– Spoiler Review –
After escaping the Starweird and parting with Luke Skywalker on mostly decent terms, Chelli returns to Domina Tagge for her next mission, though she finds herself with more than she bargained for, in more ways than one, in a funny, yet revealing Doctor Aphra #35 (Vol. 2)!
First it comes for the metal…and then it comes for the other Star Wars comics! August kicked off the Dark Droids crossover event, beginning with Charles Soule’s Dark Droids miniseries and then propagating to the other on-goings, which all have so far have found a stronger story within their own pages while still diving into the event’s horror tones. Considering Alyssa Wong guided Aphra through much of the previous crossovers with the giant Spark Eternal saga, they’ve certainly managed to keep this series both relevant to the larger story yet accessible for fans who might be only reading Chelli and crew’s story, so do they keep up the record here? If Doctor Aphra #35 (Vol. 2) is anything to go by, lightning is striking four times, as while those who read Dark Droids #1 will pick up on what’s happening, and both grin and grow scared for Aphra and Lucky when a certain vector for the droid Scourge appears, readers who might not yet be aware have more than enough here they could easily read this and feel apart of the crossover, while the series has a story strong enough on its own they’ll be quite content as this team keeps up their stellar run. For the Dark Droids aspect of the issue, one of Domina’s old creations, back when she was child and her parents were Separatists trying to get the battle droid contract, resurfaced on the black market, somehow killing everyone involved in the sale despite not having a power cell. This is something Aphra notices when she enters the droid autopsy room, is immediately fascinated by given her droid engineering background, and immediately totally down for the mission from Domina about investigating an old Tagge lab FULL of the dead, yet somehow deadly, prototypes…until Domina tells her there’s danger pay, of course! Recruiting Just Lucky for the mission, because everyone else is keeping their distance from her until she figures herself out after the events of the Spark Eternal saga, their arrival to the facility, after Aphra’s extracurricular actions cause someone else to get their first, finds them in the center of a great droid reawakening thanks to the droid Scourge. Checking out an old Tagge facility to find herself in the middle of this droid Scourge gets Chelli wrapped up in the larger events yet keeps it focused amongst the people of her series and not on the larger situation…yet. I also quite liked how this issues gives us the smallest glimpse into Domina’s, and the Tagge family’s overall, past, as we see Domina very easily was always destined to be the leader of the family corporation given her emphasis on the family’s job…unlike her unruly siblings. Hopefully we’ll see more of the Domina’s past as the arc continues, but even if this is the last, it was a nice inclusion regardless.
As for Chelli and her extracurricular activities, let’s start by acknowledging the weight of Sana Starros’ words to Chelli in issue #31 linger still, like her attempting to be a better person by kidnapping Luke Skywalker and trying to help him get more powerful, though selfishly so he could protect her, so obviously it’s not going terribly well. She’s still trying to figure herself out, to be someone Sana can count on, so she’s comfortable actually saying “I love you” back to Sana, yet Domina throws in a twist that’s been in the making for quite some time. Aphra’s terrible at hiding her emotions often, especially around Domina over the course of this series, blushing over compliments from the domineering woman, and it seems Domina has been noticing, as after giving Aphra her latest mission, she has Aphra follow to her personal quarters and they enter into a mutually beneficial arrangement. It’s as clinical as it might sound, as while Aphra picks up on what’s happening very quickly and very eagerly, much to Domina’s aide Lapin’s disapproval, the way Wong and the art team of Minkyu Jung, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Joe Caramagna present it all happening shows how different the two women are approaching the sexual relationship situation. There’s a stiffness to Domina’s movements, with little emotion showing besides a sort of carnal hunger at one point, while Aphra’s lust is on her lips, going with the flow of the more dominating woman, not even minding when she’s pushed onto the bed. Domina’s taller than Aphra but Jung seems to really play into the height difference here to accentuate their roles in this and how they feel about the situation, while I like how it seems Rosenberg’s colors given Aphra a bit of a shine, as if she’s caught up in the moment and not quite processing the truth of Domina’s terms of their arrangement, while Domina doesn’t have the same sheen, showing her dispassionate feelings on the matter, while of course Caramagna makes sure Domina’s word bubbles are always on top of Aphra’s. Once the issue cuts away as they kiss, taking us to the next morning, we see Domina already up, typing away on her computer and doing business, and she never once looks back at Aphra, focusing on her work, even as Aphra comes out of bed, wrapped in sheets, wanting to talk a little more seriously than Domina outlined the night before. Realizing that’s all it’s going to be, that she can’t quite escape into Domina’s arms to help forget about Sana and have this be a “rebound” to some extent, Aphra forces Lucky on a layover at a glitzy nightclub before their new mission, where Aphra tries to pull the newly engaged Lucky down her rabbit-hole and fails, though she manages to lose herself in the music and find a rebound of a rebound instead. When she awakes in the morning, she’s been played, despite talking a big game the night before to Lucky on how she was going to play anyone and everyone at the club there, and her tryst has absconded with the Tagge data stick to get into the facility. This sort of works out in their favor, as they arrive afterwards and notice things are amiss, so they aren’t quite ambushed like the pirates were.
While it’s been a few months aka issues since we last saw Lucky, the two fall into an easy rapport, though it’s clear to some degree he’s changed. Sure, his defenses are still up around Aphra, and rightfully so, as he makes clear when they grapple down to the Tagge building in another of the issue’s funny moments, but he’s also able to avoid her influence. Not that he necessarily ever was influenced by her too much, his priorities are clearly on his and Ariole’s relationship, after he asked for his hand in marriage of course, though I hope all is well despite Ariole not showing up here. The fact Lucky knows if he stays with Chelli at the club, he might actually do something he regrets, only supports how there is still a long road for him despite the grand gesture, and I hope we’ll get to see him work on it during his time with her. If anything, it’ll be a great juxtaposition for Aphra’s current situation, and maybe it’ll help her see what she might need to do to change and be what Sana would actually want, as it’s clear Aphra certainly wants her. Luke and Aphra were quite the fun pair over the last few issues, and Wong made their time together as memorable as their last interactions in the Screaming Citadel crossover, if not more so, yet Wong found a similar, yet different rhythm between these two which hits closely to the previous pair but has its own idiosyncrasies which should make for some good humor as things delve into horror by the issue’s end.
Since this art team has been on the series largely the whole time, it feels like theirs a shorthand between this overall team which helps them gel so well together, bringing out much of the humor and Aphra’s own inner turmoil in large or subtle ways. Jung makes Aphra leaving Domina’s room after getting the cold shoulder, despite the clear warning the night before, something you can almost feel, the way she’s basically stomping out of there, with a concentrating, stern face, never quite acknowledging Lucky like Domina did to her, the anger and disappointment is rolling off of her thanks to just a few panels. When she takes Lucky to the nightclub, once again, I could almost hear the thumping dance beats and bass shaking ones body from the purple, shiny lights of Rosenberg’s colors, a great visual that conveys the way a club can soften the edges of those around you, helping you lose yourself to the music and drink, much like Aphra begins to do here. Before she lets go for the evening, Jung’s faces for her, and Lucky’s responses, are delightful, as she has the right amount of false disbelief, where it’s clear she’s putting on a show yet disappointed Lucky’s not falling for it, and rightfully angry and a little disappointed in her, beyond his usual amount; moments later, as she’s dancing after downing two drinks she stole from nearby party goers, she really seems to let go, from the exaggerated dancing moves to her eyes closed, letting the rhythm and her dance partner guide her, a harsh difference from her frustrated look leaving Domina’s and mocking faces to Lucky’s seemingly sudden snobbishness, at least as she views it. Caramagna’s placement of the word bubbles when Aphra goes back to a room with her re-rebound and at first she’s seeing Sana, and the next panel we see the woman from the club, felt almost like a scroll/wipe down to reveal the truth, a fun little way of making the sudden switch hit right. Earlier, the SFX for Aphra’s heel-turn at the mention of danger pay led to laughter from me, as it was exaggerated and zany yet not too much as to be campy, when isn’t Star Wars a little campy? As the Dark Droids crossover’s tone is horror, things really switch on in the final pages: first from the spooky Tagge building built into the icy walls of a cavern on Havel Prime, which is both beautiful and foreboding with its sharp, spiky natural surroundings; then the convenient horror trope of the lights being out or not working means lots of darkness from Rosenberg’s colors, allowing the Scourged purple of the affected droids to really pop in shadows, leaving the true depths of the facility unknown to us and Aphra/Lucky for at least another issue.
Here are a few other things:
- See that gorgeous cover above mimicking Marvel’s first Star Wars issue in the 70’s? It’s Marvel’s way of celebrating Doctor Aphra’s overall 75th issue!! Over 8 years since she was first introduced, here Aphra is, a character most fans now know about and continues to be a mainstay of Star Wars comics! It’s incredible for a comics creation to rise to such prominence and been a damn blast to read of her misadventures mucking about in the galaxy, courting danger everywhere she goes, for SEVENTY-FIVE issues! Hard to believe it, almost…but here’s hoping for 75 more (and beyond)!! As for getting the cover, I got in line at my LCS and unfortunately wasn’t fast enough, as even one patron revealed he was only getting the cover because of it being an homage to the original run he grew up with, so hopefully he reads this and becomes interested in Aphra! I did find it online eventually, though I hope all that wanted it found it or ended up getting it somehow!
- While we’ll likely have November’s comic solicitations this week, the glimpses ahead so far seem to promise this series will still keep its focus on the problem with Domina’s droids for a bit, though one of Aphra’s exes looks to come back to the series in a big, frightening way. Don’t think I’m ready for where this is all heading!
- Beyond Qi’ra, or at least some mentions of the whole Crimson Dawn efforts to take out the Sith in the galaxy, I really hope for one other cameo in next year’s Star Wars Outlaws video game: Aphra, of course! She’s almost too perfect for such a story, but that’s exactly why even one mission where you deal with her would be quite the fun experience!
- Alyssa Wong’s tale in From a Certain Point of View – Return of the Jedi was in my Top 10 out of the book’s 40 total, which won’t be much of a surprise, but still, it more than deserved it from how it showcases their prose writing as well as the psychological depths they can plumb in such stories. Don’t miss out on the whole collection! Beyond that book, fans can find Wong contributing to Star Wars in The High Republic era with September 5’s Tales of Light and Life (though only in the Barnes & Noble edition) and 2024’s Escape from Valo in the era’s third Phase (which starts this October).
Doctor Aphra #35 (Vol. 2) celebrates all things Chelli Lona Aphra in a way like only she deserves, making for a memorable 75 legacy issues for this bright spark of disaster chaos and further cementing this run as something for the ages.
+ Keeping the focus as the crossover begins
+ Aphra’s rebounding
+ Jung and team playing up the differences in how Domina and Aphra see their arrangement
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Bluesky, Twitter @MynockManor, and Instagram @mynockmanor.
DOCTOR APHRA (Vol. 2) REVIEWS:
Fortune and Fate: #1-5 — The Engine Job: #6-10 — War of the Bounty Hunters: #11-15 — Crimson Reign: #16-21 —The Spark Eternal: #22 | #23 | #24 | #25 — Ascendant: #26 | #27 | #28 | #29 | #30 | #31 — Starweird: #32 | #33 | #34 — Dark Droids: