Doctor Aphra #14: Aphra, Master Jailbreaker

The Crimson Dawn’s flagship, The Vermillion, is a massive floating base. It’s an easy place to get lost in. Aphra attempted to do just that to escape a painful and terrifying death at the hands of Lord Vader. Unfortunately, and extremely typical of her, she went from one danger right to another. This is classic Doctor Aphra. This issue is full of classic Aphra moments in general. Her plot is moved along as she must team up with Just Lucky, Sana Starros, and Ariole Yu. She must reclaim her current list prize in the form of a stolen necklace that has a plethora of coded secrets hidden with in. This is all well and good, but unfortunately it reads more like a small side plot than part of the larger “War of the Bounty Hunters” series event. Only at the end do a couple of the main characters of the event show up.

One of the more drastic changes in this issue from the previous ones in this series is the art. The illustrations in this chapter are remarkably cartoonish compared not only to previous issues of “Doctor Aphra,” but also the rest of “War of the Bounty Hunters.” This is not to say it is lacking in any quality, just very different. It feels more like it would be more at home as part of IDW’s “Star Wars Adventures” comics instead. Just Lucky and Ariole Yu would be a little unrecognizable of it weren’t for the context of the story. What makes this change stranger is that the next issue switches back to the regular artist. This adds not only to the single issue feel of this chapter, it similarly feels not quite fitting into the larger event. This issue is still unmistakably very “Doctor Aphra” regardless. Despite the new look, Aphra and Sana are unmistakable and the less organic settings like the brig or the two headed droid from the last issue still look very similar in both.

Another aspect that makes this chapter seem less in line with the rest of “War of the Bounty Hunters,” but very much like the previous issues this series is the begrudged alliance between Just Lucky and Aphra. In fact, it could be said that every alliance Aphra has is forced. Even her partnership with Sana Starros is not ideal for the smuggler, who always seems to get caught up in Aphra’s schemes despite her efforts to avoid that very thing. By the end of this chapter, Aphra and new new gang are on the run, not from Vader this time, but the from the assassin and bodyguard Deathsticks. As always, the good doctor seems to always be dodging danger.