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A review by neilrcoulter
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, Vol. 1: Aphra by Kieron Gillen
1.0
A typo in the opening crawl??? Does anybody who publishes Star Wars books even care anymore??
Anyway.
An adventuring archaeologist, with a father who has spent his whole life obsessively pursuing a single artifact. They go on an adventure together, bickering all the while because of the younger archaeologist's bitterness about the father-child relationship, and end up finding the father's "holy grail"--which turns out to be very dangerous, and not at all what the father had hoped for all those years. All during this adventure, they're pursued by soldiers of the ruling fascist regime.
Is this the wrong Lucasfilm franchise?
Yes, it's Star Wars--sort of. Doctor Aphra originally appeared in Marvel's Darth Vader graphic novel series, and she was a fairly clever foil for Vader. That series fizzled out by the end, but Aphra lives on, for some reason. She had already used up most of her appeal in the Vader series, and now it feels to me a little wearying to watch an anti-hero being endlessly and pointlessly anti-heroic. There's no character development or motivation here: if you like Aphra's quipping, you'll enjoy this series. If not, you'll feel that it's a longer book than it is.
There's a flashback of an ancient Jedi cult thing, and I never understood what exactly was going on. That and the rest of what happens in this book seem more like the old Marvel series than the new canon.
Star Wars publishing really needs some quality control. And editors. (I'm available.)
Anyway.
An adventuring archaeologist, with a father who has spent his whole life obsessively pursuing a single artifact. They go on an adventure together, bickering all the while because of the younger archaeologist's bitterness about the father-child relationship, and end up finding the father's "holy grail"--which turns out to be very dangerous, and not at all what the father had hoped for all those years. All during this adventure, they're pursued by soldiers of the ruling fascist regime.
Is this the wrong Lucasfilm franchise?
Yes, it's Star Wars--sort of. Doctor Aphra originally appeared in Marvel's Darth Vader graphic novel series, and she was a fairly clever foil for Vader. That series fizzled out by the end, but Aphra lives on, for some reason. She had already used up most of her appeal in the Vader series, and now it feels to me a little wearying to watch an anti-hero being endlessly and pointlessly anti-heroic. There's no character development or motivation here: if you like Aphra's quipping, you'll enjoy this series. If not, you'll feel that it's a longer book than it is.
There's a flashback of an ancient Jedi cult thing, and I never understood what exactly was going on. That and the rest of what happens in this book seem more like the old Marvel series than the new canon.
Star Wars publishing really needs some quality control. And editors. (I'm available.)