Comic Info
Comic Name: Star Wars: Doctor Aphra (Volume 1)
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Writer: Simon Spurrier
Artist: Emilio Laiso/Caspar Wjngaard/Andrea Broccardo
# of Issues: 7
Release Date: 2019
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra (1) #28
Reprints Star War: Doctor Aphra (1) #26-31 and Annual #2 (November 2018-June 2019). 000 and Aphra have had a rocky relationship as of late. 000 wants to kill Aphra, and Aphra doesn’t want to be killed. Now, Aphra and 000 find themselves bound together by a proximity mine that won’t allow them to get out of twenty feet of each other for thirty seconds due to a nefarious plan of Dr. Cornelius Evazan (who has the death sentence in twelve systems). Evazan isn’t through with Aphra or 000 either…he’s sent bounty hunters, the Empire, and others against them as they try to find their way across Milvayne in the hopes of getting the bombs removed…time is running out!
Written by Simon Spurrier, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Volume 5: The Worst Among Equals is a Marvel Star Wars spin-off title. Following Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Volume 4: The Catastrophe Con, the volume features art by Caspar Wijngaard, Emilio Laiso, and Andrea Broccardo. Issues in the collection were also featured in the Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Omnibus.
Doctor Aphra has been a fun but rocky ride. With twist after twist, the surprise tied to the twists seem to diminish a bit, but it still is a fun read. This volume brings back one of the better dynamics of the series and features it…which has its pros and cons.
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra (1) #30
The collection starts out with the Doctor Aphra annual. It doesn’t tie into the previous story so if you are reading the comic as collections (as I am), there is a moment of “what happened to the bombs and 000”. This is quickly resolved and the story serves to introduce the husband and wife monster hunter team of Nokk and Winloss. The characters become instrumental in the “The Worst Among Equals” storyline when they are set against Aphra and 000 by Evazan as a back-up plan to eliminate the two. The issue itself feels a bit like a throwaway but Nokk and Winloss aren’t bad characters.
The primary storyline of the collection features 000 and Aphra being forcibly tied together through the bombs in their bodies. The hate-hate relationship between the two is tempered by occasional moments of recognition that they are similar. The dynamic between the two is part of what makes Doctor Aphra a fun title, but I do feel that 000 is better in the smaller (but regular) doses than in the collection. He was too absent the last volume, but a bit too heavy here. In addition to this, it feels like this is a four issue storyline dragged out to six. It needs to be a bit tighter.
Doctor Aphra is sometimes problematic, but it is largely more entertaining than a lot of the other mainstream books out there right now. She’s an interesting character surrounded by other interesting characters and not locked into any set course since she exists outside of the Star Wars films. Star Wars: Doctor Aphra 5: Worst Among Equals is followed by Star Wars: Doctor Aphra 6: Unspeakable Rebel Superweapon.
Related Links:
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra 1: Aphra
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra 2: Doctor Aphra and the Enormous Profit
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra 3: Remastered
