Industrial Automaton Medical Droid called Eightyem who tells of his fate from the torture chamber below the Palace.
Reprogrammed to be a protocol droid, Eightyem finds the monotony of his tasks to be tiring, a job that barely stretches his intelligence, and watching a coterie of characters come through the Hutts chambers from across the galaxy, we get a fascinating glimpse into the daily matters of court. Interesting for us, deadly dull for the droid until a Twi’lek called Silvan Kaan enters the room. A wordsmith, Kann is savy – he identifies that the droid is unsatisfied with his station and promises in return for three favours to not only remove his restraining bolt, but to free him from servitude to the Hutt.
His first task takes him to the quarters of the Quarren Tessek, poisoning him and taking the Quarren accountant down temporarily so Kaan could step in as the Hutts bookkeeper. Rather than steal from Jabba, Kaan used the information he found within to stoke rivalries and heat up simmering tensions, identifying who was Jabba’s favoured staff. That comes to boil as the Gran Ree-Yees and Ithorian debt collector Charn Roondha came to blows, the Ithorian winning the bout as Kaan tasks the droid with a second favour, to translate his words as he suggests Jabba not allow his own staff to fight in his court before riling Roondha by suggesting the credits he’s bringing in have been reduced – thanks to Kaan cooking the numbers – and how Jabba plans to give his role to Ree-Yees.
With the thought put in the Ithorians mind that taking Jabba out would greatly improve his situation, Kaan then asks for his third favour from the droid – to smuggle a blaster into court for Roondha to use to kill Jabba, and Eightyem finds himself in the armory where he is intercepted by bounty hunter Bane Malar who lets Eightyem know he is onto him, and will find out what his deal with Kaan is. The wily Twi’lek makes it very clear to the droid not to cross him, reminding him of the unlikelihood that Jabba would believe a droid over him, and we cut to court as Roondha makes that assasination attempt on the Hutt, pulling his blaster as Bane Malar takes him down and Kaan asks Eightyem for a fourth favour.
As Roondha is brought before Jabba to explain his actions and give away who gave him the blaster, the Ithorian tells Jabba it was Kaan – but the fourth favour kicks in as Eightyem translates his words to say he’d rather die than tell him, and soon he is shoved into the maw of the Sarlacc as Kaan removes the retraining bolt from the droid only for Bane Malar to arrive, catching them out. Soon they are before Jabba, the Hutt believing his protocol droid over Kaan and Eightyem tells Jabba how Kaan deceived him, a ploy that may have worked had Malar not handed Jabba the restraining bolt, which sees the issue end with the droid in the predicament we saw him in Return of the Jedi.
A fantastic way to kick of the Jedi 40th celebrations, Marc Guggenheim brings us a tale that authentically feels like it happened just before the events of the film, and with the superb artwork of artist Alessandro Miracolo and colourist Dee Cunniffe this is a feast for the eyes and a tale worthy of inclusion in the classic 90’s Tales From Jabba’s Palace short story collection, the previous home of such stories. Let’s hope subsequent Jedi 40th issues are able to reach this high benchmark, as this was a treat.
- Alyssa Wong (Author)
- 40 Pages - 10/14/2025 (Publication Date) - Marvel Comics Publishing (Publisher)
