Star Wars: Doctor Aphra by Alyssa Wong vol. 6 — Ascendant
The “intervention” Aphra’s friends staged for her at the end of the last volume goes about as well as you’d expect here. Which is why they’re left floating in space and the Spark-possessed Aphra is off to parts unknown not long after. Fortunately the real Aphra is still around, trapped in her own mind but still clever enough to find a way to make the best of a bad situation. Meanwhile, chaos erupts around the galaxy as Crimson Dawn makes its move and the events of “Hidden Empire” intersect with this series. That’s bad news for Domina Tagge as her nephew Ronan decides this is the right time to stage his own takeover of the Tagge Corporation. It may be all bad for everyone in this series right now, but history has shown to never bet against Aphra when the chips are down.
I’ll admit to being skeptical that this series could sustain my interest in a sixteen-issue storyline spread out over three volumes. The first three volumes of Wong’s run were fun, but didn’t generate the kind of goodwill to make me think that this was a good idea. Now that we’re at the end of the “Spark Eternal” storyline, I have to admit that I was wrong. This arc has been the best part of this iteration of Aphra’s adventures and it makes me sad that we’ve only got one more run of issues before it wraps up.
From the jump, “Ascendant” has some clever twists in store to resolve the cliffhanger from vol. 5 and plenty of struggle to keep you invested in the battle of wits between Aphra and the Spark. As well as the family drama in the Tagge family, which is just as much fun to see unfold. The only thing that really holds the storyline back is how much its climax is dependant on the events of “Hidden Empire.” You don’t have to have read that miniseries to get what’s going on here, but it provides a lot of helpful context – such as setting up a certain Dark Lord’s presence which comes out of nowhere at the start of the fifth issue.
The end of the volume also provides just the tiniest bit of growth for its title character as well. Likened to the way mold changes by another character. It would’ve made for a good final issue, but the last couple pages promise a new adventure involving a certain space farmboy. That may seem like a step backwards after this arc added new characters and brought back old ones central to the “Aphra” experience. Yet I’m curious to see what Wong does here, and with the final issues left to her. We’re not going to get a storyline like this again; though, I’m a lot more interested in the “Dark Droids” tie-ins for this series after what has come before.