Doctor Aphra #34: The Jedi, the Scoundrel and the Litch

This entire series has focused mainly on the same massive, long-running story surrounding Aphra failing to avoid trouble working for Domina Tagge. Now that that story is done and, in the books, the current “Doctor Aphra” series gets to take a small break with an in-between short and contained adventure for her and Lyke Skywalker.

It has been years since the two have interacted, so it is nice to see a return to that. In the original “Star Wars” series after Disney bought the franchise, Aphra was quickly introduced and had a little time to adventure with many main Star Wars characters before taking on her own series. During the “Screaming Citadel” story, Luke was almost a bit enamored by Aphra before finding out she is an opportunistic double-crosser. Now that they have been reunited in a new mission, the two play off each other in a very entertaining way. Luke knows not to trust her and is not shy in vocalizing that fact. In turn, Aphra sees Luke as an apple-polishing goody two shoes. Still, their goals run parallel to one another in this adventure, so they must learn to work together.

A neat aspect of this particular story arc is the flashbacks to the Clone Wars era. Aside from the “Age of the Republic” series of one-shots, The Marvel “Star Wars” comics have mostly avoided the era. This arc and this issue in particular get the rare opportunity to play in both the original trilogy and that particular time period. It is not new for era crossovers to occur, but as far as the comics goes that kind of situation involved the “High Republic” era, the period of time when Vader first came to be, or in various flashbacks from Obi-Wan or Yoda. Clone Wars fans will appreciate that both fan favorites Shaak Ti and Aayla Secura continue to appear in this arc as guest characters. As Luke Skywalker is supremely thirsty for any and all connections to the Jedi, it comes off as a very satisfying event.

The giant horrifying elephant in the room with this issue is the Starweird, as pictured on the front cover. This creature, or entity, or persona ads a very interesting element to the Star Wars saga as a whole. They are apparently Force-driven immortal beings of a malevolent nature that can even survive, and even thrive, in the vacuum of space. This is an almost god-like spiritual being and surely the opening to more stories down the line. The art is quite good. Background elements are very alien, but are drawn in a way that makes sense. Aphra and Luke aren’t portrayed as super realistic, but retain a slightly cartoony style that reflects the banter between them well. The color really pops in this issue. Background colors usually follow a simple or organic color scheme, but this issue throws bright pinks, purples, and gold at the reader. It is a color scheme reminiscent of the Dark Horse “Dark Empire” and “Boba Fett” series from the 90s.