Doctor Aphra (2020) #29 - Comic Review

Our lovable rogue archaeologist has recently made a deal with the Spark Eternal to share her body in order to fight back in her own way and get what she wants. Clearly they both want control over the body of Aphra, but until the opportunity arises they are both willing to form a temporary alliance. Doctor Aphra (2020) #29 finds Chelli working together with the Spark and traveling to PYRR IX to explore an ancient Ascendant temple. While they explore the temple in present day, we are also given a look at the past when Miril, the previous owner of the Spark, visited and confronted a splinter group of Ascendant members led by Ilith, who also has a Spark of their own!

Writer Alyssa Wong does a fantastic job with Doctor Aphra (2020) #29 particularly with bouncing the narrative between past and present. While this comic is about a space archeologist, oftentimes the archeology aspect can get lost in the bigger universal story. Not that that’s a bad thing, Wong’s run has been incredible every step of the way, but this issue really brings back the exploration of the past in a fantastic way. Getting to see Aphra and the Spark dig through the remains of the Ascendant temple while also following along the story through the Spark’s explanation of events and Miril’s flashbacks was wonderful, and Wong does a fantastic job giving all of these aspects the same amount of page time and importance.

The artistic team behind Doctor Aphra (2020) #29 is made up of artist Natacha Bustos, color artist Rachelle Rosenberg, and letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna. Bustos’ art is wonderful, with special attention to making the temple look cool as heck and giving the various characters a lot of good expressions and body language. Rosenberg’s colors and Caramagna’s letters are also incredible throughout this entire issue.

Ema Lupacchino and Jesus Aburtov supply the main cover art for Doctor Aphra (2020) #29 and give us a badass look at Triple-Zero, Beetee, and the Spark-possessed Aphra, in her best little gremlin hunch. We also get another gorgeous Return of the Jedi 40th Anniversary variant from Chris Sprouse, Karl Story, and Neeraj Menon depicting Jabba’s Rancor picking up Luke Skywalker and attempting to eat him. This issue also sees Mateus Manhanini returning as well for another Black History Month cover this time depicting a badass Sana Starros, badass as ever and ready to kick some butt with a smirk!

Doctor Aphra (2020) #29 sees the story delve into the past as the Spark takes our lovable rogue archaeologist into an Ascendant temple to explore the history of the Spark Eternal. So fire up those TIE Fighters and fly on down to your local comic shop to pick up a copy today!