The scale of Aphra’s plans continue to astound.
Creative Staff:
Story: Kieron Gillen, Simon Spurrier
Art: Emilio Laiso
Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
Doctor Aphra is being blackmailed by Triple-Zero to run missions for his underground crime syndicate — but that doesn’t mean she can’t cause trouble and have fun along the way! Sometimes that fun means infiltrating Rebellion training grounds…and sometimes that trouble means crossing paths with famed rebel Hera Syndulla herself!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While I’m completely digging the more serious territory that Kireon Gillen is mining over in the main Star Wars book, I’m enjoying what I’m guessing are his breezier plots here that Simon Spurrier is handling the dialogue and fleshing out of. The two are definitely having a lot of fun here and it shows as a really good balance to the other books being produced. It also doesn’t hurt that Emilio Laiso illustrates one hell of an Aphra and he’s now left me wanting a Hera book for the duration as well. This issue keeps the main storyline going, one I’m still not fully on board for with Aphra serving at the droids whims for the moment, but I’m enjoying the way the team is blending in a lot of larger Star Wars elements into the post-ANH timeline so that it all connects.
With Triple-Zero sending Aphra on this latest mission to the Tarkin Initiative base where his lost memory files are, the lead-up to it is a lot of fun because it’s humanizing but also setting the stage. Aphra’s only nominally in charge of this disparate group and it’s amusing to see Hera trying to gain some assistance but unable to as it’s quite the motley crew. At the same time, knowing Aphra and seeing her at work repairing some of Caysin’s systems, you know that she’s setting more traps for what’s ahead. It’s a given that she plans ahead even if she has no idea what might come. So when she does execute it later, which essentially executes Caysin from what I can see, it still works because it happens in the most seemingly haphazard of ways. And it happens with most of the others not realizing, though that give Hera an edge as she does, even if Aphra certainly is doing her best to diminish whatever Hera’s trying to say.
The plan itself is fun to watch as they board the Hivebase and discover the frozen rejects and failures that are in there (oo, a wookie with a weapon for a head!) and how Aphra orchestrates a diversion to give her the time she needs to find the needle in a haystack data point. Drawing in the Rebel Academy ship with its massive seize with Hera as a draw works, though the actions of the crew there lean too heavily into comedy for me – even if I like the way it unfolds with Tolvan taking control and Aphra flirting with her throughout it until she realizes what Tolvan intends to do. There’s a lot of fun little dialogue that’s just a hair out of place in the overall tone of the books but it works because Aphra pushes those edges regularly, which is a good thing. Seeing the way she’s connected with Tolvan is definitely a fun development and the problems that arise because of it, and how Aphra sometimes reaches through Tolvan’s conditioning, makes for an unpredictably good time.
In Summary:
Doctor Aphra still isn’t quite the book I was hoping for based on her run in the previous Darth Vader series but it’s certainly still etching out a place of its own. It’s a lighter book with Aphra’s way of dealing with things but it’s also far more violent than the other books in many ways – and not always leaning into comical violence. There’s a good edge of seriousness to it because of Triple-Zero and Beetee that helps to keep it going in the right direction but I’m also closing in on a point where I’d like to see Aphra get away from them for a while and explore more of what’s out there, something that the character and series can do in a way the other books can’t. Gillen, Spurrier, and Laiso are definitely enjoying what they’re doing here and it shows, which makes it a very easy book to enjoy on my part as well. The addition of Hera for now, in this post-Rebels TV series world, just makes it extra special.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 28th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
