DOCTOR APHRA #7
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Penciler: Andrea Broccardo
Colorist: Antonio Fabela
Letterer: VC’S Joe Caramagna
Release Date: 05/31/17
Price: $3.99
The Screaming Citadel arc reaches Doctor Aphra now! A battle is just beginning to brew as Han, Leia and Sana are quite against the unlikely duo of Luke and Doctor Aphra. Throw in the Queen of Ktath’atn, her knight, and Triple Zero – now there’s a story!
Plot
Luke and Aphra are on the run from zombie-like aliens made by the Queen of Ktath’atn. Aphra calls Triple Zero to bring her ship in to rescue them, just when her ship crashes into them! The door opens to reveal BeeTee-One, Triple Zero, Han Solo, Leia Organa and Sana Starros – who points a blaster right at Aphra and shoots. Luke deflects the shot with his lightsaber and tells his friends that he is with Aphra willingly.
Luke convinces the others to let them be, at least for now. The Queen’s guards show up quickly after that as the gang splits up once more. Luke and Aphra encounter the Queen first, Aphra’s goggles protect her but Luke falls under her spell. Han is next to fall under the spell of the Queen of Ktath’atn leaving Sana and Leia to figure out an escape. The group finds the Wookie bounty hunter, Black Krrsantan, as Triple Zero turns him into a killing machine, to the horror of Leia, making their final stand against the guards of the Screaming Citadel.
Story
Kieron Gillen delves deep into a character driven story. Luke and Leia get moments pushing them forward as characters in interesting ways. Luke is an idealist – he believes in the good of the galaxy and truly believes it could be good despite the pain everyone goes through. He hears Aphra speak of the Empire and knows she is not as bad as she pretends to be.
Despite what Luke has gone through, he still knows that the Empire is evil. The shock Aphra feels hearing of what happened to Luke and knowing his heart is still good. It was a great character moment for both Luke and Aphra. The development continues with Leia. When she finds out about the symbionts and what Triple Zero plans to do with it to Black Krrsantan, her cool breaks.
The comparison Triple Zero makes of himself to Leia breaks her and it will be interesting to see where Gillen takes that next. The action within the story gets messy in the middle of the story but the way that Gillen handles the characters makes it worth it. It’ll be interesting to see where this story goes and how the characters continue to change.
Art
Andrea Broccardo does a fantastic job this issue as the penciler. The style of his art fits the adventure of the story well. It is cartoony enough to give a fun vibe to the story against the intense action of the story. The characters resemble the actors in a way that is not uncomfortable to look at which is sadly a flaw that happens often. Expressions are easy to read and mirror the fabulous dialogue well. The settings all fit nicely together from the rough looking exterior and the closed off interior. One of the most fascinating takes Broccardo does is the way he handled the villains, it had an extremely Gothic feel to it.
The Gothic nature also highlights the colors of Antonio Fabela. The use of bright reds and blacks only occurred with the Queen and her guards. Triple Zero and BeeTee-One also had reds in blacks in them but it was a weaker shade. The next time the bright red showed up was once the symbionts was entered into Black Krrsantan – once again mirroring the evil of the Queen.
Verdict
Kieron Gillen continues to bring a lot to the Star Wars universe. His writing brings characters to new levels – which was especially nice to see with the original trio. The Screaming Citadel tie -in was interesting and the question of how the symbionts will continue to play in leaves a big cliffhanger. The teamwork of Broccardo and Fabela brought a lot to an already powerful story. With Doctor Aphra #7, Gillen proves yet again that it is a story to be heard.
Star Rating
4/5