Star Wars: Doctor Aphra vol. 2 — Doctor Aphra and the Enormous Profit

Meanwhile, at the other end of the “Star Wars” comic quality spectrum we have the latest adventure of Doctor Aphra.  After finding a way to safely reactivate the technopathic presence of ancient Jedi “Immortal” Rur in the wake of the “Screaming Citadel” crossover, Aphra does what comes naturally to her.  She invites a host of the galaxy’s scum, villains, and academics to participate in an auction for the crystal housing Rur.  Though Aphra may be savvy enough to keep all of the bidders in line, she’s failed to consider the possibility of betrayal from within.  While Triple-Zero and BT have been enjoying their time with the good Doctor, the lack of murder in their current assignments has left them bored of late.  So they figure the best way to fix that is to put in a call to a certain dark and sinister figure from Aphra’s past to let him know about the auction as well.

The fact that Aphra’s plan to auction off Rur goes horribly wrong shouldn’t surprise anyone.  What’s great about both halves of the story is that writer Kieron Gillen doesn’t waste your time with either of them.  The first half is spent properly introducing us to all the dubious characters who have come to bid on the crystal, setting up the betrayal, and foreshadowing all of the little things that are going to go wrong when Rur gets loose.  With the second half, it’s all expertly choreographed chaos as things go completely to hell and Aphra not only has to figure out a way to escape with her life, but figure out some way to profit from this mess too.

Kev Walker returns to provide the art for this arc and it’s fantastic to have him back.  The level of detail in his environments and characters in this series continues to be well above what he’s delivered in the past, and he’s also great with giving us an emotive cast that makes even the scumbags with the bit parts just a little sympathetic.  All of this is preceded by a story detailing how Black Krssantan came to be known and feared with some impressive art from Marc Laming. Though it has some funny bits and an interesting twist on the Wookie “life debt” it’s a little disappointing in how straightforward it is.  Still, even if Aphra herself doesn’t come away from this story with an “Enormous Profit” anyone who reads this certainly will as far as entertainment value goes.