Aphra’s a land of contrasts.
Creative Staff:
Story: Simon Spurrier
Art: Caspar Wijngaard
Colors: Lee Roughridge
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
A ROGUE’S END! All good things must come to an end. Unfortunately, so must all evil things. And probably also all things somewhere-in-the-middle’s-complicated. Renegade archaeologist DOCTOR APHRA has been outrunning fate far longer than anyone dared hope. But her time is finally up. DARTH VADER stalks her through the shadows of an ancient temple, and this time? Only one of them will be leaving in one piece.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
At a time where it feels like a dozen or two dozen issues is more than most Marvel series get, I’m definitely enjoying that some Star Wars books continue to do pretty well. Doctor Aphra has been a fun book overall as it draws to a close here, started by Kieron Gillen and taken over by Simon Spurrier, but I’m looking forward to a new start with a new creative team when the book relaunches next year. What we get here is a solid finale and hopefully a chance to put some real space between Aphra and Vader for quite a while in favor of giving her new lands, places, and pasts to explore out in the depths of space. If ever someone should find their way to Wild Space, it’s Aphra. Mmmm, Aphra/Ahsoka adventure.
With a sense of really wrapping things up here, Aphra does this as narration for a good chunk of it as a letter to Tolvan, her father, and Vulaada who are safely elsewhere. Asking them to watch out for each other, what she’s doing is to protect them and herself against the larger forces she’s drawn against her. Namely, Vader. She’s now brought him and his Executor ship to the world of Tython where she said there should be Rebels about, including princesses and farmboys to make it clear. The reality is that she’s set a trap on a world that her father had discovered some time before, but it’s not a trap meant to kill Vader (obviously). There’s a really good dynamic that exists between the two where she does see him as an equal of sorts, a real force of spirit that moves throughout the galaxy without the kind of wave of death that often follows him.
Dealing with a different kind of ice world, the trap works well to separate Aphra from the Imperials at first and then to separate Vader from the troopers. She uses Vader in a creative way to save herself from Triple-Zero and Beetee as he destroys them but she also uses the droids to lure Vader in the larger trap, a kind of Jedi Temple confessional in the ice that draws out his powers and connection to the force. It’s like a forced confessional that puts the strains out for him to view but nobody else, of which he has a few things he’s got guilt over that Aphra exploits. It’s really neat how that unfolds but it’s the daring nature of her true plan here, to protect the Rebels on Hoth where those who matter to her are. It’s got some great elements to it as she reworks his suit and talks through him to the crew above to achieve her goals. It plays in a really big and creative way that is totally Aphra and is at the same time pretty bonkers while having Vader writhing in front of you in pain.
In Summary:
While I am very much looking forward to the next series, the closing run of this book was pretty good. It had some awkward moments but the final issue goes a long way in redeeming a lot of it. Aphra needs a strong foil to play against when it comes to personalities, which made her introduction and use in the Vader series ideal. I don’t think Gillen or Spurrier found the right way to use her beyond that and we had too many issues without a strong counterpart for her to work against. When we do, such as this finale, it works far better. I wish Spurrier had spent more time on the archaeology and exploring things to expand the larger story and galaxy but we ended up in some weird storylines instead. But Aphra was a draw throughout it and I’m glad he was able to bring it to a close here as part of the era before The Empire Strikes Back.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: December 11th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99
