“Friends and Enemies”
Creative Staff:
Story: Alyssa Wong
Art: Minkyu Jung
Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
What They Say:
Friends and enemies. Sana Starros and her allies have cornered the Spark Eternal! She’s determined to bring Doctor Aphra back, no matter what it takes! But will it be enough? Or will it destroy Sana, Aphra…and everyone they love?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The storyline is barreling forward with this arc as Alyssa Wong is playing in an interesting area with the Ascendant but at the same time, it feels so much less like Star Wars and far more like Marvel Comics, if you know what I mean. 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 is filled largely with action material but it does have a few interesting nuggets within it as well. Aphra is still stuck inside her own head while the Spark controls everything else but she’s working to find a way to regain control. Miril is trying to invite her to stay with the other Ascendant but she knows that they’re all truly dead and she has a limited shot for the same to not happen to her. She’s the type that doesn’t give up and has plans within plans as well as many contingencies so it’s welcome to see her trying to be more active in getting out here. What she does run into is a bit of help when Magna ends up coming into her headspace during the fight outside of this. Because Magna still had the same electronic tattoos, she was able to connect with Aphra proper briefly and you know a lot more was exchanged there than just the really strong romantic moment that we got to see.
The outside events are chaotic as you’d expect but still are a struggle because the Spark should be able to just end them but instead ends up playing with them. It is amusing to see the Spark use their ability to control Ascendent technology through the uniting aspect of what they are and that has them controlling both the null sword and Kho’s gloves, which essentially turns Kho against Sanna and the others, though unwillingly. There’s a lot of action here with back-and-forth elements – made crazier with Triple-Zero and Beetee showing up – and the Spark shifts the gears a few times, including taking over the droids who were doing decent in their fight against her. The unexpected spot is the Spark flipping Kho by telling her secrets that get her to stay with Crimson Dawn that will likely get tugged on later. For now, however, it’s all about the gang trying to stop the Spark before they can find a Sith to play with.
In Summary:
This storyline has its moments and this installment is one of those. After a couple of lackluster issues of a storyline that has gone on far longer than it should have, this one works because it has some decent action to it and some fun moments. Particularly with Magna and Aphra inside her own head because you get a really good reaction from Aphra over it. The cast of characters that has grown around Aphra are all solid and Aphra herself continues to be full of potential but the storylines just can’t seem to figure out how to bring it all together. It’s still too swashbuckling in a way that feels off, especially when it can really work well now by operating as a way to tie into the older eras that are being explored in other books and to dig into some good serious material.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 9+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: November 16th, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
