Star Wars: Doctor Aphra by Alyssa Wong vol. 1 — Fortune & Fate

New writer!  New artist!  New time period!  Yes, there’s a lot that’s new about “Doctor Aphra” as her adventures move to the post-”Empire Strikes Back” era.  One thing that hasn’t changed is her propensity for getting into trouble.  I mean, this volume starts off with her double-crossing some Imperials, and then being double-crossed by one of the bounty hunters she hired.  Fortunately she’s got new sniping specialist Just Lucky on her side.  He’s not the only new face here, as Aphra soon meets up with undergraduate Detta Yao who has a lead on a couple of legendary artifacts:  The Rings of Vale.  They’re legendary artifacts said to bring eternal life and boundless wealth to the person who wore them.  That they’re also said to be very cursed is just a minor detail that she hopes to address as this new group searches for them.

Throw in another ex that Aphra left on bad terms, the very rich, well-connected, and vengeful Tagge family, a couple sudden-but-inevitable betrayals and you’ve got all the ingredients for a proper story involving the title character.  Writer Alyssa Wong does a good job assembling these ingredients while artist Marika Cresta does a credible job illustrating it all.  They tick all the boxes and… that’s about it.  Aside from the new characters, there’s really not much to set this volume apart from what was done with Aphra in her previous series.  I know I dinged Simon Spurrier for being too ambitious when he came onboard as co-writer, but I find that preferable to what we get here.

Which isn’t bad, it’s just a bit too familiar for its own good.  Still, it shows that Wong has a good handle on the basics of the character, so it’s entirely possible that this was intentional on her part and that vol. 2 will be where things get interesting.  I feel like I can muster the patience to see that through, though I can understand if other people do not.