Complicated relationships all around.
Creative Staff:
Story: Kieron Gillen
Art: Kev Walker, Marc Deering
Colors: Antonio Fabela
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
Has Aphra actually found a lost ancient Jedi site? And if so, can she make it out with her life? And if so, will she be able to get a good price for it?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As we get close but not quite to being finished with the opening arc of the series, Doctor Aphra enters that period where it’s just a bit frustrating and not all that interesting. The series with its focus on Aphra and her ragtag crew definite holds a lot of appeal as I like how they interact and all their backstory potential as well as where they’re going in the here and now. This is the first series that through its time in the Vader book actually made me like droids, something that I’ve always struggled a bit with when it comes to this franchise. Sadly, the opening arc has saddled Aphra with her father and that means the two have to have some heart to heart material this time around and it just lands with a thud.
Having them discover the temple that he’s been searching for all this time, the team has made their way in and there are a lot of discoveries to be made with it. The place is certainly intriguing and I’m amused by how her father calls the Jedi orthodox Jedi and then references the Ordu. The mix of the two are here with the bodies under all the ruins and making the nod that no Jedi had survived whatever happened here because the bodies weren’t cremated is an interesting little nod that’s not brought up often. The exploration is nice and I like how her father is all reverential with it all while Aphra is basically grave robbing since that’s what archaeology is to her, just with more paperwork. The two characters balance each other well for the most part, though the bond between them is strained to say the least.
Where things go south is in that the Imperials show up not long afterward and they’re ready to try and recover some of their dignity after the events on Yavin’s moon. Amusingly, Triple-Zero and Betee make it back to the ship unnoticed and Krrnstan makes his way there later as well, since he’s not interested in this fight while acknowledging that Aphra definitely still owes him. This puts the bulk of the focus on the father/daughter dynamic as they go deeper into the temple while trying to stay alive and ferret out some of its secrets. It does dig nicely into their past a bit and the problems with her mother that are in the mix, but quite frankly, it’s too early in the series run for this to really feel like it matters any. I do like how the two work together since he seems to bring out the worst in her, and he has discovered something interesting here and his reasoning in trying to bring some light back to the galaxy in the face of the Empire makes sense, but it’s just not clicking for me as a storyline as a whole.
In Summary:
While I’m enjoying the bulk of the Star Wars books in general and have gotten a kick out of a good portion of the Doctor Aphra run so far, this issue just left me feeling a bit cool as it’s kind of drawn out and I’m not feeling a connection to most of these newer characters. The Imperial side has a nice nod to Rogue One while Aphra’s father hasn’t come across well enough for me to really care much either way about him. Walker’s artwork continues to be a highlight as we get some neat location material this time around and I like the character designs for the most part, though Aphra herself is the weakest for me, so I’m hopeful that things will wrap up well the next time around and we can move on to something that feels more interesting, and hopefully not bound up in a standard six-issue-for-trade kind of story design.
Grade: C+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 8th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
