Canon Comic Review: Doctor Aphra "The Catastrophe Con" Arc (Issues #20-25)

– Spoiler Review –

In Doctor Aphra’s latest arc, “The Catastrophe Con,” the titular doctor is stuck in an Imperial prison, but instead of a quickly planned escape, her stay is prolonged and all the unwanted visitors from her past convene, wrapping up 25 issues of stories in exciting and unexpected ways. This is not only Aphra‘s best arc yet, but it might just be the single best arc of the comics overall so far.

Any good final issue of any arc will have plenty of payoff for events from the proceeding issues, but the greatest arcs hide so many hints right before a reader’s eyes, it seems obvious in hindsight when something like a twist ending comes into play. By the end of “The Catastrophe Con” arc, events are recontextualized due to a fantastically plotted and hidden twist, which also propels the story into new and exciting directions instead of being solely used for shock value: Aphra’s arc-long companion, a bumbling, fearful shape-shifter named Lopset Yas, is actually Dr. Cornelius Evazan, hiding in plain sight thanks to a bioengineered pluripleq! While it might come as a surprise, as it certainly did for me because I had forgotten From a Certain Point of View showed he and Ponda Baba survive their encounter with Obi-Wan in Chalmun’s Cantina, but after immediately rereading the arc after finishing issue #25, the sabacc cards were laying on the table, face up, all along.

It all begins in the first issue, #20, where Aphra is narrating events as part of her interrogation by her Imperial captors. She recounts when Dek-Nil, her insane improbability droid, scans her and “Lopset” into its prison squad, and she says it scanned THREE lifeforms, despite there being two people present, which the Imperial officer dismisses because their tech is a little faulty at Accresker Jail. But the scan was correct, as Evazan is wearing another lifeform, hence why it scanned three, meaning this twist was waiting on the wings from the very beginning; delicious, if you ask me. In #21, Aphra sees “Lopset’s” face changing while he’s being crushed, assuming he’s a shape-shifter, which he goes along with. For issue #22, despite saying he was an electrician at first, “Lopset” claims to be a multi-disciplinarian after he reverently reveals his knowledge of what the horrific hookspores are. Issue #23 finds the Force-imbued hookspores unable to read him, which in my review I even asked, “….is it because he’s a changeling, so he has too many “minds” to read, or is there something else going on with Lopset?” but I still couldn’t see the hints, while the last two issues deal with the irony of Aphra misleading Tam Posla with “Lopset’s” shape-shifting abilities to pass him off as Posla’s most wanted, Evazan. It’s all so truly and deliciously plotted, and so obvious in hindsight, I feel like a bit of an idiot for not seeing it, which makes it such a good twist in the first place.

But the best part of this twist is how it sets the stage for the next arc of Aphra’s story and isn’t in place simply for a bit of shock value and fun (though it certainly hits both of those). Evazan links Aphra and Triple-Zero together with his proximity bomb, meaning any tampering, they die, kill one another, they die, and they can’t stray more than twenty meters or else, yes, “Boom.” Aphra asks, and immediately regrets, why would Evazan do something like this? The mad scientist he is, he wants to understand if monstrosity is something you’re born with, which Sana would believe, or is it learned over time, taking inspiration from the pearl of wisdom Aphra shared with him from her mother, Lona, “Evil’s just a measure of how much your choices take away other people’s.” Believing Aphra’s a special brand of evil not even he can touch, Evazan will be watching his experiment through Triple-Zero’s eyes, giving he and his pal Ponda Baba a front-row seat to the show, setting up the next arc, “Worst Among Equals.”

After the previous arc’s unprecedented show of LGTBQ+ relationships, with Inspector Magna Tolvan and Chelli Aphra even getting a cabin hideaway scene by the end, “Catastrophe” dove head first into Aphra’s two biggest significant others, including having the two women meet for the very first time. For Sana Starros, it turned out to be a cathartic interaction with her ex, and her ex’s new boo, finally able to let her hate go and move on from the events that broke them apart so many years ago. Brought to Accresker Jail after being ordered by General Hera Syndulla to collect Aphra so she would be “politely asked” to undo her encryption on data she gave to Hera at the end of last arc, Sana quickly came into conflict with Tolvan, who shot Starros’ Volt Cobra out of the sky with a rocket launcher (Tolvan is a bit of a badass at times). After seeing what happened to her and Aphra happening to Tolvan, Sana believes that despite her intentions, Aphra really hasn’t changed, and likely was born evil, which isn’t her fault, so Sana can put her hate for Aphra behind her now, believing the woman was always a bad mynock to begin with. Sana leads a rescue party of Rebellion forces to evacuate the soon-to-be-doomed planet the Imperials point the roving jail at, taking with her a mind-wiped Tolvan and returning to the mainline series, Star Wars. It might be awhile before she graces the pages of the Aphra comic, but it’s been truly wonderful to watch her go from her shock introduction to where we are now, an arc across series, mediums, and time.

Unfortunately for Tolvan, her story in “Catastrophe” is more like a Greek tragedy, as spending time with Sana gives her a prime example of what happens when someone loves Aphra, but Tolvan continues to do so regardless of the lively caution signs between Aphra and her ex. It gets to the point that Tolvan understands loving Aphra, despite all her flaws and selfish actions, has actually ruined her career and life she loved just as much, which is why she decides to take Aphra’s place for a Bor-induced mind erasure to help take Vader off of Aphra’s back for good. She leaves the relationship in a way that pains Aphra, though not in a bad way, but one which will force her to think on what she’s done, as if both Sana and now Tolvan would rather write her off than continue being pulled into her schemes because they care, can Aphra really live with all the regrets she hides behind to distance herself from comparisons to the murderbot, Triple-Zero? Tolvan doesn’t want to stick around to find out, and Aphra goes so far as to make Tolvan think she’s killed Aphra after they gallivanted across the galaxy together, ensuring her own safety but leaving Tolvan’s life still ruined, thus making Tolvan’s sacrifice Aphra’s own perfect scapegoat from all the mynocks that came to roost from her past over the course of the arc. Tolvan ends the arc in Rebel hands, via Sana finding her, as they flee the prison before it resumes its crash course with the planet, leaving her story wide open…well, let’s just hope Sana sticks to her promise that the Rebels won’t hurt Tolvan.

But what does all mean for Aphra? For starters, a lot of people are off her back, the biggest one being Darth Vader considering he believes her well and truly dead this time after Tolvan’s “confession,” then comes Sana, who has let her hate of Aphra go, Tam Posla…since he’s dead, and Hera Syndulla, who cuts her loses about the encrypted data, especially now that she has bigger things to worry about after the Rebellion’s near slaughter over in the main series. Though more importantly, Aphra might have finally run into the one regret she truly, well, regrets, as she was hiding behind the fact she can regret as the thing that differentiated her morally ambiguous actions from Triple-Zero’s but now that might not be enough. A person as twisted and as horrible as Evazan using her for a test subject about being evil, taking Tolvan’s sacrifice too far, and being linked to Triple-Zero, the one thing in the galaxy she felt she could point to and say was worse than her, has got to finally push her to consider a change in her mainly selfish actions. She wanted to prove she was better than Triple-Zero, well, she failed this arc, but the next one gives her no choice than to find a new way to operate…for better or for worse.

Simon Spurrier’s work this arc isn’t only brilliant for how it culminates events from within itself, but how it paid off story and character building from as far back as the Vader series Aphra was introduced in, as well as all the arcs so far in the first 25 issues of her own series. Even without the coda of this issue setting up the next arc, it would’ve read like a masterful finale to the first 25 issues, but how it propels the story in a new direction takes “The Catastrophe Con” from masterful to a level beyond. Spurrier hasn’t seemed to miss a beat without Kieron Gillen and continues on the quality set by the original writer, and then some, making me even more excited for what comes next. As for art this arc, it was my favorite of the two art teams who work on Aphra: Kev Walker (art), Marc Deering (inks), and Java Tartaglia (colors). Walker’s art, to me at least, fits the humorous vibe of the series wonderfully, while it still manages to convey the complexities of the material and character interactions. Spooky, weird things are done really well, like how Triple-Zero always raises my spine when he’s in a panel, the hookspores sweeping around the jail, or Vader’s menacing death march through the prison. I felt like the art was overall a little dark than the past few arcs have been, which certainly made the jail feel even grittier, but ended up making some parts feel a little muted. On lettering was Joe Caramagna with Tom Groneman assistant editing.

Here are a few other things:

Both Beetee-One and Tam Posla wind up dead this arc, and while Tam has been a fun expansion for character that wasn’t as featured in Rogue One as originally planned (and he was even seen in Solo!), losing Beetee came as quite a shock, but it answered how unlikely the murderbots’ odds would be in a battle with Vader. Also, this arc might have claimed the lives of Figran D’an and the Modal Nodes…it’s not clear if the Bith band ejected into space by the murderbots was them or not, so let’s just hope there are a lot of Bith-led bands out there.
The Hasbro Pulse Instagram featured the Doctor Aphra Vintage Collection figure in this little sizzle reel of the latest wave. If you’re having trouble finding it on shelves since Toys R’ Us closed, then may I suggest Brian’s Toys, as they always seem to have her in stock!
It’s a little thing, but I appreciated how Ponda’s arm, seen earlier in Posla’s possession, is taken back by Evazan by the end, meaning he’ll be trying to undo Obi-Wan’s handiwork next while they sit back and enjoy the show.

Doctor Aphra‘s “The Catastrophe Con” not only managed to be the new best arc of her series, but of the entirety of Star Wars to date, deftly plotted and entertaining across every page, this fan-favorite deserves all the attention she’s been getting…and then some.

+ Evazan twist was right in front of us this whole time
+ Sana and Tolvan wrapping up their relationships with disastrous Aphra
+ Masterfully wraps up not only this arcs threads, but the series so far too
+ Fun set up for what’s next
+ Art team fantastic once again

Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.

Doctor Aphra
Aphra (#1-6) | And the Enormous Profit (#9-13) | Remastered (#14-19) / Arc Review | The Catastrophe Con: #20 | #21 | #22 | #23 | #24 | #25 | Worst Among Equals (#26-31) | Annual: #1 | #2

Canon Comic Review: Doctor Aphra “The Catastrophe Con” Arc (Issues #20-25)

+ Evazan twist was right in front of us this whole time

+ Sana and Tolvan wrapping up their relationships with disastrous Aphra

+ Masterfully wraps up not only this arcs threads, but the series so far too

+ Fun set up for what’s next

+ Art team fantastic once again

Check out the rest of our Canon Comic Reviews here!

Like this:

Related

Share your thoughts with the Manor!Cancel reply