Over at the official site, ahead of April 2020 Star Wars comics’ solicitations, Dan Brooks interviewed the scribe of the upcoming relaunch of Doctor Aphra, Alyssa Wong, revealing new details like a heavy Indiana Jones-esque plot and a whole host of new and intriguing characters. And at THR, IDW announced a 5-issue anthology miniseries, Star Wars Adventures: The Clone Wars – Battle Tales, where clones share war stories (UPDATE: Check out our interview with the series’ writer, Michael Moreci). Head below for more details on each!
UPDATE: Due to the growing pandemic, comic distributor Diamond Comics has halted shipping starting in April. Marvel won’t be releasing issues digitally and IDW certainly won’t unless it’s on a store shelf, so it’s very much up in the air when these comics will end up seeing the light of day. It’s an unfortunate, but understandable move. Battle Tales has a new tentative release for June, but no word on what Marvel is thinking for Aphra’s relaunch. I’ll update as soon as we learn! UPDATE 5/2/20: Battle Tales‘ first issue will hit May 20 and Aphra #1 will hit May 27!
Like the rest of the Marvel content relaunching, Doctor Aphra now takes place post-The Empire Strikes Back, and as always, Aphra is in need of credits and is off to procure an ancient artifact to strike it rich. From writer Alyssa Wong’s description of the artifact and what it’ll take to get it, Aphra will be the most Indiana Jones-esque since the character’s introduction 5 years ago. Assembling a crew, Aphra is after the Rings of Vaale said to be, “…cursed. Located on a planet covered in ash, it’s said that they hold an entire ancient city in their thrall. Few explorers have returned alive, and none of them sane.” This already sounds enthralling to me! One thing I wished the first Volume dealt with more of was the archaeological side of the character, as while it did often include cool artifacts and locations, they were never the star of the story and this planet the Rings are on seems to be so I’m very excited!
Even more intriguing is the expanded cast, including basically all-new characters! For starters, there’s Ronen Tagge (bottom left of cover), operating as the antagonist to Aphra’s search for the Rings; Aphra was working for Vader when he killed off Grand General Tagge (as seen in the first Darth Vader Volume), so I’m curious if he’ll lay any of the blame on her or has a bone to pick with her…or if that’s what will unite them. Having another Tagge means we might meet even more of the family, characters who populated Marvel’s original run of comics several decades ago.
As for Aphra’s handpicked team: Dr. Eustacia Okka, a former classmate of Aphra’s who believes her vindication will come from finding the rings. She has a very cool design, something similar to a Miralan (bottom right of cover); Detta Yao, an archaeology student from Shadow University (a place we learned a little about in early Aphra Vol. 1 issues) who, while described as bubbly and sweet, is teased by Wong to have, “… a dark side to this ray of sunshine.” (middle left of cover); And then Just Lucky, which yes, really is his name and it’s so silly I love it, who happens to be the smuggler/assassin of the crew, and he’s worked with Aphra in the past (top left of cover).
Black Krrsantan will return (middle right of cover), but there’s no word on other series regulars yet: The muderbots, Triple-Zero and BeeTee-One, who we last saw with her in the final issue of Vol. 1, are teased to be, “…out there. Somewhere close. Waiting.”; Magna Tolvan, Aphra’s most recent ex who she finally selflessly helped; Sana Starros, also an ex who parted on mostly good terms with one another; Korin Aphra, her father, now part of the Rebellion; or Vulaada, her ward who is under watch by Korin and Tolvan with the Rebellion; and, as I’ve been hoping, it seems like Vader will be nowhere in sight for the time being, as he’s a bit too preoccupied anyways.
The SW blog also offered a glimpse of artist Marika Cresta’s character studies of Aphra, Detta Yao, Just Lucky, and Ronen Tagge, while the SW Instagram post about the news included a study for Eustacia Okaa; I’ve included some of them here, and let me just say, I’m really digging the look of her work! The April solicitations unfortunately don’t add much more detail than what Wong revealed in the interview, but I am beyond excited for this new era of the series.
IDW announced an anthology series, in the vein of the Return to/Tales from Vader’s Castle miniseries, where a framing story allows for a series of tall tales from characters. The Clone Wars – Battle Tales finds familiar clones, like Rex and Cody, and new ones stuck under siege, telling stories to help pass the time. Written by Michael Moreci, the five-issue will all release in April (a month before the series ends, again, on Disney+), and while the framing story will be drawn by Derek Charm (Tales’ framing artist as well), each story will have its own artists, including: Arianna Florean, Megan Levens, Valentina Pinto, Davide Tinto, and Philip Murphy. I really enjoyed both of the Vader’s Castle minis, so I’m looking forward to this one, as I really enjoy the era and can’t wait to see what tales these clones will spin!
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
DOCTOR APHRA REVIEWS:
Aphra (#1-6) | And the Enormous Profit (#9-13) | The Screaming Citadel crossover (#7, 8) | Remastered (#14-19) / Arc Review | The Catastrophe Con (#20-25) / Arc Review | Worst Among Equals (#26-31) / Arc Review | Unspeakable Rebel Superweapon (#32-36) / Arc Review | A Rogue’s End (#37-40) / Arc Review | Full Series Review
Annual: #1 | #2 | #3