Simon Spurrier

Doctor Aphra: A Rogue’s End

*spoilers for issues 37-39, which is all I made it through*

UGH! After a disappointing sixth volume I really hoped Spurrier would bring it all together in the final volume. NOPE.

Usually I will try to power through a disappointing book, especially one that’s been a favorite series of the year. But unfortunately, literally everything about this book is disappointing, and I would rather not come out of this disliking Doctor Aphra.

The volume picks up at the last book’s cliffhanger, with Aphra back in Vader’s service. Now, the Empire is trying to find the Rebels’ new hideout (if you’ve seen Empire, you know where this is going), and their pattern of hiding out in old Jedi temples makes archaeologists a perfect match to help hunt them down. It makes sense, but Aphra did better when her stories didn’t overlap with canon at all.

The book feels aimless even as characters from past books make appearances in an attempt to appear full-circle. Aphra makes decisions that make no sense, even for her heartless self (like leaving Valuuda alone on an abandoned planet), and conversations with her dad are too eager and feel hollow. Aphra and Tolvan’s scene together was a joke.

And the art is just atrocious. Far too cartoony for a Star Wars book, and there’s barely any nuance to facial expressions. Panels that require some drama and punch – like Vader choking Aphra’s father, Tovan blasting Aphra – all fall flat.

Spurrier really struggled with Aphra, and it’s disappointing that this final chapter really didn’t communicate a strong sense of Aphra’s character or deliver a satisfying story. I’m glad this rogue’s story has come to an end – bring on Alyssa Wong.

Doctor Aphra: Unspeakable Rebel Superweapon

by writer Simon Spurrier; artists Wilton Santos, Andrea Broccardo, Caspar Wijngaard, Chris Bolson;
inkers Marc Deering, Don Ho, Walden Wong, Scott Hanna; colorists Chris O’Halloran & Stéphanie Paitreu; letterer Joe Caramagna
collects Doctor Aphra #32-36
volume reviews one | two | three | four | five | six | seven [complete]

Yikes! After a very solid fifth volume, Doctor Aphra’s next arc loses its way. It’s a good thing I’m invested enough in the character to keep going – this kind of mess early on would have lost me as a reader.

Spurrier simply tries to do too much here – among them, revealing Aphra’s childhood, a Rebel plot to assassinate the Emperor, an unexpected reunion with Tolvan, and the Imperial Minister of Propaganda returns (along with a certain favorite Wookie). Instead of a focused narrative, grounded by sharp banter and emotional growth between Aphra and Triple Zero like last time, this arc was scattered and unfocused – and it didn’t help that the art teams changed multiple times within and between issues, with varying levels of quality. Some pages were really quite awful.

In previous volumes, Spurrier has done a fine job pushing Aphra into a corner – usually double crossing left and right – allowing for a lot of growth while the stakes shift and she has to accept the consequences. But the unnecessary amount of exposition and convoluted storyline didn’t allow any emotional beats to land. (Who enjoys exposition of double crosses? No one?) Tolvan and Aphra’s relationship is still unearned, and even cringy, as a certain famous ESB quote undercuts the whole thing. The stakes disappear as soon as we know a plot is already doomed to fail – assassinating the Emperor, in this case – a fault of many other SW titles and a first for Aphra.

So what could have saved the book is more growth in Aphra, which has been successful in each volume (even if it’s a turn away from redemption), but there’s a disappointing lack of growth or insight here. Even the final reveal, an easy one to have some emotional resonance or at least serve to deepen Aphra’s relationship with her “tiny ward” Vulaada, fell flat.

I’m looking forward to reading the finale of this series…or I’m more excited to start Alyssa Wong’s new run. Could go either way.

Doctor Aphra: Worst Among Equals

This might be my favorite volume of Doctor Aphra yet. The last arc was Spurrier’s first solo as Aphra writer, and it was a clunker that tried a bit too hard. But everything’s been ironed out in this volume, with Spurrier and his great art team focusing on the best aspects of Doctor Aphra and, in my opinion, Star Wars – a fun planet romp with great characters and monsters.

The book opens with the annual, as our titular archaeologist employs monster hunters and odd-orable married couple Winloss and Nokk. Even though it was disappointing to see so little of Aphra in her annual, Winloss and Nokk are fantastic characters who belong perfectly in this corner of Star Wars (and if it were up to me, every DND campaign) and it was a delight to see them later in the main arc. Wijngaard’s art was also impressive.

“Odd couples” is certainly the theme of this volume, as Aphra and Triple Zero are stuck together thanks to two implanted bombs that won’t let them get several meters away from each other. (Off-world is our third odd couple, Dr Evezan and Ponda, the Mos Eisley duo from Episode IV and the reason behind Trip and Aphra’s implanted bombs. They had minimal investment and didn’t add much, which is fine.) Aphra and Trip’s banter was sorely missed in the last volume, and it’s in spades here – especially Trip’s hilarious yet disturbing delight in torture – as the two hit their lowest point (metaphorically and figuratively) and fight to survive.

The classic “enemies forced to work together” trope still bears meaningful and believable payoff by the end, not an easy task for volume five, or for morally ambiguous characters. I’m continuously impressed by Spurrier’s ability to gradually introduce hints and glimmers of redemption and self awareness from Aphra (and even Trip), without being unearned or too saccharine. Aphra’s selfishness and self-sabotage make her a compelling and deeply flawed character, and she is gently nudged towards growth while staying believable as a character. And as in previous volumes, her queerness is part of Aphra’s identity, but not window dressing or decoration – her regret and love for Tolvan is an important but minor part of the story.

Spurrier and the art team also take us on a fun planet romp with great world-building, fun monsters, and solid secondary characters, including the return of an undead force-infused warrior maniac. This is campy and lighthearted Star Wars at its best, and Laiso and Rosenberg continue their impressive character design while also elevating Spurrier’s humorous one liners. The sketchy, black and white flashback panels are gorgeous, and I’ve never seen a droid as creepy as Triple Zero. Andrea Broccardo assists with pencils on 31, and unfortunately it was a dip in quality, which was tough for the final issue.

The ending felt a little predictable, and the televised aspect was trite at times, but that could have been the product of reading as a trade rather than individual issues. This is probably one of the best volume fives in any series, and I’m excited for the next chapter.

Doctor Aphra: The Catastrophe Con

Doctor Aphra has a lot of momentum going for her, but volume four really stumbled. But there’s still a lot of good, and maybe the fact that it took until volume four is a good thing.

Catastrophe Con drags in the first three issues, but there are enough twists and changing allegiances to keep things engaging. That’s largely thanks to Aphra herself, and Simon Spurrier (taking over full time as writer from Kieron Gillen) does a nice job having a firm handle on her character (and her vague morality) alongside a large cast with their own contradicting agendas and priorities. I also really appreciate how Aphra’s series leans into the wackiness of the Star Wars universe, including a space jail, mind reading and shape shifting aliens, and Jedi ghost spores.

It’s worth celebrating that we have three queer women who show up in this volume – Aphra, Tolvan and Sana – probably a first for the Star Wars universe. It’s amazing to see Star Wars becoming more diverse, and that it’s not diversity for its own sake (hopefully) – Aphra and Tolvan are full characters beyond just their sexuality, which is a huge win. (More on Sana below.)

But the writing was still flawed, and that’s even more frustrating because this is so rare, and because straight couples are treated so differently. First of all, Tolvan and Aphra’s romance is completely rushed. Last volume they had a one night stand; now, the next time they meet, Tolvan declares her love out loud? I’m not buying it – there just wasn’t enough time, along with Tolvan’s disciplined personality, for it to make sense. Plus, Sana was clearly shoehorned into the issue to create drama and not much else – this is the second time she’s been brought in to stir up tension in a couple, which sucks. Plus, her monologue at the beginning (indicating she is far from over Aphra), and their conversation later, was a complete mismatch.

It’s frustrating that Star Wars is happy to have Han and Leia banter with sexual tension for eons, but Tolvan and Aphra can’t even stay in one stage of a relationship for more than one or two issues. Spurrier has a so many moving parts in this issue (perhaps one too many), that Aphra and Tolvan can’t really be at the center of it – it needs to be rushed through to get to the next thing – and that’s where this loses me. Star Wars comics, I am perfectly happy *not* seeing the Big Bad Villain or Space Explosion every single arc. You’re allowed to let your characters breathe. Especially if it means doing a queer romance justice, which your universe has literally never done before.

That being said, Spurrier does a fantastic job slowly forcing Aphra into a corner, decisions and betrayals building on each other for a dark but satisfying resolution. I didn’t always like how she was drawn (more on that below), but Spurrier is very solid on her character, ambiguous morality, and her humor. And like Gillen before him, Spurrier ensures that Aphra is in a very different place than the last volume and there are real consequences to her actions. It’s so different than the main Star Wars title – Luke, Leia and the others are so safe, their stories lack urgency and real character development. With Aphra and her corner of the galaxy, there’s no safety net, and therefore a whole lot of room for more interesting storytelling. However, sometimes the wacky elements of the story were either a bit far fetched (the mind altering alien) or resolved too quickly with exposition (the Jedi ghost).

Art team Kev Walker and Marc Deering return from the second volume, with Java Tartaglia on colors. I had a real love-hate relationship with the art, and most of the way through, it was the latter. The precision of the spaceships, buildings and aliens feel very true to Star Wars, but it just didn’t translate to humans, whose proportions weren’t consistent (Aphra’s doe eyes especially), and whose expressions lacked the force of emotion to really drive home pivotal scenes. Tolvan shouting for Aphra to respond while trying to escape, and Sana and Aphra talking about their breakup – these emotional moments fell flat. I’m a much bigger fan of volume two’s art team, Laiso and Rosenberg.

**spoilers, maybe?** And then, I’m hit with a full page of Triple Zero walking through fire, singing an upside down musical note, towards a terrified Aphra and Tolvan, and it might be one of my all-time favorite pages in comics. Frankly, I wish Aphra herself got the same precise attention and “wow” moment. Holding a light saber in tears doesn’t really cut it for me.

I’m still enjoying the series – Aphra as a character is compelling enough to get me through the “meh” volumes. But every volume I can’t help but notice the creative team is an all-boys club, and while one’s identities certainly don’t have to match the characters you’re creating, it still bothers me (especially contrasted with three queer women in this one volume). It will probably bother me until I get to the new series and I’ll mention it every time – but that’s because for every volume, it really was a choice.

Doctor Aphra: Remastered

This third volume of Doctor Aphra continues the blend of action, humor and moral ambiguity that makes her such a compelling character.

Gillen and new writer to the series, Simon Spurrier (Coda), turn several story elements on their heads to keep the reader guessing and Aphra on her toes! Aphra now takes orders from assassin droid Triple Zero, leaving Aphra in an especially precarious position, as TZ has no attachments or particular regard for the sanctity of life. She’s instructed to complete a near impossible mission: retrieving the assassin droid’s earliest memories from the Empire. Triple Zero’s commitment to violence, and playing with Aphra’s mind, is one of the most delightfully disturbing aspects of this book, and I am here for it.

Most of the arc dedicates itself to the memory heist, a plot which, like the Mandalorian’s heist episode, introduces us to some new characters – most of them quirky, with a particularly delightful odd couple. Gillen and Spurrier give each crew member space for their own backstories and charming weirdness, and also waste no time in giving Magna Tolvan some sympathetic backstory too.

A new art team, penciller Emilio Laiso and colorist Rachelle Rosenberg, brings consistently gorgeous art that fits right in with the other two volumes, and the Star Wars universe at large. This volume is quite a bit darker than the other two volumes, as Aphra is pushed to make even more morally ambiguous decisions, and the art does a great job heightening the suspense and sometimes discomfort of Aphra’s actions while bringing more aliens, droids and giant spaceship scenes to life.

Because of this aspect – our lovable archaeologist who no longer skirts the grey, but dives right into it, and swims right up against something darker – the creative team keeps the spotlight on Aphra, even with a large injection of secondary characters, and leaves her in a different, and not necessarily better place. Where most middle volumes in a long series will start to drag, this feels like an important part of her story arc, and not at all a waste of time.

spoilers. Aphra finds some romance too, as she and Tolvan begin a dance of attraction to one another, being pulled apart by their different allegiances, and intentionally double crossing, shooting at, and saving one another. Here, I’m a bit torn. On one hand, Gillen and Spurrier could have actually taken some time to develop their relationship. All we see is the two of them quickly progressing from attraction into spending a night together. I’m not saying the two have to put a ring on it first, but it’s hard to be invested in a relationship that’s only based on attraction, some flirting and a few kisses. At the same time, perhaps Aphra and Tolvan’s personalities – as well as their positions squarely on opposite sides of the war, and the “we might get shot any second” world they occupy – led them to make this choice perfectly in-character, without second thought to an actual *relationship.*

We’ll see how it develops. Regardless, it’s so nice to see a queer relationship in Star Wars; it’s at least being treated respectfully by the creators, even if they aren’t women. All the romantic scenes, including the morning-after one, are done very well.

I’m really enjoying the series and looking forward to volume four.