Yoda's lessons to Luke Skywalker on his home planet of Dagobah in The Empire Strikes Back may be revisited in a new story. Credit:Star Wars/Disney "So we've got a lot of stuff going on that's really setting up stories that will be playing out for the next couple of years in the book." The challenge was finding a way to explore Yoda's story while still following the timeline set by previous story arcs which have delivered Skywalker's pre-Empire brush with Darth Vader, Boba Fett naming the last of the Rebels who destroyed the Death Star and Obi-Wan Kenobi's life on Tatooine after the fall of the Jedi. "We're a bit hamstrung in terms of the time period of our main story, because Yoda's chilling on Dagobah. So this was kind of the only way we could kill all those birds with one stone – to do one story that connects Luke, Yoda, and Obi-Wan all at the same time, while still taking place in three different time periods," Aaron said. "This story takes place before the Clone Wars and it's set in a world we've never seen before ... I wanted to see Yoda just as the Jedi. So this puts him on a very unusual adventure."

Yoda's years as a younger Jedi knight will be explored by Star Wars comics' Jason Aaron. Credit:Star Wars/Disney But Yoda may have something to say about this, given his previous lesson to Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back: "A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. "This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away … to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. "A Jedi craves not these things." To which Aaron agrees: "The other big challenge with Yoda, of course, is finding something that's a challenge for him, right? Who can pose a threat to Yoda?

"I think we came up with an interesting answer to that question. That's part of the mystery of this story. "There's a very specific reason that this is going to be quite the challenge for Yoda. It's not a matter of just him being the more powerful Jedi. It's a bit trickier than that." Does that mean Yoda will be reckless or immature and too in need of guidance? "I think he's still pretty wise. He's still the Yoda we know," reassures Aaron. "This is a bit of a different time period for him. This is not post-Phantom Menace, this is not in the new rise of the Sith and the beginning of the Clone Wars, so hopefully his attitude seems a little bit different. "I'm always struck, when you go back and watch Empire, by just how funny Yoda is, and how he messes with Luke a lot when they first meet. I like that playfulness to Yoda. So I'm trying to find a balance between the wise, serious Jedi Master and that sort of sense of playfulness."

For anyone needing a reminder, cast your mind back to Skywalker's attempt to raise his X-wing from Yoda's swamp, when he complains that it's too big. "Judge me by my size, do you?" Yoda retorts. And it might not be the last time that Aaron revisits the larger-than-life extraterrestrial. "I especially love exploring Obi-Wan during that period on Tatooine. I find that really fascinating – the lonely Jedi who's got to hide out in the middle of the desert. So I really love what we've been able to do with him, and hopefully this won't be the last time we get to use Yoda. I'd love to be able to figure out another way to work him into the story, of course." There are certainly plenty of Yoda's years left to mine. "When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not."