A bold new start to Doctor Aphra's adventures in the wake of Return of the Jedi!
Finally out from Darth Vader's shadow, the opportunities are limitless for everybody's favorite rogue archaeologist, Doctor Aphra -- newest agent of the New Republic?! Is Aphra's heart truly in her new status quo? Find out as she teams up with legendary rebels, beginning with her old pal Luke Skywalker on a quest to track down a rare artifact! But an unstable underworld collector has a different plan. Can Aphra truly be trusted, or will she betray her Jedi friend for a chance at the prize? Then Aphra teams with Han Solo on a mission to return a prized piece of art to a gangster from the smuggler's past! And when she and Chewbacca are tasked with providing security for a vital diplomatic mission on a remote desert kingdom, a mystery saboteur with a connection to Aphra threatens to upend the whole event!
Don't get me wrong, I like Doctor Aphra, I liked both her previous runs well enough. Even when I wasn't invested in the arcs, she was still fun
This was the most boring Doctor Aphra has ever been. This series just felt like it was cut short, with an uninteresting plot post-Jedi, absolutely no continuation of any characters or stories from previous arcs. A butt load of cameos for no reason that couldn't even make it interesting, and a never-before-seen sister who shows up in literally the last issue just to do nothing interesting.
This series should have had so much more potential than this... And I tried to get on board with it. The first couple issues were fine. You could just tell by the end it just wasnt up to snuff.
Issues 1-4 were a fun re-sorta-introduction to the character of Chelli Aphra for me. I briefly met her in the 'Battle of Jakku' series and I was surprised to learn about how many comic series she has dedicated to her. Ideally I would have went back to the start but since I'm trying to do a New Republic era project, I felt like I would be fine just starting here. I would say that judgement was correct, Chen gives you all of the basics of who Aphra is and I like her so far. She's a big personality.
We spend time with Luke, Han and Chewie in these first four issues which is always fun. It does make me wonder if maybe Chen and the other staff at Marvel thought that Aphra needed these cameos to boost sales, it will be interesting to see if the latter half of the series focuses more on her and some new characters. I wasn't mad about it, I like seeing the original trilogy stars, it just makes me think. The adventures they have went on so far were exciting and I like the focus on artefacts and their cultural heritage - that is what I'm studying right now at university. 4/5 for these issues.
Due to this being an ongoing series, it messed up my chronological read-through a little bit. I feel pretty good in my understanding of the timeline at this point though so I'll let them away with it. You can find all of my 'Star Wars' book and comic reviews here.
Issue 5 was a cute little side-adventure and I liked that it didn't rely on putting the usual main characters on the front cover, Aphra gets a chance to stand on her own. The plot would probably hit more for me if I had read her previous series and knew the backstory with her sister but for what it was, I enjoyed it. The art was lovely too, I liked the character designs and how nicely shaded all of the illustrations were. 3/5 for this issue.
edit: After writing that review of issue five I just went on Wookiepedia and apparently that was the final issue of this mini-series? Now I am seriously confused because it didn't feel like it went anywhere or advanced the overall story in any meaningful way. What was even achieved? I liked it but now that I realise it is over I'm like damn, what was the point? Literally assumed we were only halfway through. Much to think about but I'm lowering my overall rating to a 3/5 after this revelation.