– Spoiler Review –
With Sana Starros’ team assembled and the Spark Eternal possessed Chelli Lona Aphra rummaging for deadly artifacts, Doctor Aphra #24 (Vol. 2) takes us back into Aphra’s own struggles to free herself for another stellar issue with plenty of humor and interesting backstory.
Last we saw from Aphra herself, she was in a struggle with the Spark Eternal inside her own mind, reliving memories as the Spark hoped to use her to find more power and powerful objects to possess in the galaxy, while Aphra herself was hoping to mislead the Spark to stumbling into a trap containing the two most murder-y of murderbots, Triple-Zero and Beetee! The Spark didn’t fall for it, but a group of exes, associates, and family found them instead, while the Spark went to the Archivist on Crimson Dawn’s flagship. We haven’t seen Aphra since and when we join up with her this issue, she’s still stuck in her memories, cursed to live them out due to the Spark as it controls her body. In issue #24, she’s trying to figure out which screwing over the Hast Antu Gange memory she’s stuck in, when in floats a surprise, a Chadra-Fan with the Spark affixed to their chest aka Miril, whom we met in issue #22! Instead of more of Aphra’s memories this issue however, as Aphra’s struggling to escape the current one she’s trapped in, Miril helps her escape…right into Miril’s past. It’s about as peaceful as Aphra’s, though instead of rightfully angry gangsters after Miril, it’s the Sith’s hunters, the Darkseekers! No peace in memories, at least not for these two!
When we last got a glimpse into the Spark’s past, we saw Miril take out a pack of Sith, maybe actually these Darkseekers, at the Ascendant’s home base under the University of Bar’leth, but she perishes in the effort. The memories Miril takes us through here are then all before the incident, so new details arise from these glimpses of the past: Miril not only created the Spark itself, but she’s the leader of the Ascendant! The Darkseekers call her a heretic and, as hard as she tries thanks to the emulation of the Force the Spark provides, things aren’t going well in the battle. And to get them out of this memory, like Miril was able to do earlier, she needs to focus with either intense passion or complete calm, a design flaw she admits isn’t helpful in this situation. Aphra’s good at providing encouragement, we’ve seen plenty of her exes and friends display intense passion around her and her actions, so she turns her gun on Miril and demands the spark…which pisses Miril off and out comes the intense passion! Throughout most of the issue, Miril’s a seemingly kind soul, almost feeling like a mischievous fairy floating into Aphra’s life, unable to harm a fly if her life depended on it. But when Aphra pushes her, the intense passion reveals a far different side to Miril, as she takes out the Thought Dowser and lays the Darkseekers low with her anger. Aphra even recognizes this is far too intense, trying to get Miril to calm down now she’s synced enough with the Spark to take them to a better memory, and the floating Chadra-Fan drops into her arms, telling her she’s so mad at Aphra, who brushes it off of course. Miril’s back to her calm, friendly demeanor, excitedly walking Aphra through the Ascendant’s base as they switch memories, sharing all the details on the why and how of the Spark. It’s so intriguing to see someone we normally equate, due to size and alien design, as little, cute, and harmless be exactly that…until she isn’t. You’d never suspect she’s the leader of a cult trying to put the Sith to shame with objects like the Thought Dowser and this Spark, and playing with those expectations offers humor and humbles us to not take anyone or anything for granted. As for the Spark, she says it levels the playing field by having an A.I. link to the wearer at an intuitive level, to help them use the Ascendant’s various pieces of tech far easier, like when we saw her in both flashbacks when she’s stealing sabers and turning them against their users. But this memory, this Spark, is just a prototype, and she’s got other Ascendant items in the works including…a Sith killer sword?!?!?!!!! The issue ends in the present as the Spark-possessed Aphra, Sparkra, pulls the sword from its resting place amongst the Archivist’s collection!
In this final scene, Ariole and Lucky seem to be arriving in the room when she’s in possession of the sword, looking ready for a fight, Lucky putting a hand out to keep Ariole behind him. This is a tad confusing considering at the end of issue #23, Ariole and Lucky had arrived on the Vermillion and were greeted by Sparkra in the hanger, and yet here it almost looks like they have just arrived in the room and are surprised…but the more I think about the scene, since reading it Wednesday and again this morning, Minkyu Jung’s art clearly has them standing there, with nothing that would indicate fast movement or real surprise, instead determination, in those positions now only because she’s wielding a giant sword and has that demented red glow to her eyes (she’s facing away in this panel though the previous one ensures we see the glowing eyes), so this reads more like they were with Sparkra, tentatively, maybe having made a deal we haven’t quite seen yet.
As worrying as that is, the danger isn’t as immediate as what Sana Starros, Magna Tolvan, Kho Phon Farrus, Detta Yao, Eustacia Okka, and Korin Aphra face: the muderbots Triple-Zero and Beetee! As Alyssa Wong has proven time and time again, they have a brilliant understanding of even the legacy Aphra characters and there’s no exception with the murderbots, their polite evilness back in full, hilarious form. They are attacking Sana’s team, Detta and Kho at the center of their attention at the moment, until Sana and Tolvan sneak behind them and incapacitate them, offering the “wholesale murder” their processors desire. They take the deal of course, eager to get back out into the galaxy and cause mischief, but they notice the curious lack of Aphra…with Triple-Zero sure, unfortunately for them, she hasn’t died yet. In the murderbots’ attack, Detta saves Kho at one point, the latter blushing with Detta atop of them…a budding romance, potentially?! I know there are a lot of Aphra-fans out there invested already in the idea of these two and the reaction has been about as ecstatic as you’d expect, understandably so, and I’ll be interested to see if anything comes from it! Either way, this section of the issue is short, but oh so funny and sweet and to the point, with the murderbots working with Sana’s crew for the time being now, though I’ll be curious how long they’ll cooperate and what they’ll bring to the table in the fight against Sparkra.
Thankfully with the comic solicitations, we already know not only will Alyssa Wong be writing this series for some time, but artist Minkyu Jung continues as well, a reassurance for myself (and sure many others) as I’m having a tough time imagining this series, and Aphra, without his work and the rest of the art team’s, Rachelle Rosenberg on colors and Joe Caramagna lettering. Not only are a lot of the locations this issue wonderfully drawn and colored by the team, but I’m always intrigued by the little things they do to make each moment memorable or land various humorous events or big reveals. One of my favorite pages is of Aphra leaping towards Miril, a giant leap of faith even with this being inside her own mind. The full page contains two smaller panels, one of before the leap as a close-up on Aphra and the other a close-up on Miril (it’s the second to last page in the preview). In the close-up of Aphra, rain’s pouring down on her, a grim and determined look on her face after being chased up the ladder, the look she’s casting over her should one of uncertainty and untrusting, as Miril has promised to show her how to fly and Aphra sees no better option at the moment. In the rest of the page, there’s a really cool perspective of Aphra making the leap, a wide shot capturing her jumping, little Miril floating, arms outstretched, and the pursuers frozen as they watch her. There’s a city-scape in the background, ethereal clouds both setting a moody tone for the memory but also signalling the fogginess of our memories, Rosenberg’s colors bringing out the dark, dangerous moment as Aphra’s taking such a big leap to escape. In the other small panel, it’s a close-up of Miril, looking calm, serene even, calling on the power of the Spark on her chest, a simple “Okay” hanging above her and a little SFX by Caramagna of the Spark powering up, calm and small, adding to Miril’s serenity. The next page is a full one, Miril looking happy as can be, but the SFX already changing, already looking uncontrolled and totally not serene, Aphra’s face one of shock, the opposite of Miril’s…setting up for a bit of a laugh on the next page, first panel, as Aphra lands in an extremely uncomfortable position on her face, smack into one of Miril’s memories. I just really like how these little looks on character faces or the SFX even all come together to set up the next moment, often one of humor, as Wong’s script demands, and felt like these few pages worked very well together. Elsewhere, the amount of weapons fire exchange between Beetee and Sana’s team feels overwhelming with all the SFX and the various bolts, shining bright in Rosenberg’s colors, cluttering up panels, while the close-up on Trip’s spooky red eyes, his torture implements whirring to expectant life brings his threat to stark reality compared to the goofy, wonderful tropic scarf and Beetee’s straw hat. The red hue to the entirety of Miril’s Darkseeker-filled memory, the darkness the catacombs beyond the scene, was very spooky and fitting as we move into the Halloween season.
Here are a few other things:
- In the month or so gap between issues, there’s always some excellent fan art to share, so here’s a chunk of awesome art of the many characters in this series. For starters, we have Ella’s Chibi-style artwork, adorable renditions of some favorites: Aphra, Sana, and Kho Phon Farrus! Lev, who we’ve featured before, has some portrait style art of Kho and Lucky. Bomberpascal on Twitter shared a funny piece of Aphra playing around with Boba Fett’s helmet. Then SacraiCross on Twitter has been sharing sprite-animated versions of Star Wars characters, from The High Republic to Aphra-related, like this batch of Eustacia, Tolvan, and Sana and holy mynocks I want to play this video game.
- Lastly for art, I have to plug my own, very amateur piece. I’m a big fan of the Disney Villainous board game, and with the Villainous series releasing Star Wars Villainous, an excellent new version as you can read about in my review! One of my favorite parts of the Villainous series is the little story on the back of players’ cards tell about the Villain you’ve selected, so I decided to try and mock up a version for Doctor Aphra herself. She’s not quite a villain, mind you, but it would be cool to see her be part of any expansions for the game!
Doctor Aphra #24 (Vol. 2) is another compelling and fun ride in the chaos that is the Spark Eternal in all our character’s lives, while new details about the past clear up questions and bring up new concerns for the fight for Aphra’s soul.
+ Miril’s Memories (and Aphra’s motivational skills)
+ Art setting up laughs or showing true natures
+ Murderbot humor in top form
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 — Crimson Reign: #16 | #17 | #18 | #19 | #20 | #21 —The Spark Eternal: #22 | #23