– Spoiler Review –
Doctor Aphra #16 (Vol. 2) is another outstanding entry in the series, as Aphra and Sana get their latest job, hunting more dangerous ancient tech for Domina, that ends with a cliffhanger, while Just Lucky’s woes lead to a revelation I certainly wasn’t expecting.
After using the Thought Dowser to escape the Crimson Dawn flagship, ancient Ascendant tech aka a cult neither the Jedi or Sith liked having around, Chelli Aphra and Sana Starros are exhausting their list of slicers to see what they can do to repair her damaged electro-tattoos, as her arm was fried due to her efforts to disconnect the Dowser from herself. Thankfully this time she’s not linked to a murderbot with a bomb in her head trying to cross a planet to the nearest slicer, though the results are going about the same as if she was, with no luck from each person they visit. Sana, taking a cue from her ‘favorite manipulative monster’ (which I REALLY love that line), suggests they use Domina Tagge’s considerable power for her gain for once, though Aphra’s afraid if Domina finds out she’s broken, she’ll discard her and have them both killed. Considering how Domina has acted in their previous meetings, using a ray shield to suffocate them, it’s not a far-off assumption on Aphra’s part, but she still has the idiot’s array up her sleeve (literally): the necklace from Crimson Dawn’s Black Sun informant. Aphra’s dealt with a lot of powerful people since we started following her adventures and she tells Sana the only way she’s stayed alive is being useful, hence her concern over the tattoo’s being damaged, though she’s learned a lot since being sent out the airlock by Darth Vader, always ensuring she has some type of insurance in case her usefulness goes out of stock. It’s a lifestyle only Aphra could navigate time and time again and get away with it, barely, a little less each time.
Thanks to Lapin, Domina’s loyal and shrewd assistant, the Tagge corporation is ratting out their own Crimson Dawn moles, starting off with poor Sira, whose contract is terminated by Domina in the most business like, cold fashion: murder. It’s small display of Domina’s considerable might, just a tease of her true business-minded heart and fighting skills, which we saw in full display in writer Alyssa Wong’s stellar War of the Bounty Hunters – Boushh #1, and if Aphra knew what Domina did even to her family who betrayed her or wasn’t useful, she’d probably not have listened to Sana and came to her at all. Despite knowing Domina’s penchant for swiftly ending business relationships or her cold response to about anything and everything that’s not about keeping their company in power, when Aphra reveals the necklace and its valuable data, Domina does the unthinkable: she compliments Aphra on her work! I can’t say there’s been many, or really any, instances of Aphra receiving a compliment, and given her crush on Domina plus her exuberant personality, Chelli can’t help but blush and totally not be cool about it; which of course Sana admonishes her for! Domina’s quest to stay in power means the Ascendant tech has an allure for her, even after Aphra warns her of the dangerous effects (a startling flashback panel reminded us what pain she’s thinking about), so in exchange for helping fix Aphra’s arm and tats, Domina of course requests they can study the damage and Aphra must bring her some of the artifacts. The Tagge facilities have no problems fixing Aphra’s arm and electro-tattoos, even upgrading them but, in one of the many hilarious moments in this issue, Lapin reveals they wouldn’t even dare considering weaponizing the tattoos because who the heck would trust Aphra with that; even Aphra’s not phased by the comment as I’m sure even she gets it.
Throughout Doctor Aphra #16, I loved the rhythm between Sana and Aphra, as they’ve fallen into a comfortable pattern with one another again, and I am totally living for it. Be it Sana’s line about Aphra as the manipulative monster, her telling her to keep her cool over Domina’s compliment, or their banter on the streets of Coruscant before sneaking into Aphra’s potential contact for more Ascendant artifacts, the dialogue is witty, funny, and feels natural for both characters. Wong has been brilliant writing these two and seeing them finally not at each other’s throats again, even if a little distance is still between them, has been one of my favorite things of her run of the series so far. Them seemingly at a truce with one another is why it might make sense to throw a big wrench in it, depending the reveal of whomever is already at Aphra’s contacts’ place and waiting for her! Earlier in the issue, we see a hooded figure with what looks like metallic or gloved hands pick up an item eerily similar to the Thought Dowser Aphra used and it turns out it’s another, but slightly different one. Ying to the other Dowser’s yang? At her contact’s home, this hooded person greets Aphra and Sana from the dark… is this maybe the Ying to Sana’s Yang: Magna Tolvan?! Ever since this second volume of Aphra started, I’ve been eager to see the return of both Sana and Tolvan, and while we’ve already gotten the amazing return of Sana…Tolvan still awaits so could this finally be her introduction to the current story!? She never thought she’d see Aphra again, has metallic gloves, and definitely might be hunting down dangerous tech to bring to the Rebellion, so all the potentials are there. Then there’s the lightsaber that throws this suspicion into question…is it Luke Skywalker, on his quest for anything Force related to continue his journey as a Jedi? Or is Vukorah, who also hung out with Aphra and was left with Tolvan and Papa Aphra? Could it be Korin Aphra? Is it one part of the wonderful married pair, Nokk or Winloss? Maybe Okka or Detta Yao, who seemed to have happy endings at the end of the first arc? Could it be the woman whom the Abersyn symbiote took over at the end of The Screaming Citadel crossover? Is it finally the return of Triple-Zero?! Or am I overthinking this? That I can answer: yes. Can’t wait to see who it is!!
Piggybacking off the arc’s title, “Resurrections,” there is one return which can be confirmed: Ronen Tagge!! The scion of the Tagge family, young Ronen was outsmarted by a devious plan from Aphra and Professor Okka, convincing him to wear some ancient rings and then she kicked him into his dangerous disintegrating device…only for him to come out barely alive, crispy, and mumbling. I assumed there was some truth to the legends of the Rings of Vaale, giving eternal life and fortune, though they never said anything about invulnerability, so it seemed likely he was still alive, somehow. The following issue, when Aphra comes to work for his aunt Domina, his body covered on a slab seemed to hint he was truly dead, but it was never clear enough to call it one way or another. You can see one ring on his hand in the bacta tank, though he looks as wild and unpredictable as ever. I wasn’t expecting this moment but I love all its potential, as I’ll be curious to see how he feels about Domina’s treatment of Aphra, rather favorable given what she did to him, and what he might do to repay the favor to Aphra.
Can you believe I’ve not even spoken about the other parts of the issue involving Just Lucky?! Lucky returns to Wen Delphis looking for his brother and to tell her the job is done, he killed his former mentor alongside Ariole as requested, even if it was by Aphra’s hands. Turns out Ariole told her something different, hence his missing brother, and Lucky’s laser-focused commitment to Pak is the only reason he walks out of the room alive…or well, as part of Delphis’ plan to set the bait to see who’s right. The real twist is Crae didn’t die when Aphra shot him during their jailbreak, a revelation they can’t escape after Aphra and Sana left them on Crimson Dawn’s flagship at the end of last issue. There’s still a flashback panel of Crae dead at Ariole and Lucky’s feet, so something happened between Qi’ra offering to chat with them on her flagship and their return to the Sixth Kin on Canto Bight. Are Ariole and Lucky providing different information all part of a game by Qi’ra to take down Delphis and install one of them as the ruler of the Sixth Kin, loyal to her? There are layers and layers and I am looking forward to how Wong peels them back in the following issues. Lucky storming out of Delphis’ base ends with him running into the stooges who worked for Ronen, hence the reveal of his return, so he looks to be wildcard in whatever game Qi’ra’s playing.
As always, we are lucky to have the art team of Minkyu Jung, Rachelle Rosenberg on colors, and Joe Caramagna lettering, as they capture all different aspects to Wong’s script and the overall vibe of the character of Aphra. I’ve really loved the casual way Aphra is mainly drawn in most panels, lounging or sitting improperly, and while it fits her personality very well, it stands out even more with Domina’s rigid, purposeful movements and formal posture, showing how truly unlike they are. It helps makes Domina’s compliment, Aphra’s blushing, and Sana’s elbowing of Aphra humorously land, as it certainly comes off as unnatural for Domina to say it while Aphra’s not-so-hidden crush on Domina can’t help but bubble up; Aphra’s blush is cute and funny, her hands, one burnt to a crisp, clutching her face while Rosenberg’s colors offer a slightly redder shade to her cheeks. Also impressive is the way the team has Domina emote, as while she rarely shows emotion or her teeth, her lips tightly closed (unless she’s stabbing someone in the back), that same look on her face is framed and the lips/eyes adjusted just so that it carries didn’t weight in different panels, while we nearly smirk as she tells Aphra “good job” is the hint she actually means it. As I mentioned earlier, the startling panel of Aphra holding the Thought Dowser was expertly placed as she tells Domina about the dangers of the Ascendant tech, as one panel she’s in the stark purple-ish room with Domina, the next is the menacing red and white glow encompassing her, the Dowser glowing, and Aphra with a wicked grin as she uses its power, followed by a panel returning to the present and she clutches her crispy arm, a look of shame over how she felt using it on her face, her words backing it up by telling Domina she can’t recommend using their devices. On Coruscant, the panel showing us a slice of the city was eye-catching, while I weirdly liked how the circle of hands looked around the second Thought Dowser, a ritualistic arrangement making one wonder why this second one was being used again. The final full page of the Ronen reveal, Caramagna lets the feral image of a mostly healed Ronen do most of the talking, almost hiding the word bubble saying his name, as the stark blue and wild eyes of Ronen draw you in instead. I’m also a fan of how Qi’ra is drawn, her smile disarming but seemingly hiding something, and I’m so glad this team continues on the series for now!!
Here are a few other things:
- If you ordered the Doctor Aphra mini-bust from Gentle Giant, the long wait for your prize might not to be much longer: I got an email today my order is being processed!! So look out for an email, as yours might be on the way soon too!
- We have two more issues of Aphra before it takes a month break in February, just as a heads up!
- It was cool to see Coruscant again, as I feel like we visit it so rarely in this era, and almost always with Imperial characters/stories only, so seeing other characters on it during this era is pretty cool.
Doctor Aphra #16 (Vol. 2) continues a streak of excellent issues, which now unshackled from the crossover, only gets better as it dives into weird tech, Sana and Aphra’s budding re-relationship, Lucky’s latest game to save his brother, and the violent potential of Domina Tagge.
+ Aphra and Sana comfortable, for now
+ Who’s under the hood?!
+ Ronen’s Resurrection
+ Startling panels and blushing Aphra among the many standout moments from the art team
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 (Vol. 2) REVIEWS:
Fortune and Fate: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 / Arc Review — The Engine Job: #6 | #7 | #8 | #9 | #10 — War of the Bounty Hunters: #11 | #12 | #13 | #14 | #15 — Resurrections: