Comics Doctor Aphra #9-13: The Enormous Profit & Annual #1 (6/6 Released)

should be incoming anytime now.

 

Damn no preview. Must be awesome if they didn't want to give anything away.

 

Just read Issue 13...VERY FUN READ...

Spoiler

As we expected, Rur attempts to use his technopathy to control Vader's suit. Love the reference to Vader's experience with Cylo taking control of his suit in the DV series. "Safeguards were improved." Love it. Really expected Vader to destroy the crystal, but presenting it as a gift to the Emperor was cool. Also, enjoyed Vader sensing an "infuriating" presence that he hasn't felt in some time. The split pages of Aphra "returning" the artifacts to the Shadow University and the Museum of Bar'leth were fantastic. She earns some archaeology street cred and still manages to turn a profit. Also, BT and Trip's new endeavor of running a crime syndicate is fascinating. Best frame of the comic? Aprha in the wide-brimmed lavender hat with the golden shades and smoking gun. Beautiful frame. The frame of the close-up to the Emperor's face was a head-scratcher to me...over the top depiction that didn't work IMHO. This feels like the end of an arc to me. An excellent arc that was a fun ride. Can't wait to see what is next for Aphra especially in light of Vader knowing she is out there.

 

Interesting issue. Almost felt like it could be the last issue in the series.

To nitpick a little, a cocktail named after Dantooine? Isn't Dantooine supposed to be a remote unknown planet? I know it was supposed to be a joke, but it sort of broke my sense of disbelief.

Also, nice reference to the old Marvel run with Zeltros.

 

Indeed very very fun.

Spoiler

And I loved this issue's take on Aphra. She's a rotten girl with some small hints of good, that's what I prefer. She's all twisted in her own fashion. When the chips are down, she'll use others as human shields no regrets.
And boy, those droids are really something, something scary indeed!
But the star of the issue has got to be Vader, man, that was badass dude. At first I didn't even realize that Rur tried to deactivate the suit, but Vader still destroyed him like it was nothing ... Aphra is in some trouble. But on the other hand, he could have caught her and let her slip away. A hint of mercy? Amusement?

 

It did feel that way. Makes you wonder if this was written before knowing that we'd thankfully get another year of Aphra.

 

This could have been the original intended end of the run because when you think about it EVERYONE gets a happy ending

Spoiler

Aphra gets a bunch of credits, is free of all her crippling debt/ murderous companions and now has time to relax in the shade
BT and 000 are free to murder to their hearts content as the new leaders of the Pride
Vader gets a pat on the head from the emperor for delivering the Rur crystal/ wiping out a large portion of the galaxies criminal contingent
Black Krssantan gets to repay/ get revenge on his former captors

 

Really hoping that collection gets expounded upon at some point


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And what exactly happened to it after Palpatine's death?

 

I don't think that's something they really thought about when writing the issue

Palpatine's collection was more of a joke, with Thanos's gauntlet in there, and its also a nice insult to the Immortal Rur, ending up in some collection, never to be seen again.

Btw I wonder how many people noticed that Rur's name is probably a reference to R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), a play by Karel Čapek from 1920.

 

It's not necessarily just a joke, though. We know that, by the time of the Clone Wars, Sidious already had a collection like that housed in the Grand Republic Medical Facility, and that it was moved to the Jedi Temple after it became the Imperial Palace.

 

True, perhaps in some future story set after ROTJ Palpatine's collection will be mentioned again, however I don't think Gillen was thinking too much about that when writing this issue.

Actually, I just got an idea about a story involving Luke visiting the Imperial Palace/Jedi Temple on Coruscant and going through Palpatine's collection and the Jedi Archives. Unless Palpatine deleted all the Archives and destroyed all the Holocrons before the events of ROTJ, there's probably more information on the Jedi Order and the Force in the Imperial Palace, than Luke can read in several lifetimes.

Hope they'll one day explain what happened to the Imperial Palace and all the information stored in it after ROTJ. And what happened to Coruscant in general. I would love to see the planet in the ST (as long as they don't blow it up ).

 

Palpatine having an infinity gauntlet is no different than the Twi-leks having the ark of the convenanant or some trandoshan hunters having a crystal skull

 

Man for those that have the issues, are their scenes with some aqua lightsabers? I don't get this issue till next week.

 

Spoiler

Yes, indeed. A lot of frames with red saber clashing against aqua sabers. The scenes between Vader and Rur do not disappoint. You are going to love this issue.

 

Good issue. Not quite as many Aphra quips to laugh at as normal but still very good storytelling. Yeah I'm sure this issue was written to where it could have been a end for the series if it needed to be. I imagine the only thing that may have been added/changed were those last couple pages where those people find her.

 

Maybe it's true that Gillen didn't think about it too much, but it is still an interesting question to ponder - and ripe with story possibilities. Consider for example the acolytes of the beyond. It is possible that some of them acquired the artifacts from the collection and were corrupted by them like the cat-people in the Lando comic book. And who is possessing the artifacts during the ST-era? Is it Snoke? Wherever they are, unless they're safely locked away they will lead to a lot of destruction.

 

I sure hope that the whereabouts of Palpatine's vaults will be addressed at one point. I can't imagine, knowing the Imperial Palace was once the Jedi Temple, that the New Republic and Luke didn't explore the building with a fine-toothed comb as soon as the Empire fell for good.

 

I'm pretty sure the day after Order 66, Palpatine had a big Jedi book burning.

There's probably a whole department of COMPNOR devoted to removing all Jedi references from history.

 

Hmmm... that's actually a good question. I always supposed he kept that room mostly intact, only because I had 10 thousand memories of having to go back there as the Secret Apprentice in Force Unleashed. Like seriously it was getting to be every other level at one point. "Apprentice there's another 'ghost' in the library! You gotta go in and exorcise! And also exercise. Those lightsaber skillz."

But now in the new EU, there could be more to it. For sure he kept and sequestered the useful files/"books". Probably deleted/burned the useless ones. Although that could be a story in itself -- how much did he already know was there? Presumably there was something he didn't, because of that Jocasta comic. He wouldn't be interested in her otherwise.

 

Well, it's not just what was already in the Temple when he moved there, but also what he brought with him and what all the later additions.

 

Honestly I would not be surprised if he moved all of the files to a safe place. After all you never know if some random Jedi text on a routine scouting mission could come in handy later. Palpatine might even let everyone think he burned them for show so only he had access., He may hate the Jedi, but I don't buy him making that big of an oversight to scrap anything that could be useful.

I bet at least one of the observatories had copies of all the Jedi files.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Palpatine had everything destroyed as part of the "Contingency" plan, so there would be nothing left for those who come after him.

And we know the Empire kept control of Coruscant until the events of Jakku, and even after that, there was the provisional government in charge, so Imperial agents had plenty of time to destroy or steal everything of any value in the Imperial Palace after Palpatine's death.

 

Wouldn't it have been easier to simply burn the Palace to the ground, though? We know it didn't happen.