A little nookie before the end.
Creative Staff:
Story: Simon Spurrier
Art: Caspar Wijngaard
Colors: Lee Roughridge
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
A ROGUE’S END PART 3: SOME LIKE IT HOTH…DOCTOR APHRA has so far failed to seize the secret location of the NEW REBEL BASE… but that hasn’t stopped the rebels seizing HER…After all the bad blood and countless betrayals, does any love linger between Aphra and her new captor, Rebel Captain MAGNA TOLVAN? But with DARTH VADER himself keeping tabs on her progress, will Aphra see in Tolvan one last, seducible opportunity to sell-out the future of the galaxy, and save her own skin?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Doctor Aphra hits its penultimate installment of this run as Simon Spurrier puts our title character through the paces once again. How many times she’s going to end up in a situation like this with Tolvan is beyond me but I’m not surprised. Caspar Wjingaard returns for another issue on the art duties and it works well to capture the larger feeling of the book with his own little twists. I definitely like the way he captures her expressions but also just the flow of the action which feels like it works a lot better than it has under some other artists. I also like his take on Tolvan which doesn’t hurt in the slightest.
The face-off that Tolvan and Aphra are having once again takes them through a couple of different phases in this book. I do feel bad for Tolvan as she really has found her place with the Rebels and the belief in hope that is carrying her after so many bad instances within the Empire and with Aphra. The whole shuttle thing has her pulling a trick that lets her escape and work to put most of her team into a trap, but Tolvan’s got an advantage on her as well. With the electronic strip on her arm being of similar nature, they’re more bonded than Aphra thought – to the point where we get some light mindreading. It’s something that I do enjoy how it unfolds because the two are more honest than they usually are and ending up in some sexual shenanigans is always fun as well, even if Tolvan is getting double screwed over here. Wjingaard and Roughridge really put some great stuff into these pages with the emptiness of it and the color design.
The ups and downs of the whole thing is really kept to these two characters but it does expand outward a bit once Aphra secures her plan to escape. It works in a fun enough way, especially as she’s not got a taste of where the Rebels are going, and we get things set for Aphra to move onto the next cycle of her life. That she and Beetee are together for the moment, tied up in a little pod, is probably one of the worst situations she can be in. But still having the upper hand with Vader through Triple-Zero and being someone that can remove their restraining bolts puts her in a mildly protected space, for the moment. Everything goes bigger toward the end here and I’m really hoping there’s payoff in the finale.
In Summary:
I continue to enjoy Doctor Aphra a lot but at the same time I kind of wish it was a different book. Spurrier keeps the arc moving along nicely with a lot of good chemistry moments between Tolvan and Aphra that I wish was being explored more rather than this on-again/off-again thing. I’m also really enjoying Tolvan’s discovery of hope and aligning with the Rebels and want more of that. Wjingaard has another strong issue here and I definitely like what he brings to the table as Roughridge knows exactly how to bring it to life through color. The brief makeout sequence is just fantastic for color design.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: November 27th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99
