#dr. aphra

[dribbonart]

This is a joke to maybe one person on the planet, and I don't know that she even uses Tumblr. Enjoy!

[stuff-of-legends]

Star Wars Jedi sequel hopes

we explore the unknown galaxy and run into the Yuuzhan Vong.

A prototype of the Knights of Ren as secret bosses.

Kata as Cal and Merrin's padawan.

Dr. Aphra.

Marrok and the other members of Thrawn's alliance pop up.

[fangirlingindefinitely]

More of my favorite scumbag archeologist, Doctor Aphra!

Image description: This is a fanart of Doctor Aphra, a Star Wars comic character. It is portrait style. Aphra’s head is at a three quarter view and she is turning towards the viewer, smiling slightly. The image stops a bit below her shoulders. She is wearing her standard outfit, a flight hat-type-thing with goggles on her head, a beige and red short-sleeved jacket, and an off-white shirt. On her right arm, part of her electro-tattoos are visible. The line work for this is in varying shades of orange and gold, making Aphra’s electro-tattoos appear to glow. In the background is the same wiring design as her tattoos, also in orange and gold. The background is black with a white border. End of image description.

[patchodraws]

hi whats your fav star wars character

ohhhhohohohoh my favourite star wars character ?

that has to be none other than

dr. chelli lona aphra !!!!

i’m saying she counts bc she’s a very good character in the canon comics and i hope to see her on tv one day but for now i’m very happy just admiring her on the page !!! i didn’t even know that much about her when i first started reading star wars comics but when i was introduced to this chaotic neutral lesbian archaeologist in the vader comic, i immediately went to wookieepedia and read up on her, and now she’s my favourite character and her comic run is some of my favourite star wars media !!! i really do love the type of character that she is (the asshole with the messy life who can’t stand the fact that they maybe do have a heart bc it’s so much more convenient to be heartless) and i also love that she’s sapphic, but most of all i just love how fucking fun she is !!! like i always get at least one good chuckle out of her comics, usually from her saying something.

anyways, even if you’re not into star wars, read the aphra comics. she’s amazing

[dswcp]

And now for something completely different...

...possessed Luke!

“Doctor Aphra,” issue 8, a.k.a. “Screaming Citadel,” issue 5. Marvel. June 28, 2017. Writer: Kieron Gillen. Penciller and Inker: Andrea Broccardo. Letterer: Joe Caramagna. Colorist: Antonio Fabela.

[blackangusandy]

Andy's Read Pile: Doctor Aphra Volume 1

When talking about women characters in the Star Wars universe,most folks forget one of the coolest, slickest females in recent memory to strap on a blaster and join the pantheon on of awesome Star Wars related rogues. I'm talking about Dr.  Aphra, who was first introduced in the amazing 25 issue run of Darth Vader.

A space archaeologist by trade, Aphra is somewhat of an amoral Indiana Jones, almost more like René Belloq for those of you acquainted with the famous movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark". I say that because although she does have a bit of a moral streak at times, she's definitely more cutthroat, crafty, and manipulative than Dr. Jones would ever be, and as a result is more of a villain at times than a hero.

However, she is a very cool "villain" and regardless of her questionable moral code at times, she's the protagonist and in the end we really do like rooting for her. Remember these are dark times for the galaxy what with the Empire ruling it, so true heroes are hard to come by. Sometimes shifty yet charming mercenaries is the best we can hope for (Princess Leia can attest to that).

Dr. Aphra and her signature brand of cutthroat treasure hunting first appeared in the 25 issue run of Darth Vader written by Kieron Gillen who just happens to also write today's book as well. In that story, she pretty much acts as Darth Vader's Gal Friday, doing a variety of dangerous odd jobs with the sole purpose of helping Vader track down all the information he can on his son, Luke Skywalker, before the Emperor can.

She's joined on these missions by pretty much evil versions of Chewbacca in Black Krrsantan, R2-D2 in BT-1, and of course my favorite the sinister version of C-3PO in Triple-Zero (which I'll go into greater detail later in this article). Of course, by the end of the Vader series, Dr. Aphra knows so much about Vader's schemes that she's viewed as a serious liability and he takes steps to eliminate her, and almost succeeds.

But you just can't keep a good con artist down for long, so here we are with the first collection all about those continuing adventures of Star Wars version of Lara Croft and her band of murderous accomplices.

10 Cent Synopsis:

After surviving her employment by the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, Aphra is back to business as usual with the crew of her ship the Ark Angel searching for the lost artifacts of the Star Wars universe in hopes of selling them to the top bidder for fame and fortune. Of course, the need for some monetary compensation  is a little more pressing at the moment given the criminal gang from which she bought her ship has decided to call in their loan and Aphra needs to scare up some quick cash or face the consequences.

Things go from bad to worse though when the questionable methods she used to earn her archaeological doctorate that allows her to sell these artifacts for top dollar is discovered and her license revoked. It's at this point that we are introduced to Aphra's father, who is also an archaeologist of sorts, and was responsible for Aphra's current predicament, in both terms of the license issues but as we discover also Aphra's entire somewhat callous and self centered mindset.

Obsessed with finding the final resting place of this lost Jedi cult that was searching for the secrets of immortality called the Ordu Aspectu, Aphra's dad shows that he's more than willing to use his daughter's special skills for his own quest and manipulates the manipulator into helping him. Unfortunately, their first stop on this quest is to collect a special crystal from the former Rebel base on Yavin 4, which is crawling with Imperials. Although through sheer luck and determination they manage to secure one of these crystals, they end up invoking the ire of one tenacious Imperial captain named Magna Tolvan who pursues the band with a squad of Storm Troopers to capture her.

This leads to a huge showdown on the lost planet containing the Citadel of Rur, this last resting place of this secret sect of Jedi. Turns out that the secret of immortality was actually the uploading of the Jedi Master named Rur into an Artificial Intelligence that became sentient calling itself the Eternal Rur and then proceeding to take over all of the droids at the Citadel before murdering all the Jedi to stop them from ever turning the AI off. Aphra's presence reawakens the Eternal Rur and the murderous rampage begins again in earnest, with Aphra having to join forces with the Imperials to escape, which they do barely.

In return for her help, Aphra's Dad helps her get back her license, and it's back to a life of wheeling and dealing for the galaxy's most notorious relic seeker.

Things I Liked:

Well, I think it's stupid to start this section with anything other than the fact that I really do love the character of Dr. Aphra! I mean what a fascinating woman! Grounded in realism, well rounded and competently written, she's definitely a worthy character to add to the annuals of fantastic people that make up the Star Wars universe.

Although she often times has questionable to downright nefarious moral choices, it's hard to paint her as villain and equally as hard to not root for her in the same way as you would a hero. That's mainly because of her grit, determination, and never say die spirit is truly inspirational. She's a survivor, a woman that's had to make it on her own by hook or by crook for so many years that bending the rules to her advantage in a universe getting darker by the second is not only forgiven, but applauded in it's ingenuity.

And with this story as the introduction of her father, more pieces of her backstory are revealed which again reinforce the reasons of why she acts the way she does, which in some ways are justified by her crappy past. I mean some might argue that just because you have a terrible childhood doesn't justify doing awful things, but I would say that in the end Aphra really doesn't do truly awful things. Just a lot of ambiguously gray ones. She's not like a mass murderer or some sort of super criminal. She just bends the rules a lot similar to other rogues we've known in other Star Wars stories, such as Lando, Han, Beckett, and even some of the bounty hunters.

In closing, I also want to point out that all of her victories and characterization are particularly hard fought and won fair and square. This is to combat any haters out there that might categorize her as a "Mary Sue", someone that's the best at everything and wins just because she's written to have no flaws. Dr. Aphra, is almost the opposite of that in that Gillen goes out of his way to write Aphra as nothing but flaws at times. But she's true to herself and honest about those flaws which again endears you as a reader.

Plus, if anything her only real "best at everything" superpower is just being incredibly lucky to survive some of the messes she gets in to, but even that I can't even call it luck because she is pretty damn smart and with an incredible knack for improvisation and thinking on her feet, she often stacks the odds in her favor.

Yep, this is a character I would love to see an animated movie or TV series about. Especially if they made it a bit more for the teens or adults where they could explore again these questionable morals to the degree they should.

Man...I could just gush all day on just Aphra, but I should give a shout out to the art by Kev Walker too. Very good stuff. Definitely fit the motif and made for an enjoyable read.

Things I Didn't Like:

I wasn't a huge fan of the whole subplot about the history of the Ordu Aspectu. This was the supposed splinter group of former Jedi lead by Master Rur who were researching immortality.  Although it was definitely the kind of stuff I normally do like what with it's very "Knights of the Old Republic" vibe, and tons of lightsaber action, I felt like their story was relayed in such a way that it was really confusing. This was mainly because Aphra and Aphra's Dad both tell the story to the audience on the heels of each other with conflicting points of view.

I mean sure the whole point was to show that the real facts of ancient history get lost over the centuries and all that's left is really a collection of stories past down which may or may not be accurate because of the bias of the people retelling the tale, but exposition of this level is not something I would have liked left up to interpretation given it was an integral part of the plot.

I mean from the some of the first panels of the flashback, we see Jedi running around in black leather get ups holding red lightsabers, which is probably the most anti Jedi thing ever, and it quickly gets even more confusing from there.

I mean I serious had to reread this particular section 3 or 4 times just to get a some semblance of what heck was going on, and why the Jedi were acting like Sith or whatever, and in the end I still didn't really get it.

And the worst part is the whole backstory was pretty much unnecessary as it didn't matter who was the good guys and who was the bad guys in this conflict between the Jedi and the Ordu, because they all got straight up murdered by the Eternal Rur and its army of killer robots.

I mean maybe Gillen was making a larger meta fictional point about the fact that history really is all the eye of the beholder, and the reality of the situation is often times completely different, but for the overall plot, it really wasn't needed at all.

Fun Facts:

Okay, so this is the section I'm going to take a couple moments and gush over my love of Aphra's droids who were also first introduced in Gillen's Darth Vader series as well. Yep, just as lovable as the droids from the original trilogy, the dark versions of C-3PO and R2-D2 in Triple Zero and BT-3 are just enormously fun as a concept in general, but even more so when you add in the incredible writing and dialogue given to them in these stories. Especially Triple Zero, as I don't think there's a star that shines brighter in all of Gillian's ideas that he brought to the table than the notion of a murderous protocol droid, secretly assassinating playas all across the cosmos.

I mean some may say that Gillen was continuing the type of deadpan black humor that was started in Knights of the Old Republic with the introduction of the assassin droid HK-47 with his talk of "killing all the meat bags" delivered with pitch perfect calm and decorum.  However I would say that Gillen takes that concept and really swings for the fences by putting his murderous ball of cyber mayhem in the delightfully polite and effeminate C-3PO body.

It's almost an oxymoron of sorts and works so brilliantly because it's such a perfect marriage of two completely opposing images. Plus, it doesn't hurt that Gillen really saves some of his most bad ass dialogue for Triple Zero, who wanders around delivering death and destruction with complete charm and elegance as well as some truely great stone cold one liners.

Like Hanabal Lector or Heisenberg, we actually root for Triple Zero to deliver his murderous intents through out the series. Maybe its because the story only has him acting as a robotic angel of death to particularly bad guys that we don't end up hating him, but regardless of the reason, I hope at some point we get a whole limited series just about the adventures of Triple Zero and BT-3, similar to that old "Droids" cartoon that used to be on ABC when I was growing up. Man, that had a catchy theme song....

Final Thoughts:

What else can I say about this particular book other than I'm glad it got made. In a world were there haven't been all that great female characters for Star Wars fans to love, Gillen continues to give us the adventures of Dr. Aphra who is truly one of the best to come around in the past 20 years.

Sure, this particular story isn't like Empire Strikes Back great, but it's definitely a strong vehicle to show off Dr. Aphra and allow her to carry a book by herself, with some quality back story and focus on deepening her motivations. And that's what was really needed coming off a book in which she was only able to shine when Darth Vader wasn't around to paint her more as a sidekick.

At the end of the day, it was a decent enough story to make me want to continue reading Dr. Aphra's solo adventures in future and what else do you want from a comic book series trying to establish a new franchise character than that!?! I mean from that perspective, this book does exactly what it was supposed to.

Andy's Read Pile Rating: 3.25 out 4

[contrivedcoincidences6]

Goodbye Kiss

This continues my series of missed moments from the Star Wars comics that you can find here for this story I recommend reading the others first because now I’m starting to get into a bit of a running storyline. 

@otterandterrier​ continues to be a great beta and source of support and inspiration ❤️

After Vader Down which is Darth Vader (2015) #13-15 and Star Wars (2015) #13-14. The gist of the story is that Vader crash lands near a rebel base. Luke is lost in the area. Han is going after Luke and is frustrated that Leia cares so much more about killing Vader than she does about saving Luke. They apprehend Dr. Aphra (a dangerous associate of Vaders) and take her prisoner. 

“Are you gonna tell us where these coordinates lead or is this another fun surprise?” Han asked Leia as they entered hyperspace. 

“Just going to meet up with the fleet, Han. I need to talk to Sana about another mission, she should be cleared or nearly cleared by the time we get back.”

“Sana?!” Han swiveled to look at her but she wouldn’t meet his eyes. It had been like that for a couple weeks, ever since their short but very passionate kiss aboard the Falcon. At first Leia had avoided him like the plague and he’d let her get away with it for the first few days, but it had become tiring. He wanted to see her, even if it meant fighting. 

And they did fight then, a lot. In just a couple weeks, people knew enough to turn tail if the two of them were seen in deep conversation because they knew an explosion was coming. 

“I’m going to have her help me transport Aphra to prison.” 

Luke got up from his seat slowly, not wanting to become a target in the coming argument, and took the armless Threepio with him. 

“Why would you want Sana for that? Or even trust her for that? I’ll take you.” Han pronounced the last part as if he was giving an order and Leia’s head snapped up. 

“I am giving Sana this job for your sake, Han. To pay off your debt. If I didn’t hire her for—” 

“My debt?! Are you kidding me! Sana has stolen from me plenty of times, over the years it’s evened out. She’ll get over it.”

“I also think she could be useful to the cause.”

Han snorted and gently hit a silent Chewie on the shoulder as if to say, Isn’t she crazy?, Chewie, refusing to be dragged in, remained silent in his work. 

“Listen, sweetheart, Sana is not going to be helpful to the cause. She doesn’t believe in anything or care for anyone.”

“Just like you, right? These are the kind of speeches I’m used to hearing you spout off about yourself, but now it sounds like you're worried.”

Han stood up sharply to refute her but she spoke first. “It’s nice to know you care, Han, but I think I can handle myself.”

“I never said I cared, just don’t come cryin’ to me when she stabs you in the back!”

“Fine, I won’t.”

“Good.” 

“Yes.” Leia stomped out of the cabin before Han could think of another last word. 

He slumped down in the pilots’ seat and shook his head. 

”The two of you should talk about what’s really going on.” 

“Oh well, if it’s that easy…” Han didn’t have enough energy to throw the sarcasm behind that comment like he wanted to and instead, he sighed. 

“She’s right, kissing her was a mistake.”

Chewbacca shrugged. “Do you really believe that, Cub?”

Han just covered his eyes and slumped into his seat. She’d be the death of him. 

***

Han and Luke, both in a mood, sat in the mess hall next to the other Rogues who chatted on, despite their companions' dour demeanor. Luke was still struggling with leaving Vrogas Vas, and any potential info about the old Jedi Order, behind. Meanwhile Han was still irritated at Leia for her perceived apathy toward Luke and the rest of the troops in favor of catching Vader, as well as her insistence on having Sana escort her to the Sunspot prison. 

“Why are you so mad at Leia today?” Luke asked and all the pilots turned to hear the answer. 

Han, startled out of his thoughts, glowered at them, “Who says I’m mad at Her Adoredness? In fact, she’s the one who seems mad at me!” 

Luke rolled his eyes. “Whatever Han.”

“No! You know what? She left us all alone out there on Vrogas Vas so she could go all commando on her own little private mission to kill Vader. She cared more about trying to take him out than saving your ass and didn’t give a kriff how many soldiers died along the way!”

Luke’s expression turned sour in a way no one was used to seeing on him. 

“Don’t talk about Leia that way! You think she doesn’t know the name and rank of every person who died trying to get Vader? I made it out fine, and in the end she did save our asses! I don’t know what the hell has gotten into the two of you lately but stop trying to drag everyone else into it!” 

With that, Luke stood up and stalked away, presumably toward his bunk. 

Wedge looked after him, concerned, and Han waved his hand as if it was no big deal. 

“He had to leave a bunch of Jedi stuff on Vrogas Vas.”

Dubious, Wedge looked at Han and shook his head. “Maybe, but he’s got a point. You and Princess Leia are difficult to be around these days, it’s unpleasant for everyone. Some time apart will be good for you guys.”

He looked back at the exit to the mess hall and got up. “I’m gonna check on him.”

Wedge took a few steps before turning around. 

“And Han, take it easy on Leia. She has enough guilt without you adding this on top of it.”

Han just waved the pilot away and grumbled into his drink. She’d be leaving in a couple hours and the thought of it caused a strange squeeze in his chest. Maybe he could try to make it right before she left. 

***

“I hear you two are shipping off.” Leia nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of Han’s voice. He leaned against the door to the Volt Cobra’s secondary hold, looking at her like she was the entire galaxy. His posture was casually practiced, and even though she wanted to be mad at him for startling her and for the way he was looking at her, he looked good enough to make her heart—and other places—flutter. 

When her gaze reached his grinning lips, she felt her face go warm. Damn Han Solo and his gorgeous lips. 

“What can I do for you, Han?” Leia asked, trying to sound cold. 

“Nothing, Your Highness, I just wanted to see you before you left.”

The way he said ‘I just wanted to see you’ sent a shiver up her spine but she kept on a mask of indifference. 

“Well, now you’ve seen me. You can either help us load up supplies or you can leave,” Leia said as she pretended to remember what she’d been doing before he arrived. 

“I wanted to talk to you, Leia.” 

She turned around to look at him to find he’d moved closer, looking sincere. 

“About what?” Leia felt proud of herself for keeping the tremor from her voice. He was close enough that she could smell the engine grease on him and feel the heat from his body. 

“You know exactly what about.” He moved in closer but she refused to back away, maybe didn’t want to, “That kiss.”

“I’d rather forget about that.” 

“Really? You scared?” His grin mocked her and she scowled at him.

“Of course not.”

“Then kiss me again—kiss goodbye, considering you’re going away with a treacherous smuggler to drop off a deranged prisoner at a secret prison filled with the most dangerous criminals the Alliance has to offer.”

“In your dreams.”

“Yeah, every night for two weeks.” He said it so fast and with so much sincerity, it caught Leia off guard.

Slowly, he moved his hand up to stroke her cheek. “Just be careful Princess.”

Leia nodded and neither of them moved. 

Finally, after an eternity Leia—against her better judgement—leaned forward and kissed him gently. It set her insides on fire and she grabbed hold of his vest just to stay up. His hands held her elbows, supporting her, but she could feel the same tremble running through him.

She’d lied to Han; she was scared—terrified. 

The kiss was shorter than the last and much more tame, yet somehow it touched Leia just as much. 

“See, nothing to be afraid of,” Han whispered, sounding frightened himself. 

When Leia started to open her mouth, he shook his head, “We’ll talk about it when you get back. Have a good trip, Your Highness.”

He gave her a lingering peck and corrected himself, “Leia.”

[girlsofcomics]

Aphra

-Real name: Chelli Lona Aphra

-A.k.a.: Dr. Aphra, Doctor Aphra

-Publisher: Marvel

-Type: Human

-Occupation: Archaeologist

-Afilliations: -

-Powers:Adaptive, agility, escape artist, tracking