Star Wars Doctor Aphra #1
Marvel
Written by: Kieron Gillen
Art by: Salvador Larroca
Doctor Aphra is Marvels latest series in the Star Wars universe. The story arc is set between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back in the Saga’s timeline and the title character is a spin off of sorts from the recently completed Star Wars: Darth Vader run. She is a rogue archaeologist who try’s to make a living by locating and liberating rare artifacts. The Doctor is accompanied by a pair of assassin droids (Triple Zero & Beetee) and a warrior Wookiee named Black Krrsantan.
Being the first issue in a new run the writer Kieron Gillen and artist Salvador Larroca do a great job setting up the tone of the series. Kieron is descriptive when needed with a generous amount of dark humor sprinkled throughout. Salvador has a great feel for shadowing to weave the story through the ominous and lighter moments. As a bonus for my personal preference, the action panels are not cluttered with unnecessary dialogue.
The quick elevator pitch to convince a Star Wars fan to pick up this book. A female Han Solo/Indiana Jones hero goes on adventures with a violent wookiee and are joined by C3P0’s & R2D2’s evil twins. I know it may sound odd on the surface, but Gillen and Larroca make it work. Also as an interesting side note, all of the new Star Wars Saga books currently being released by Marvel are official story canon. It will be interesting to see if our new characters make their way into different comic runs, new novels or maybe even a movie on the big screen.