With the current pandemic halting the comic book industry, the return of the Doctor Aphra series under writer Alyssa Wong and artist Marika Cresta has been put on hold, but some beyond exciting and unbelievably awesome news tempers the wait: Doctor Aphra will star in an audiobook! Doctor Aphra: An Audiobook Original will be an expanded retelling of her introduction in the Darth Vader (Vol. 1) series from 2015! Written by Sarah Kuhn (Heroine Complex), and narrated by a full cast much like Dooku: Jedi Lost, it releases July 21, 2020. Head below for more thoughts, extra details, and Kuhn’s excellent little introduction video! UPDATE 7/25: You can read our review now!
A wholly original tale obviously would’ve been preferred, but any new Aphra content, especially one where it expands on an already excellent story with new and familiar characters, is 100% welcomed in this Aphra-fan’s book! In fact, the audiobook will be from Aphra’s POV and I’m really interested to see the events from the series’ first arc, “Vader,” from her perspective, as ho-boy, she’s about as unreliable a narrator as Elliot from Mr. Robot and way more fun, so it should be quite the wild ride. And, as Kuhn teases in her video, we’ll get to see not only more scary content from the hilariously evil murderbots Triple-Zero and BT-1, but Sana Starros, one of Aphra’s exes, will also make her way into the expanded content for the story. Sana has been underused for some time now, and while her appearance in Last Shot helped a tad, this should be exactly the content fans will be looking for with regards to their volatile relationship.
Unfortunately we don’t know the cast quite yet, but I’m very eager to learn who will play Aphra herself! Dooku: Jedi Lost‘s cast grew on me over time, as it was weird hearing the characters without their The Clone Wars voice actors, but most of the characters in Aphra’s sphere haven’t been voiced before so there won’t be any disconnect. Much like Jedi Lost, I’m assuming this will likewise be later released in script form, so those who cannot experience audiobooks, or those who aren’t big fans of them (much like me prior to Jedi Lost), will have a chance to experience this tale. Any way to expand the rogue archaeologist to a wider audience gets a giant thumbs up in my book!
There’s a Star Wars Books panel happening 4/24/2020 via Virtual Con with the promise of more details about the audio drama, so we’ll update the Manor once those come to light; I’m hoping it’s the reveal of the cast! UPDATE: The panel is here but it didn’t offer much in the way of extra details.
Once again, Doctor Aphra: An Audiobook Original is out July 21, but check out Sarah Kuhn’s announcement video in the meantime!
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:
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