I may have missed something, but I don’t think Luke having to live with a mechanical hand was dealt with much in the post ESB storylines?
It being mechanical did (no pun intended) come in handy several times (like in Heir to the Empire), but I can’t remember him ever talking much about it beyond a little in Shadows of the Empire and a few issues immediately after ESB. I guess he just got used to it.
Maybe the original Westworld had something to do with it? 😃
Androids were very familiar to general audiences by 1977. The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman were often menaced by them, especially fembots. Maybe Lucas wanted to avoid androids for that reason?
With those two examples, as well as androids appearing in Star Trek a few times, the whole concept probably didn’t quite fit in with that whole “lived-in” universe vibe that Lucas was going for. Androids probably just seemed too futuristic.
It’s still a little bit weird that both Tardi & Guri exist in the same world as Artoo, Threepio, Gonk droids, and this clunky-looking thing.
I think emphasizing Viscount Tardi (thanks for the reminder!) being non-sentient might have been so the Rebels don’t look bad sending a droid on essentially a suicide mission, which is kind of silly since regular rebel droids often are often in the line of fire. There was another issue where Artoo was badly damaged, and Luke lost his temper at a Rebel tech who suggested it was more trouble than it was worth to fix him when parts for other droids were already in short supply.
Marvel was probably concerned about how the kids reading the comics would react to the idea of droid suicide mission, especially since Artoo & Threepio were clearly meant to be seen as sentient being. Plus, Leia, just like Luke, was always a lot more sympathetic towards droids.