– Spoiler Review –
After nearly two months, Aphra returns! And with her she brings the reappearance of the one, the only, Sana Starros!! Doctor Aphra #7 (Vol. 2) sets the two ex’s on a collision course, though they find themselves in the crosshairs of a new enemy along the way…which is pretty typical for Sana and Aphra.
It’s over two years since we last saw Sana Starros and Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra together in Doctor Aphra’s (Vol. 1) “The Catastrophe Con”: on Accresker Jail, as it plummets towards a nearby planet, Sana made peace with her tumultuous past with Aphra, no longer carrying the intense hate and moving forward with her life. A lot has happened since, with Aphra beginning to change and Sana spending more time with the Rebellion, but both have moved on from their past ties and are forging ahead, doing what they do best: Aphra hunting artifacts and making enemies and Sana smuggling like nobody’s business. While we’ve technically had Aphra and Sana together more recently, it was in the brilliant Doctor Aphra audiobook, which revealed new moments between the two in their university days, while covering the events of Darth Vader (Vol. 1) comic, so we haven’t gotten any continuation since their fateful parting. Much like Sarah Kuhn’s hilarious and heartfelt dialogue between the two in the audiobook, Alyssa Wong adds to their fractured, though healing relationship with a similar sense of heart and humor, making the two year wait totally worth it on so many levels.
It’s hard to count how many times I was grinning, smiling, and laughing gleefully at Sana and Aphra’s reunion throughout issue #7. As someone who has been a giant fan of Chelli for years now, and treasurers the drama of her time with Sana/been hoping to see the two together again, Wong’s writing produced a reunion which lived up to all the hype I had for such a moment, though someone reading Doctor Aphra for the first time with this volume would be able to follow along, a skill Wong’s deftly proven before in the opening arc. Honesty comes a little easier to Aphra now, because even though she’s still less than truthful (aka a few lies here and there to get what she wants), at least she admits it to Sana instead of doubling down on the dishonesty or misdirection. And for Sana, she isn’t eager to strangle/shoot/maim/kill Aphra the moment she lays eyes on her anymore, instead willing to listen to Chelli but keep her (for now) at arm’s length. There’s an easiness to their conversation, formed from their time together (as revealed in the audiobook) and time at one another’s throats, and Wong conveys it in the simplest of ways, while the new art team adds a level of familiarity between to the two, giving the easiness weight and layering it with the unspoken hostility of their past from small facial tics to the distance Sana keeps from Aphra. Despite their history, as Aphra pulls Sana into her search for The High Republic era’s Nihil Path engine*, they can’t avoid one another any longer once they’re both on the Unbroken Clan’s radar, also on the hunt for the engine, and I can’t wait to see what comes for these two now they are stuck together!
It’s hard for me to want to talk about anything other than Sana and Aphra, and I’ll be this way when/if Magna Tolvan ever appears again, but other things did happen this issue so I should probably talk about them as well! For starters, since Sana is on Corellia, Aphra ropes her ex into giving her an in to visiting Lady Proxima because of all the beings on the planet, she’d have an ear and eye on everything coming and going from its ports. It was neat to see Proxima again, as she’s not had many cameos since Solo: A Star Wars Story, and this felt like it fit for the story and it’s no surprise Proxima would be another being unhappy to see Aphra again after some previous double-cross. Proxima points them to Sana’s associate, Remy, but it seems someone got there first, Vukorah of the Unbroken Clan, one of Corellia’s biggest crime syndicates. Vukorah and the Unbroken are crossovers from the Bounty Hunters series, and while I have my problems with the series, she’s a part I’m happy to see more of and I look forward to learn what trouble she’ll stir up for Sana and Aphra on the race for the Nihil’s ancient Path engine.
Elsewhere, Just Lucky’s story continues, and while he wasn’t part of the new cast I was most excited about, what Wong seems to be doing with the character certainly feels like a tale I can get behind/might change my mind about him. With Ronen…indisposed after the first arc, Lucky’s contract with the Tagges has been terminated, which forces him to look for work to help dig his brother Pak out of debt. Obviously he should have a big, long talk with his younger brother and have him help dig them out of debt so he can learn a lesson, but he’d rather keep his brother’s hands clean (as much as he can these days) and get them back on their feet himself; it’s a noble path, though not the best or the right one, but I hope he can find a better way out in the future. Because I have a bad feeling Lucky’s new target, given Wen Delphis whom Pak owes his debts too, could mean trouble for Aphra and Sana.
A new-ish art team begins on this issue, as Ray-Anthony Height is replaced on pencils with Minkyu Jung, while others from issue #6 return: Victor Olazaba inker, Rachelle Rosenberg colorist, and Joe Caramagna letterer. While I enjoyed Height’s exaggerated styling, Minkyu Jung offers his own stylish looks, with more subtle facial expressions that really aid the script’s personal focus, especially with the Sana and Aphra reunion. I felt like with Jung’s lead, there was a heavier, darker look to the proceedings, from how the White Worm lair’s deep blue colors were matched by Rosenberg or Corellia’s dark, lower streets, but for all the darkness there was brightness in the glitz and glamor of Canto Bight or the lovely explosions from Aphra’s detonite ring bombs. I also appreciated how it was much clearer characters like Lucky and Aphra are coded as Asian, while there was something with the panel layout and how it played out certain scenes or interactions that added to the script or a humorous moment, like Sana booting Aphra out the door or the urgency in the action scenes towards the end. All in all, a great art team was already arrayed from the previous issue and Jung helped give it a more subtle but still fun look.
Here are a few other things:
- For starters, big shout out and welcome to Lapin, the first gender non-conforming individual in the comics (as far as I can remember)! There’s been a few non-binary characters in the novels, but the comics, beyond its LGBTQ+ rep in Aphra, Sana, Tolvan, and a handful of others, hasn’t really included much beyond the L, so Lapin’s simple reveal broadens representation. I really liked how the moment played out, as it was through a comment Lucky could’ve made about any other person but he simply used Lapin’s they/them pronouns. It’s just that easy, folks! Please make sure to respect someone’s pronoun choices as it takes nothing for you to do so and gives them the acceptance we’d want all other human beings to feel.
- On top of Lapin’s reveal, it actually means I had to go and change my parity data I collected in my 2020 Star Wars Comics Year-in-Review, where I dove into the importance of holding the comics to account by taking the data, but how it’s only a part of the discussion and looking beyond the data reveals much more about the creative teams and the diversity efforts of Star Wars media.
- *Curious to learn more about the Nihil and their Path engines? There’s no better place to start than The High Republic – Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule, the opening novel of the new initiative which dives heavily into the details on how the Path engine works and the dangers it could bring if it fell into the wrong hands. Or how about the Starros family?! Sana Starros’ great-great-great something Avon Starros, just a young girl in THR era, stars in A Test of Courage and she’s already my favorite non-Jedi character! For all our The High Republic coverage, check out our landing page!
- February sees another break for Aphra, but the series looks to return to a monthly rollout again afterwards, with issues set for March and April.
- And also out in April? The audiobook’s hardcover script releases, which includes new scenes! Plus, her Gentle Giant bust, if you pre-ordered it (I did and there’s still 51 left as of this posting), should also be out in March, so it’s never really been better to be an Aphra fan! (And it seems the Triple-Zero bust is still available to preorder!)
Doctor Aphra #7 (Vol. 2) makes a nearly two month wait, and two year gap in Aphra and Sana’s continuing story, far more than worth it!
+ The return of Sana Starros!
+ Aphra and Sana’s dialogue/history explored well for new and old readers
+ Art team only adds to the reunion!
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
DOCTOR APHRA REVIEWS:
Volume 2: Fortune and Fate – #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 / Arc Review — The Engine Job: #6
Doctor Aphra (audiobook)
Volume 1: Full Volume 1 Review