Review: ‘Doctor Aphra’ #24 Reveals Ancient Sith and Ascendant Lore
I have to admit, when I realized that issue #24 of Doctor Aphra was going to spend more time inside Chelli’s head with the Spark Eternal, I was less than enthused. The real-world storyline moves at a glacial pace, and it seemed that once again Alyssa Wong was looking to delay the end of this arc in time for the Hidden Empire crossover.
I believe that is true, but thankfully Wong used this extra time to teach us more about the history between the Ascendant and the Sith. The Sith have shown up so little in the current canon so far that any chance to see more of them is welcome, so what we got here was a real treat.
At the end of the issue we’re shown the fruits of the Spark Eternal’s labours, and it’s something I can only imagine would interest Qi’ra in her fight against the Sith. With Hidden Empire only two months away, we should be only one or two issues away from wrapping up this arc. I’m eager to see what’s next, but I do enjoy it when issues like this give us so much Star Wars lore.
Spoilers ahead…
The issue gave us a clearer idea of how the Spark Eternal works. It seems it holds a consciousness of those it bonds with/possesses. As a result, Doctor Aphra got to hang out with the Chadra-Fan wielding the Spark who we saw a few issues ago, the last time we were in her head. Except instead of a memory, the Chadra-Fan (who is named Miril) actually interacts with her.
It’s difficult to tell if Miril is his own being or if he’s acting on behalf of the Spark Eternal. At first I assumed he was just a consciousness trapped in their world, but by the end it seemed the Spark Eternal was speaking through him, as the panels switched between him and the Spark in the outside world.
As Miril rescued Aphra from her memory of being hunted down by yet another gang she’d backstabbed, they crashed into one of Miril’s own memories from centuries past. This showed Miril being hunted by the darkseekers, a type of Sith trusted with eliminating threats to the Sith’s existence. As far as we’re aware, all Sith were fighting Jedi, so perhaps darkseekers would hunt down smaller threats to the Sith before they could become a greater one. The name suggests that they mainly hunted down others who used the dark side too.
At one point, it looked as though Aphra would betray Miril, ordering him to hand over the Spark so she could save her skin. Just as I was starting to wonder if she’d ever learn, we discover that it was a deliberate tactic to anger Miril enough for him to sync with the Spark Eternal and kill all the Sith. Presumably, this is what happened originally too. It’s a cool moment, and one that reminds us that slowly but surely, Aphra is still advancing on her own journey of personal growth.
We’re then treated to a bit of exposition as Miril explains more about Ascendant tech and the Spark Eternal. It turns out the Spark is an advanced AI, making it easier to wield Ascendant tech like Sith and Jedi wield the Force. That explains how the Spark seems to have its own consciousness.
Miril/Spark Eternal then tells Aphra that they’ve just finished creating the ultimate Sith-killing weapon, which we see in the real world as Doctor Aphra’s possessed body pulls a sword out of a forge, right in front of Just Lucky and Ariole. It’ll be fun to see the sword in action.
Meanwhile, the plot on Birukay barely moves along. The fighting stops, and Triple Zero and Beetee-One invite them inside their shack. That’s it, which is a little disappointing but hopefully means they’ll have more to do next week.
This would have been a fairly dull issue if not for the memory of Miril’s encounter with Sith darkseekers, which was definitely the most interesting and exciting part of the issue. It’s always fascinating when Aphra learns about lost civilizations, and Descent definitely tapped into that.
Rating: 7/10
Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.
