“Resurrections”
Creative Staff:
Story: Alyssa Wong
Art: Minkyu Jung
Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
DOCTOR APHRA and SANA STARROS have escaped the VERMILLION, but there’s no escaping CRIMSON DAWN: their spies are EVERYWHERE! As DOMINA TAGGE contends with moles within TAGGE CORPORATION and Aphra struggles with the damage inflicted on her by a POWERFUL ARTIFACT, they strike one last bargain… But who can Aphra really trust?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Doctor Aphra’s role in the War of the Bounty Hunters storyline was something that didn’t work for me overall, even if where it ended puts us into an interesting place. It left me feeling a bit meh about the property in general, hence taking a couple of weeks before getting to this issue because I just didn’t have the mental space to try and reacclimate to it. Alyssa Wong has a lot that can be done here but similar to other writers who have tackled the character, it feels like they haven’t figured out the post-Vader way to utilize her. This issue keeps Minkyu Jung on board for the artwork once again, which is definitely a bit plus to it as it definitely has a bit more polish to it, even if she and the previous artist have a lot of similarities in capturing the Marvel Star Wars “house” brand design. She again captures the characters and works them really well in their design and movement. There’s some solid detail here and Rachelle Rosenberg’s color design helps to give it a bit more weight and continuity with the bulk of the rest of the Star Wars books.
This installment feels like they might be on the right path at last with her. Part of what makes me interested but wary is how Qi’ra is becoming a bigger part of the mythos, which I’m fine with because it provides a lot of interesting things to explore. The downside is that it’s basically a Hydra organization set in Star Wars and it’s now slowly being revealed. We see that here as Domina Tagge has found several traitors under her employ and is dealing with them in various ways while trying to figure out how deep the rot is. She gets to see more of the big picture later when Aphra and Sana show up and she shares the data necklace she has which makes it clear how expansive Crimson Dawn has become. She’s clearly looking out for Tagge family businesses first and foremost and you really get the sense that she’s far less focused on the Imperial side of things, leaving that for ISB to ferret out.
Aphra’s time here is interesting as she’s having to deal with her electro-tattoos being shot after recent incidents and reluctantly asks Domina for help with that. It does, of course, come with a price, but as she starts to utilize them and the upgrades included, it’s putting her on a whole other level. She and Sana are looking for more on the Ascendant per Domina’s request as she’s intrigued by the power and I like both the background we get from Sana on it and also just how intoxicating she found it to be. Domina likely thinks she can rise above that but that remains to be seen. Giving her that mission to play out for the moment while Domina deals with Crimson Dawn, and as we see more Crimson Dawn movement, puts a few things in play that could come around nicely together.
In Summary:
If there’s a downside to this issue it’s the time spent with Lucky. I imagine he’s a bit of a favorite as an original character created here but I have not liked the character at all since his introduction, and subsequent interactions have not changed that feeling in the slightest. That said, the rest of this issue feels like Alyssa Wong may be re-centering things in a better way and there’s some potential for figuring out the best way and kind of stories to tell about this character. I’ll admit, I still miss the murderbots and how she operated under Vader, but I think there are great stories to tell here, especially as we get more of the past coming to light through the books that can be exploited, such as the High Republic era and the Thrawn: Ascendancy series.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 9+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology and Kindle
Release Date: November 17th, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
