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Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Omnibus
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Omnibus, Vol. 2
Collects STAR DOCTOR APHRA (2020) #1-25.
The rogue archaeologist returns with a new crew! Doctor Aphra is back to doing what she knows hunting the score of a lifetime that's too good to pass up! But Ronen Tagge, heir to the powerful Tagge family, also has his eyes on the cursed prize - and he's about to change the game in a dangerous way! Can Aphra and her treasure-hunting squad find their way to fortune and glory? Or is there a traitor in their midst? With a massive price on her head, Aphra must run for her life and avoid every bounty hunter on her tail. But one of those pursuers is her angry ex, Sana Starros - and for Sana, it's personal! And things get more complicated when a galactic war erupts and the Crimson Dawn rises again!
The rogue archaeologist returns with a new crew! Doctor Aphra is back to doing what she knows hunting the score of a lifetime that's too good to pass up! But Ronen Tagge, heir to the powerful Tagge family, also has his eyes on the cursed prize - and he's about to change the game in a dangerous way! Can Aphra and her treasure-hunting squad find their way to fortune and glory? Or is there a traitor in their midst? With a massive price on her head, Aphra must run for her life and avoid every bounty hunter on her tail. But one of those pursuers is her angry ex, Sana Starros - and for Sana, it's personal! And things get more complicated when a galactic war erupts and the Crimson Dawn rises again!
561 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 30, 2023
6 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
About the author
Alyssa Wong
424 books411 followersAlyssa Wong studies fiction in Raleigh, NC, and really, really likes crows. She was a finalist for the 2016 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her story, “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers,” won the 2015 Nebula Award for Best Short Story and the 2016 World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction. Her fiction has been shortlisted for the Pushcart Prize, the Bram Stoker Award, the Locus Award, and the Shirley Jackson Award. Her work has been published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, Nightmare Magazine, Black Static, and Tor.com, among others.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 14, 2025
[5/10]
Star Wars feminist answer to Indiana Jones, rogue archaeologist Dr. Chelli Aphra is back for more tomb raiding, explosive action and serial betrayals in this second omnibus edition of her [relaunched] adventures.
I had great fun with the first collection, building up my expectations for the encore to what proved to be unreasonable levels. This was not the Aphra I was looking for, but rather a severe case of arrested development with the new team that took over from creators Kieron Gillen and Simon Spurrier deciding to encapsulate the character in carbonite, never letting the girl either age or have any meaningful development. Just the same old, same old quips, fire fights and flirting with both disaster and co-workers. Even the story arcs are repetitive and painfully predictable. And the artwork was mostly meh, with the usual exception of high quality covers.
The first story arc, Fortune and Fate , has Aphra searching for the most powerful couple of rings in the galaxy, so powerful that once found they will be lost in a deep plot hole doing nothing much for the rest of the run. Several new lead actors are introduced, several old flames return to blame Aphra for past misdeeds, and a fresh adversary is proposed in the form of a wealthy industrialist working for the empire.
The Engine Job is sending Aphra to retrieve a revolutionary hyperspace engine from another corporate titan.
War of the Bounty Hunters is honestly so bland that I don’t even remember what it was about
Crimson Reign is a carbon copy of the plot from The Screaming Citadel in the first omnibus, but without Luke Skywalker and the other famous players in the original trilogy. It is all about criminal gangs in the galaxy gathering on the Crimson Dawn flagship to participate in some sort of high stakes auction. Aphra connects with a very powerful artefact build by an extinct sect known as the Ascendants who were seeking to rival the Sith and the Jedi.
The Spark Eternal continues the quest to recover another powerful Ascendant artefact, resulting in Aphra being possessed by the device she tries to steal and becoming even more chaotically evil than we knew. The killer robots from the first run are making a comeback, but they don’t really get a chance to shine before this omnibus edition ends right in the middle of the action.
A rather unnecessary and unexpected cliffhanger for me, since I prefer to wait for the omnibus editions mainly in order to avoid such muddled endings.
I looked up the credits for Alyssa Wong, the writer who took over from Kieron Gillen and Simon Spurrier. She has a lot of impressive literary prizes under her belt, mostly for short story fiction and for dealing with touchy gender issues, but there is precious little in the comic book department. I know I am only commenting on half of her vision for the character here, but I must say I was underwhelmed after the original work done for the first omnibus.
Still, I am curious how Dr Aphra will escape from her latest debacle, so I will make a note in my calendar for the date of the third omnibus publishing.
Star Wars feminist answer to Indiana Jones, rogue archaeologist Dr. Chelli Aphra is back for more tomb raiding, explosive action and serial betrayals in this second omnibus edition of her [relaunched] adventures.
I had great fun with the first collection, building up my expectations for the encore to what proved to be unreasonable levels. This was not the Aphra I was looking for, but rather a severe case of arrested development with the new team that took over from creators Kieron Gillen and Simon Spurrier deciding to encapsulate the character in carbonite, never letting the girl either age or have any meaningful development. Just the same old, same old quips, fire fights and flirting with both disaster and co-workers. Even the story arcs are repetitive and painfully predictable. And the artwork was mostly meh, with the usual exception of high quality covers.
The first story arc, Fortune and Fate , has Aphra searching for the most powerful couple of rings in the galaxy, so powerful that once found they will be lost in a deep plot hole doing nothing much for the rest of the run. Several new lead actors are introduced, several old flames return to blame Aphra for past misdeeds, and a fresh adversary is proposed in the form of a wealthy industrialist working for the empire.
The Engine Job is sending Aphra to retrieve a revolutionary hyperspace engine from another corporate titan.
War of the Bounty Hunters is honestly so bland that I don’t even remember what it was about
Crimson Reign is a carbon copy of the plot from The Screaming Citadel in the first omnibus, but without Luke Skywalker and the other famous players in the original trilogy. It is all about criminal gangs in the galaxy gathering on the Crimson Dawn flagship to participate in some sort of high stakes auction. Aphra connects with a very powerful artefact build by an extinct sect known as the Ascendants who were seeking to rival the Sith and the Jedi.
The Spark Eternal continues the quest to recover another powerful Ascendant artefact, resulting in Aphra being possessed by the device she tries to steal and becoming even more chaotically evil than we knew. The killer robots from the first run are making a comeback, but they don’t really get a chance to shine before this omnibus edition ends right in the middle of the action.
A rather unnecessary and unexpected cliffhanger for me, since I prefer to wait for the omnibus editions mainly in order to avoid such muddled endings.
I looked up the credits for Alyssa Wong, the writer who took over from Kieron Gillen and Simon Spurrier. She has a lot of impressive literary prizes under her belt, mostly for short story fiction and for dealing with touchy gender issues, but there is precious little in the comic book department. I know I am only commenting on half of her vision for the character here, but I must say I was underwhelmed after the original work done for the first omnibus.
Still, I am curious how Dr Aphra will escape from her latest debacle, so I will make a note in my calendar for the date of the third omnibus publishing.
November 16, 2023
3.5 stars.
This iteration of the Doctor Aphra comic series brings with it some of the best of what the previous series did so well in adventuring and exploring. While it would be too easy to bring Aphra in and interact with other characters as she has already done so before, I think the character shines in her own pursuit of riches. Aphra is best (mostly) alone and is an incredibly selfish and untrustworthy anti-hero. The first story that dealt with the Tagge family (love bringing them in from the OG series) and the Rings of Vaale was a perfect example of the kind of story and adventure than Aphra thrives in. I love seeing some Black Krrsantan alongside her, as well. Though I do really miss her murderous droids 0-0-0 and BT-1.
The hyperdrive story was interesting but also a bit of a let down when it was all said and done. I enjoyed the interactions between Aphra and Tagge, but the inclusion of the other clans just didn’t interest me really at all. I wouldn’t mind seeing a bit more of the business side between Tagge Corp and the Empire. I did also appreciate the relationship and the working dynamic that Aphra and Sana Starros had, which I think was done well.
Aphra and Sana working as spies during the War of the Bounty Hunters event worked really well in the beginning and I thought they showcased how resourceful Aphra is throughout her issues in that event, but toward the end of her portion of the story, it got to feeling more like they were just forcing a couple more issues for her involvement so they could fill out a trade paperback they could label for the event.
After the events of the main Crimson Dawn storyline, Aphra gets right back to her roots in searching for the ultimate ancient weapon in the Spark Eternal. Running into her foes and her past make for an interesting story and the transformation that happens along this journey couldn’t be any more intriguing!
As the Spark Eternal takes the reins of the story, everything seems really high stakes, but at the same time, I’m not sure anything ever really is. I was really excited for this storyline, which isn’t over at the end of this omnibus, but I’ve been let down a bit so far. We did get to see the return of some of my favorite droids in all of Star Wars, so that’s a huge plus!
This iteration of the Doctor Aphra comic series brings with it some of the best of what the previous series did so well in adventuring and exploring. While it would be too easy to bring Aphra in and interact with other characters as she has already done so before, I think the character shines in her own pursuit of riches. Aphra is best (mostly) alone and is an incredibly selfish and untrustworthy anti-hero. The first story that dealt with the Tagge family (love bringing them in from the OG series) and the Rings of Vaale was a perfect example of the kind of story and adventure than Aphra thrives in. I love seeing some Black Krrsantan alongside her, as well. Though I do really miss her murderous droids 0-0-0 and BT-1.
The hyperdrive story was interesting but also a bit of a let down when it was all said and done. I enjoyed the interactions between Aphra and Tagge, but the inclusion of the other clans just didn’t interest me really at all. I wouldn’t mind seeing a bit more of the business side between Tagge Corp and the Empire. I did also appreciate the relationship and the working dynamic that Aphra and Sana Starros had, which I think was done well.
Aphra and Sana working as spies during the War of the Bounty Hunters event worked really well in the beginning and I thought they showcased how resourceful Aphra is throughout her issues in that event, but toward the end of her portion of the story, it got to feeling more like they were just forcing a couple more issues for her involvement so they could fill out a trade paperback they could label for the event.
After the events of the main Crimson Dawn storyline, Aphra gets right back to her roots in searching for the ultimate ancient weapon in the Spark Eternal. Running into her foes and her past make for an interesting story and the transformation that happens along this journey couldn’t be any more intriguing!
As the Spark Eternal takes the reins of the story, everything seems really high stakes, but at the same time, I’m not sure anything ever really is. I was really excited for this storyline, which isn’t over at the end of this omnibus, but I’ve been let down a bit so far. We did get to see the return of some of my favorite droids in all of Star Wars, so that’s a huge plus!
December 2, 2023
Another chapter in the life of the morally ambiguous archaeologist. A new writer and a new cast of characters. Feels a little different than the original series, but still very enjoyable, and at the end of the book some old favorites return. Looking forward to seeing where this all goes.
Read
July 13, 2024Ugh I love Aphra!! Took me a bit to warm up to the new characters but these were really fun
February 5, 2024
Following Gillen and Spurrier's run was a tough act to follow, and initially Wong does a pretty good job. Bringing a bunch of new characters for Aphra to work with and double-cross works well for the first couple of stories and does something to alleviate the loss of one's favourite homicidal droid duo.
Unfortunately, later stories are somewhat hamstrung by the four (!) crossovers that get progressively get larger in scale, without any real sense of weight to those events. Furthermore, Aphra's character arc feels less pronounced than the previous series, going backwards at first to her usual double-crossing standards before building to a grand sacrifice once again but with a slightly more positive ending.
tl;dr Not bad, but the original series was better.
Unfortunately, later stories are somewhat hamstrung by the four (!) crossovers that get progressively get larger in scale, without any real sense of weight to those events. Furthermore, Aphra's character arc feels less pronounced than the previous series, going backwards at first to her usual double-crossing standards before building to a grand sacrifice once again but with a slightly more positive ending.
tl;dr Not bad, but the original series was better.
July 17, 2024
#1 The Rings of Vaale - “The bounty on your head is worth so much more than this MISERABLE JUNK you’ve scavenged up.”
#2 Haunted – “The floor! Watch out!” “AHHHH!”
#3 Turnabout – “Oh, thank the Light. I thought I was going CRAZY.”
#4 The Deal – “Keep your friends close and your targets closer, hm..”
#5 Power Play – “I AM intrigued. Perhaps the legends have some weight to them.”
…
Always fun characters, the series continues.
#6 Headhunted – “Have the local bondmen put out word about a new BOUNTY.” – Domina Tagge
#7 The Offer – “Look, I’m slicing [into the computer database] as fast as I can.” – Aphra
#8 Old Wounds – “These ruins are INCREDIBLE.” – Sana
#9 Impossibilities – “.. that hyperdrive is MINE.” – Aphra
#10 The Invitation – “So, you gave the head of an EVIL CORPORATION a piece of important NIHIL tech.” – Sana
“Ehhh, all corporations are evil. No need to get worked up about it.” – Aphra
..
Multiple characters’ stories interweaving throughout this epic auction for Solo.
#11 The Wreckage – “Of course, they won’t be our only competitors there.” - Domina Tagge
#12 Party Tricks – “This is the WHO’S WHO OF UNDERWORLD POWER PLAYERS.” – Aphra
#13 GUEST OF HONOR – “That’s the thing about LORD VADER. He’s always in a MISSION. All you can do is stay out of his way and pray that his MISSION isn’t YOU.”
#14 REPEAT OFFENDERS – “It’s like trying to stop a hurricane.” – Lucky describing Aphra
#15 PARTY FAVOURS – “Crimson Dawn is EVERYWHERE.”
….
This cheeky rogue continues her schemes.
#16 – Resurrections – “Shorted. Cooked. Zipped and Zapped.” “Those technical terms?”
#17 – Evocations – “It’s so good to see you again, APHRA. I’ve been waiting a LONG TIME for this.”
#18 – Conjurations – “Life eternal – The Spark Eternal – lies at the HEART.”
#19 – Ascension – “But .. isn’t that STEALING?” “Yeah. That’s what archaeology IS.”
#20 – Eternity – “Archaeology is a field that draws on countless disciplines ..”
…
The adventures continue. “What’s life without thrills?”
#21 – Desperate Measures – “Qira … inspires.” – Ari. “That’s called CHARISMA. Every CON ARTIST has it.” – Just Lucky
#22 – Echoes – “The Ascendant built their tech to mimic the effects of The Force..”
#23 – Machinations – “The only way to remake a corrupt system is to tear it down.” – Magna Tolvan
#24 – Descent – “Come on, Aphra, think!” – Aphra.
#25 – Desolation - “Hey, loser. We’re about to rescue you.”
#2 Haunted – “The floor! Watch out!” “AHHHH!”
#3 Turnabout – “Oh, thank the Light. I thought I was going CRAZY.”
#4 The Deal – “Keep your friends close and your targets closer, hm..”
#5 Power Play – “I AM intrigued. Perhaps the legends have some weight to them.”
…
Always fun characters, the series continues.
#6 Headhunted – “Have the local bondmen put out word about a new BOUNTY.” – Domina Tagge
#7 The Offer – “Look, I’m slicing [into the computer database] as fast as I can.” – Aphra
#8 Old Wounds – “These ruins are INCREDIBLE.” – Sana
#9 Impossibilities – “.. that hyperdrive is MINE.” – Aphra
#10 The Invitation – “So, you gave the head of an EVIL CORPORATION a piece of important NIHIL tech.” – Sana
“Ehhh, all corporations are evil. No need to get worked up about it.” – Aphra
..
Multiple characters’ stories interweaving throughout this epic auction for Solo.
#11 The Wreckage – “Of course, they won’t be our only competitors there.” - Domina Tagge
#12 Party Tricks – “This is the WHO’S WHO OF UNDERWORLD POWER PLAYERS.” – Aphra
#13 GUEST OF HONOR – “That’s the thing about LORD VADER. He’s always in a MISSION. All you can do is stay out of his way and pray that his MISSION isn’t YOU.”
#14 REPEAT OFFENDERS – “It’s like trying to stop a hurricane.” – Lucky describing Aphra
#15 PARTY FAVOURS – “Crimson Dawn is EVERYWHERE.”
….
This cheeky rogue continues her schemes.
#16 – Resurrections – “Shorted. Cooked. Zipped and Zapped.” “Those technical terms?”
#17 – Evocations – “It’s so good to see you again, APHRA. I’ve been waiting a LONG TIME for this.”
#18 – Conjurations – “Life eternal – The Spark Eternal – lies at the HEART.”
#19 – Ascension – “But .. isn’t that STEALING?” “Yeah. That’s what archaeology IS.”
#20 – Eternity – “Archaeology is a field that draws on countless disciplines ..”
…
The adventures continue. “What’s life without thrills?”
#21 – Desperate Measures – “Qira … inspires.” – Ari. “That’s called CHARISMA. Every CON ARTIST has it.” – Just Lucky
#22 – Echoes – “The Ascendant built their tech to mimic the effects of The Force..”
#23 – Machinations – “The only way to remake a corrupt system is to tear it down.” – Magna Tolvan
#24 – Descent – “Come on, Aphra, think!” – Aphra.
#25 – Desolation - “Hey, loser. We’re about to rescue you.”
January 3, 2024
Doctor Aphra is back ! One of the coolest recent characters in the Star Wars universe, and this was another fun run. Aphra is a thief who is always in trouble together with her crew. The stories are really fast paced and easy to read, this was a real fast read ! Its a really thin omnibus, and it ends on a cliffhanger with the run not finished, so it could have been a bit bigger and longer ! (Thats what she said)
June 16, 2025
This Doctor Aphra run feels less repetitive than the one preceding it, since Wong isn't focused on constantly reinforcing the "Aphra just won't learn or grow!!" premise. It's certainly more interesting than what's going on elsewhere in the canon - I mean, gathering a gang of people who like/dislike Aphra in order to rescue her? Genius. I'm also pleased to see Tolvan again.
Buuuttt.... these comics are not brilliant. They're just entertainment. Not necessarily a bad thing.
Buuuttt.... these comics are not brilliant. They're just entertainment. Not necessarily a bad thing.
October 15, 2023
This was a fun relaunch of the series that sees Aphra getting back to her treasure hunting roots that evolves into a larger story. This does unfortunately leave the reader on a cliffhanger as this is still an ongoing series but I am excited for the next volume.
October 10, 2023
I would love to see Aphra make her way into live action.
Read
January 8, 2024Aphra’s is always a fun corner of the galaxy to hang out in.
June 15, 2025
not as good as the first volume (by far), yet entertaining
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews