“Echoes”
Creative Staff:
Story: Alyssa Wong
Art: Minkyu Jung
Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
Tainted by the SPARK ETERNAL, DOCTOR CHELLI APHRA is not herself! Trapped in her own mind, Aphra’s only hope for escape lies in her own memories… …but will she find a way out before the Spark consumes her completely?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I’ve struggled with this storyline from Alyssa Wong and all the dealings with the Ascendant technology but I knew we’d hit a point where things would be interesting. The material with Farrus and all the actual time at the university and flashbacks were fine but felt rather un-Star Wars in a way for me. With this issue, as we get into the head of the Spark Eternal, it hits the right scale and scope while at the same time keeping it quite personal. 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.
While stories focusing on the internal struggle are common, and we’ve seen a chunk of Aphra’s past through the properties so far, this one works well as the Spark is pretty sharp and spot-on when it comes to calling out Aphra on herself. The Spark is intent on finding what she needs in her memories, which is basically access to a lot of Ascendant technology, but I like that it also gets to the more serious reveal that it knows Aphra’s hiding a bigger secret. Are we really going to see the return of my favorite murder droids in the next few issues? Just acknowledging them here, even in shadowed form, feels significant and I like the idea of getting back to them after so long. And Aphra is rightly panicked over it since she’s put significant information in them and obscured it from them and she’s uncertain as to whether they’d be able to actually eliminate the Spark in Aphra’s body if it comes down to it.
We do get to see some interesting areas of Aphra’s past, though I really dislike anything that features Lucky, and it helps to shore up just how varied her interactions with ancient tech goes. It’s a very light touch approach but with the Spark trawling through her mind, it works well. And it provides the spark with a clue of where to go next, which is made easier since Aphra has a full slate of information on Crimson Dawn and easy contact data to connect with them. It’s no surprise that we’re getting paths crossing again here so soon and the Spark in Aphra’s body has a whole different type of confidence and swagger about her that there’s a lot more danger going on here. Adding in more of the past to the Spark as well and how things went down a few centuries before gives her some additional context as well, though that felt somewhat untrustworthy.
In Summary:
I’ve had more of a casual relationship with this series than I’ve cared for going on for a while now when I really want to enjoy it more. The ideas are there but some of the execution and trappings just don’t click well. This installment feels more like Star Wars than it has in a bit – and that’s not the lightsabers that does it here – as it feels like it gets into the scope and scale of events in a good way while making it all about Aphra. The potential continues to be here with this property and I think Alyssa Wong has it in her to really grab onto it, but it’s elusive more often than not.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 9+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: July 27th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
