Cantebarius H. Broom

"I am Professor Broom, and this is my laboratory. You fell for my hidden trap! Ha, ha!"

- Professor Broom, to C-3PO

Professor Broom was a Human male who worked as a scientist in the early years of the Galactic Empire. At the time, Broom would trap droids in his laboratory and experiment on them before turning them into scrap. Around 15 BBY, the scientist captured C-3PO, a protocol unit belonging to Jann Tosh, with the intent to deactivate him and use him for experimentation. The professor's plans, however, were foiled when the droid's master and the astromech R2-D2 intervened.

Biography
"You now belong to me! I capture droids and experiment on your kind. You are a good specimen. Ha, ha!"

- Professor Broom, to C-3PO

Broom was a male of the Human species who lived during the Dark Times that followed the founding of the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY. He worked as a scientist, holding the title of professor, and possessed his own hidden laboratory aboard a space station. Professor Broom was known for capturing droids who ventured on that station, experimenting on them before breaking them down to spare parts. Under the reign of Galactic Emperor Palpatine, droids were not considered citizens, despite their artificial sentience, rendering droid torture legal.

Around 15 BBY, the professor found a new victim in the protocol unit C-3PO, who belonged to a miner named Jann Tosh. Broom threatened to deactivate C-3PO by removal of his memory diskette. Tosh, however, discovered the trapdoor to Broom's secret laboratory thanks to his other droid, the astromech R2-D2. The miner's timely arrival distracted the professor's attention. While aiming a blaster pistol at Tosh, Broom forgot to look over his shoulders. The scientist was knocked down unconscious by the protocol droid, who hit him with a piece of metal.

Personality and traits
"Welcome, foolhardy friends! You're very clever! But&mdash;I call the shots here!"

- Professor Broom, to Jann Tosh and R2-D2

Professor Broom was a fair-skinned, portly man with black eyes and a crescent-shaped mustache. In the early days of the Empire, he was mostly bald, sporting a horseshoe-shaped ring of white hair around the back of the head. During his encounter with C-3PO and R2-D2, he wore a scientist's white coat with pockets, green pants and a pair of red shoes without laces. He also kept a holdout blaster pistol for emergency cases. A high-sounding yet villainous mind, the Professor gloated over his own cruelty and cunning, bursting out laughing in mid-sentence.

Behind the scenes
"How can anyone take seriously a villain named after a housekeeping implement? Granted, he is a mad scientist."

- Abel G. Peña

Broom was featured in Troublesome Outing, a Spanish story that was published in 1986 under the MyComyc label. In the decades that followed their initial publication, the MyComyc strips were mostly forgotten, and were only rediscovered in 2013. Randy Stradley, Vice President of Publishing for Dark Horse Comics, was interested in including the Mycomyc strips in a future Omnibus publication, but Lucasfilm Ltd. found no formal proof that those titles were actually licensed, despite the presence of appropriate copyright information. Because of that uncertainty over licensing, Troublesome Outing and the characters that appear in it are considered of ambiguous canonicity.

The Star Wars author Abel G. Peña, who translated the story in English for the first time in 2013, stated that he enjoyed Professor Broom's portrayal as a cartoonish, over-the-top villain. While translating the story, Peña wondered whether the writer of Troublesome Outing knew the meaning of the word "Broom" in English, judging that it did not sound serious enough for an antagonist. He also noted that he may have called the character "Professor Escoba," translating his surname back into Spanish. However, Peña eventually chose to leave Broom's surname intact beacause of its "idiosyncratic charm."

Appearances

 * Troublesome Outing