Throughout the Spurrier arcs of “Star Wars: Doctor Aphra,” our title character finds herself in slowly escalating situations she can’t easily resolve with charm and ambiguous morals. By the time we reach the end of ‘Worst Among Equals’ her chickens may have come home to roost – – at the cost of her life.
Cover by Ashley WitterWritten by Si Spurrier
Illustrated by Emilio Laiso
Colored by Rachelle Rosenberg
Lettered by VC’s Joe CaramangaCollects Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #26-31, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Annual #2.
Doctor Aphra — worst among equals! On the run from the law in a massive alien metropolis, Aphra has ten hours to cross the hostile megacity before the bomb implanted in her throat explodes. And don’t forget the pack of bounty hunters and crazed cops that are on her tail. No big deal, right? But there’s one more wrinkle: Aphra can’t stray more than a few paces from her companion without activating the bomb’s proximity alert and blowing both of them up. And that companion is Triple-Zero — a sadistic, murderous droid who’s more interested in Aphra’s death than in playing nice! With undead hunters, monster trappers and the foulest divisions of the Imperial war machine between Aphra and salvation, is this the end for the galaxy’s foremost amoral archaeologist?
Everyone’s watching Aphra and Triple Zero make their escape from Milvayne without trying to get killed, either by Imperial forces or the simple blunder of wandering too far from each other.
And we mean literally everyone.
While Dr. Evazan has been watching these escapades on his own feed, he’s also been broadcasting that feed to all of Milvayne. And it’s the city top-rated prime-time television program.
Hunger Games and “Vengeance on Varos,” meet Star Wars.
Aphra and Triple Zero know this, and give the audience time and again exactly what they want: dramatic moments, plenty of actions, plot twists no one would see coming. It’s also a clever vehicle for resolution of some lingering questions from previous arcs (Magna Tolvan is alive!) as well as providing backstory (Triple Zero’s malevolent nature comes from experiments gone wrong that left him to the trash heap). That latter revelation is of particular note, for it finally explains a fair bit of Triple Zero’s brutish character: a cover for low self-esteem for not being deemed worthy by his masters.
The restoration of those memories is one of the artistic highlights of these issues, mapping them out across his brain in vignettes and snapshots that come together to form one singular story of Triple Zero.
He may be a killing machine, but in this moment, you feel just a touch sorry for the old droid. For such a black-and-white villain as he, that’s an amazing feat of scriptwriting. Yet again, Spurrier elevates this series past your standard space opera heist fare, digging deep into motivations of character. Sure, it’s a bit late in the game (we’re in the final ten issues of this volume) to find out this information. But there is a method to the timeline, and I suspect revealing this now, rather than earlier in the story, will play a role as we wind down the volume.
Naturally, you wonder: how does this revelation affect the relationship and power struggle he and Aphra face, each dependent on the other to live?
We don’t have much time to dwell on these questions. There’s an added complication afoot: Imperial propaganda. Seems the audience has taken quite kindly to the adventures of Aphra and her droid frenemy, and that’s causing dissension within the rank and file that the Empire does not like. As the old saying goes:
The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. – George Orwell, 1984.
Or, to put this in our current political era’s terms: fake news!
We should talk a moment here about Winloss and Nokk. Remember them? We met them back in the second Annual when they were the stars of their own story. My assumption at that time was, if they’re getting an entire annual devoted to them, one that bridges two story arcs, one must assume they play a major role in what’s forthcoming.
Continued belowThe married bounty hunters dropped in and out of this arc now and again, in hot pursuit of Aphra at Evazan’s request. Up until the final pages of issue #31, you’re left scratching your head as to the significance of their presence. They swoop in just in time to save the day for Aphra and Triple-Zero, deactivating their proximity bombs and cutting off the broadcast. Sure, it’s a significant moment as it closes up the story. But you may be left scratching your head as to why, since for the entire arc the husband and wife bounty hunter team wanted to kill Aphra, and whenever you did see them, you didn’t see much of them. (A comment by Winloss suggests the oldest motivator for changing sides: money.)
Herein lies one of the weaknesses of this series: too many characters that give you the impression of being Important but who ultimately end up on the periphery. Of course, this could just be my own misdirected sense of gravitas, always looking for what could be the Chekov’s gun of the story.
For all it is worth, Winloss and Nokk’s heroics may just come too little too late. They cut off the feed and deactivate the bombs, but Imperial forces have taken aim at Aphra leaving her bloodied and on death’s door. Triple Zero is gone, losing his will to live upon the revelation of his past. Her fans are now denied the right to see her die at the hands of the Empire, keeping any rebellion in check.
Is this the real end of Aphra?
In the words of Ryan Seacrest, “we’ll find out after the break.”
See you next week.
Next week we start the penultimate arc of the series ‘Unspeakable Rebel Superwagon’ with issues #32-34
If you want to read along with me this summer, you can pick up the single issues or trades of “Star Wars: Doctor Aphra” at your local comic shop (be sure to social distance, wash your hands, and wear a mask, or even better, order your comics online for curbside pickup or delivery!), or digitally via Comixology Unlimited or Marvel Unlimited. As of this writing, all 40 issues of the series are available on Marvel Unlimited, and issues #1-25, and #28 (along with volumes 1 – 4) are available via Comixology Unlimited.
