Doctor Aphra #8: Old Flames, Old Tech

The quest officially begins as Sana and Aphra find themselves on Dol’har Hyde, a planet in the Outer Rim. They discover a giant tree seeming to have grown around a small fleet of ancient ships. Their lead, the now deceased Remy, takes them deep into the tree and to explore the ships where Remy originally found the engine. Aphra, being Aphra, becomes smitten with the artifacts she might find from the ships she has identified as Nihil in making. This issue gives Aphra and Sana a chance to have some playful yet biting back and forth as they explore. Aphra has betrayed Sana more than a few times since their time together at university, so her spiteful jabs are well earned. Meanwhile the sniper hitman, Just Lucky does a little wet work in his home of Canto Bight. Aphra and Sana are ambushed by the Unbroken Clan just as they discover something that may be more interesting than they were originally looking for.

This chapter is one of those great set up issues. The audience gets little snippets of info to clue them into what might happen next. There is a seemingly superfluous bit on Lucky in Canto Bight. After all, he isn’t that connected to this story arc. That will undoubtedly change and his part in the greater arc will surely come to be in time. It is interesting to get to see more of him in his home and his element. Lucky was sort of dropped into the Aphra comics without much introduction. Before this, he was just a guy who sold out Aphra. This issue gives a deeper, more sympathetic look into his motivations and dealings with the people who hire him for jobs. He is a character that needed more fleshing out, and this is accomplished well in this issue.

Aphra comics are always fast paced and always on the move. This addition is no different. Despite being full of a large amount of dialogue, much of which is Sana and Aphra taunting each other, there is still a lot of action. People falling, swinging, climbing, tons of explosions and gunships firing, more people falling. Despite that, the issue takes time to illustrate some gorgeous scenery. The giant tree inside and out has a haunting organic beauty sometimes lost in Star wars comics. The images of the plant life taking over the technology within it tells its own story. The trend of referencing the High Republic continues to be present with the discovery of more Nihil tech. These kind of references really tie the universe together. One of the best things about telling a story centuries before the main eras, is the possibility of people uncovering their artifacts years later. That is something Doctor Aphra is all about. The creative team has done a good job with this well-rounded issue. Sometimes the issues coming close to the middle of an arc can seem boring or slow, but this one manages to have the humor, color, and all the action this series is known for.