The Death Star would seem like it’s “just a story” when you get down to it.
Creative Staff:
Story: Kieron Gillen
Art: Kev Walker
Colors: Antonio Fabela
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
Aphra’s hunt for the Ordu Aspectu has led to the last place she wants to be…an Imperial encampment! The good doctor, her deadly droids and her Wookiee companion are in for trouble…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
One of the things that’s been thoroughly engaging about Kieron Gillen’s work within the Star Wars realm for Marvel is how well he is at connecting the dots in showing how “everyone else” is viewing events going on at this point in time. There’s the idea of how Jedi were just myths, as we saw from Han Solo in A New Hope, because for the most part people never saw them and what they did were little more than stories told that were hard to believe unless you were one of the faithful. Gillen’s also lucking out with the artists he’s working with as Kev Walker is giving this series a strong and definitive look while still adhering to the overall visual design of the properties in a more general sense. His work on Yavin 4 here is definitely strong, especially with the Krrrsantan aspects of it.
Aphra’s being drawn into her father’s madness isn’t something she enjoys and the more time she spends with him the more she remembers why she dislikes him. While we do get the obligatory list of things he’s done that he’s oblivious to when it comes to their family, we get an intriguing aspect when she talks about why the Imperials are on Yavin 4, following up on the destruction of the Death Star. Her father can’t believe that such a weapon existed and then was destroyed seemingly days later as it’s just too fantastical. It’s a great explanation as to the surreal aspect of it and why there wasn’t a massive rebellion against the Empire after all that had happened. Aphra also ties things to the Rogue One film because she mentions what happened on Jedha as well, which figures into his exploration of the Jedi. That he basically recites the cover story of what happened there with a Kyber accident shows how the lies spread and take hold.
Their story here is one that plays well even if it’s riffing on Raiders of the Lost Ark to some degree but it fits with the Indy like aspects of Aphra. The joy in it comes from how she uses Triple-Zero and Beetee to get into the temple while having Krrrsantan run distraction elsewhere to draw Imperial forces. The little one-off’s from the droids are great as they carry on conversation – Triple-Zero hates small talk with career droids – or acknowledge the fine work of the interrogator floating droid that we saw from A New Hope. Krrrsantan’s material is fantastic as we see how effective he is at dealing with Stormtroopers and their weapons of destruction, reinforcing just what kind of true threat he is that we didn’t always quite get from Chewbacca.
In Summary:
Star Wars; Doctor Aphra continues to reinforce for me that Gillen was one of the best people to put on the property. While there are certainly guidelines and story consultations to be had with what’s allowed in a property like this, what Gillen and Walker are doing is expanding our understanding of how this all works in an engaging and accessible way so that you can see why the Empire continued to hold power and how your average people grasped the scale of events going on. This issue does some really great stuff in bonding together two big film events on a very human level while still having some great humor mixed in alongside some very fun action sequences that I’d love to see brought to life. Here’s your Rogue One sequel foundations.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: January 18th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
