Star Wars: Doctor Aphra by Alyssa Wong vol. 5 — The Spark Eternal

Things were bad when we last saw the good Doctor, even by her usual standards.  She and Sana had finally caught up with Kho Fon Farrus and their pursuit of the Spark Eternal, only for the legendary artifact to possess Aphra instead.  Now the Doctor is a prisoner in her own mind as an intelligence with all the powers of the Dark Side of the Force looks to make its presence known in the galaxy once again.  The good news is that Sana has a plan to fight this thing and it involves some characters who are very familiar to longtime “Doctor Aphra” readers and a couple new ones who just appear to be exes with a grudge.  Aphra isn’t going to take this lying down either.  She may be stuck in her own mind, but it’s filled with all sorts of useful and deadly memories.  As well as a new resident who might have the key to taking the Spark down for good.

I enjoyed the start to this storyline in vol. 4, but acknowledged that stretching it out over three volumes and sixteen total issues seemed like a tall order.  Wong has me eating most of my words here as she piles on the complications to make it feel like all this space was actually needed.  Complications like Sana’s recruitment of her rescue squad.  Just Lucky and Ariole’s involvement with Crimson Dawn and Ronen Tagge to get Aphra for their own ends.  Crimson Dawn actually being used in a constructive way in a story.  Some genuinely surprising character returns (assuming you haven’t been spoiled for them by seeing the covers of subsequent issues of this series).  Aphra being her usual clever, persistent, manipulative, and ruthless self even as she’s stuck within the realm of memories.  There’s still a possibility the finish to this storyline might be flubbed, but I’m feeling better about seeing it stick the landing after reading this volume.