May The Fourth Be With You - Doctor Aphra

May the Fourth Be With You!

Star Wars is something that everyone has a relationship with. Like literally millions of people, I

grew up watching Star Wars with my dad and falling in love with the franchise. I’ve recently

grown tired of the ‘Skywalker Saga’, and The Mandalorian was a great way to escape that

corner of the story, but that show won’t be back for at least a few months. Audiences loved The

Mandalorian because it was a grittier lens to view the cooler aspects of the Star Wars universe

in a new way. If you miss the rougher edge of the Star Wars canon, Doctor Aphra fills that void.

“Doctor Aphra” is the evil Indiana Jones of the Star Wars universe. Aphra is accompanied by

two loveable droids with a thirst for blood and a Wookie warlord, cracked reflections of

characters Star Wars fans know and love. Now that Disney has a tight and family friendly grip

on what happens on the big screen, it’s hard to see some of the grittier aspects of Star Wars,

but some things slip through the cracks. Doctor Aphra follows a criminal archeologist and a pair

of homicidal droids as the pillage and pick apart the galaxy for anything worth selling and

destroying whatever gets in their way. Doctor Aphra is full of back alley deals, shady characters,

and brutal space standoffs between rebels and imperials alike. Aphra is a startling change for

Star Wars fans familiar only with the Skywalker Saga or ‘The Clone Wars’.

I recommend the Kieron Gillen run of Doctor Aphra for new readers. Gillen brings you into a

Doctor Aphra fully formed and with a history, but with a history made apparent from the start.

Gillen is a seasoned veteran of Star Wars comics, having written fantastic runs of Darth Vader

and the Star Wars main title. What Gillen manages to do in this book is make the core

personality of the characters believable and likeable, despite the horrible things they may do in

the book. Dev Walker provides the illustration for a majority of the Gillen run, which adds to

and improves the story Gillen pens. Walker is astounding with how he designs not only the

foreground and action, but also the background. Each panel is packed with action or movement

no matter what he might be drawing, and every character’s expression is distinct and made

relatable for every situation they may face.

I think my favorite part of this series is the actual character’s personalities. It’s obvious from the

start that the protagonists of this book are total individuals, and despite working as a team, are

very different from each other. The droids Triple-Zero and Beetee-One are wholly different

from R2 and C3PO despite having a similar appearance, and their dynamic between themselves

and the world around them is shocking to say the least. The Wookie Black Krrsantan might be

my favorite character in this run because of what he can say with just his actions. Doctor Aphra

is the real main player of this show though and has the greatest acclaim of any space faring

scumbag since Han Solo all those years ago.

Doctor Aphra is perfect for any fan of Star Wars new or old, and I highly recommend it for any

fan tired of the movie canon, or any fan just looking for something new. Doctor Aphra can be

found in trade paperback and in single issues at Comic Spot.

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Today is May the 4th so we are celebrating at the Comic Spot. Come in store today onlytoday only and get Buy One Get One Free back issue comics which include this series! Additionally any Star Wars collectible, trade paperback or CGC is 15% today only (Excludes Sideshow and Hot Toys).