Welcome to a special Force Friday/Labor Day Weekend Edition of Comics Relief, where in today’s column, we’ve got news of the identity of Marvel’s all new Hulk, plus our first look at cover art from DC’s anticipated Dark Knight III.

First off, though, in celebration of Force Friday and all things Star Wars, Marvel announces their latest comic will reveal the biggest mystery surrounding The Force Awakens that we’ve all been wondering about: Just how did C-3PO get a red arm??  Read on for all the details….

New Star Wars: Special – C3PO explaining the story behind his new red arm coming in December

If you’ve seen the promo images of C-3PO for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, then you know that for some reason, in the intervening years between Return of the Jedi and the new film, everyone’s favorite fussy protocol droid gets a new arm, and it happens to be a red one. How and why he gets this new arm are the subject of the just-announced Star Wars Special: C-3PO one-shot comic from Marvel, from the reunited creative team from DC’s legendary series Starman from the ’90s, James Robinson and artist Tony Harris.

“That’s a really exciting part of doing this story,” says Robinson in an interview with Star Wars.com. “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.’” The C-3PO one-shot comes out from Marvel this December, just before the new film hits theaters on December 18th. [StarWars.com]

DC Previews First Variant Cover For Dark Knight III: The Master Race

Although we know pretty much next to nothing about what the actual story of Frank Miller and Brian Azzarello’s Dark Knight III: The Master Race is going to be about, aside from an angry and pissed-off Batman (because it’s Frank Miller, so he has to be angry), DC has given us a glimpse of one of the variant covers to the first issue, from artist Dave Johnson, based on a sketch by Jim Lee. The retailer-specific variant cover will have the logo of the participating comic shop, placed right where it reads “your logo here” on the image.

The cover, cool as it is however, seems to be an homage to the original Dark Knight Returns, in the scene where Batman has his final confrontation with the Joker, and probably not a scene new to the story. Unless somehow the Joker comes back to life for this third installment? Stranger things have happened in comics, that’s for sure. But crossing my fingers that this isn’t the case here. The Dark Knight III: The Master Race #1 is scheduled for release on Nov. 25. [CBR]

Good samaritans throw young neighbor his very own Comic-Con

If this story doesn’t warm your nerdy heart, then maybe you don’t have one. A twelve-year-old comics fan named Cameron Bippen from Florida was looking forward to attending Tampa Bay Comic Con, but had to miss out on going to the convention due to a series of unexplained seizures. The seizures became so bad, he was unconscious for two days.

Following his release from the hospital, Cameron’s neighbors in Riverview, Florida, decided to throw him his very own comic convention as a welcome home surprise, with mandatory cosplayers as well as a visit from members of the Tampa Bay 501st Stormtrooper Legion. You can check out the full story, with pics, by clicking on the following link: [Fox News 4 via Robot 6]

Marvel Finally Reveals The Identity of the Totally Awesome Hulk

Although they’ve been teasing the identity of just who the new Green Goliath would be when his new series Totally Awesome Hulk launches from All-New Marvel, with everyone from Thor to Iron Fist to Loki. It turns out, as revealed by Marvel, that our new Hulk is exactly who many suspected it would be-Marvel’s resident boy genius, the Korean-American Amadeus Cho.

Amadeus Cho made his Marvel debut back in 2006, and was created by Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa. He’s been a sidekick in the Rick Jones mold to both Hulk and Hercules. For most fans, he was the obvious choice for the Totally Awesome Hulk from the word go, mostly because of his connection to Greg Pak and artist Frank Cho, who made Amadeus a main character in his run on Savage Wolverine.

Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso told Entertainment Weekly, “Amadeus came to mind for a lot of different reasons. One of them is that physically, he’s like Banner: he’s the 98-pound weakling who’s had everything but the physical aspect to make him seem super cool. And secondarily is that he’s so different from Banner. He shares the monstrous intellect but he’s so different — he’s a teenage kid, who’s hasn’t lived much yet.” Alonso stressed that Cho would be the only Hulk (I assume he means male Hulk) in the Marvel Universe, which of course begs the question “what about Bruce Banner?? I guess we’ll have to wait til December when Totally Awesome Hulk debuts. You can read more about the new series in our story right here

Rob Liefeld homages himself in new Invincible Iron Man #1 Variant Cover

Artist Rob Liefeld has done many an homage to the great artists of the past, and now it looks like he’s counting himself among those great artists, as he’s paying homage to his own cover for 1990’s New Mutants #87, his first issue of the title that introduced Cable to the Marvel Universe, for a variant cover to the all-new Invincible Iron Man #1. This variant, which aside from Shellhead features Leifeld’s own Marvel creation Deadpool, will be an exclusive to Larry’s Comics in New England, but also available at New Yor City Comic Con, where Rob Liefeld will be available to sign them. You can check out the cover below, as well as Liefeld’s original New Mutants cover. [Bleeding Cool]

Marvel Announces Weirdworld Ongoing Series

One of the many Battleworld titles in Marvel’s Secret Wars event has been Weirdworld, and when the Marvel Universe relaunches this fall, it’s one of the worlds that will remains, as Weirdworld will be getting its own ongoing series in December from writer Sam Humphries and artist Mike Del Mundo.

Humphries describes Weirdworld as “a place where anything can happen. Weirdworld is a place inside the Marvel Universe. Weirdworld is a place where the lost can be found. But only if you are strong enough…Weirdworld is a place that is ever changing, always chaotic, and a place of infinite discovery. Its essential nature is so mysterious that no complete map can ever be created. It is a polyglot of fantasy, horror, sci-fi, and other weird things dug up from the brains of myself and [artist] Mike Del Mundo.”

The main character of the new Weirdworld is a sixteen year old Earth girl named Becca. According to Humphries, Becca” doesn’t land on Weirdworld, she crashes into it. She’s just a normal girl, who was already in the middle of her own tragic Earthbound quest. Now her quest has become even more difficult; she must find her way home through a place where good and evil are subsumed in a hurricane of madness.” [Marvel.com]

comiXology announces Force Friday Star Wars sale

We began today’s Comics Relief with Star Wars comics news, and thus, we shall end with Star Wars comics news. To celebrate Force Friday, comiXology, Amazon’s Kindle Store and Marvel Comics teamed up to offer some amazing deals on some Star Wars graphic novels. Included are the comics adaptation for the original trilogy, as Knights of the Old Republic, Legacy, and many more, up to 80% off, from 9/4 to 9/6. To get in on these amazing deals, click on the following link: [comiXology]