Review: Doctor Aphra #35 – Aphra and Domina Tagge’s Relationship Gets Messy in ‘Mad Methods’
It’s Doctor Aphra’s turn to get involved in the Dark Droids crossover and it seems her role in stopping the droid scourge is going to be a pretty small one. I’m okay with that, as it seems the series will continue to focus on her journey of personal growth, even if the scourge is out to kill her along with everyone else.
The biggest surprise for me was that Domina Tagge is back, after Sana Starros and friends defeated her at the end of the Spark Eternal arc. I didn’t love her return at first, as I’ve been eager to move on from the Tagges for a while now, but Mad Methods does something equally unexpected with the character, taking her relationship with Doctor Aphra to new levels.
I thought the issue would get straight into the thick of Dark Droids, but it’s surprisingly restrained in that respect. This might be because it’s unlikely Aphra will be showing up in the actual Dark Droids comics, choosing to return its focus to Aphra’s personal journey after her brief adventure with Luke Skywalker.
Once again, Aphra’s psyche is fascinating and takes her to some pretty depraved places. She’s still hung up on Sana Starros and clearly her journey to clean herself up is going to take time. She’s still funny and quippy, but is still in a dark place. Almost as dark as her eventual encounter with the droid scourge, which has some pretty cool horror vibes.
I’m as interested in Doctor Aphra’s journey of personal growth as I am in the droid scourge, which bodes very well for this latest arc.
Spoilers ahead…
Even though the issue immediately makes it clear how the droid scourge is going to make its way to Doctor Aphra — some old Tagge Corporation prototype battle droids have been infected by a mouse droid carrier — the issue spends most of its time centered on Chelli and her love life.
There’s an amusing exchange between her and Domina, where she does a complete U-turn on investigating the “murderbots” and accepts instantly as soon as danger pay is confirmed. It’s quite difficult for the comics medium to display such wonderful comedic timing so I have to give writer Alyssa Wong and the artists praise for pulling it off.
Then, in a very surprising turn of events, Domina leads Aphra to her private quarters and has her undo her dress, setting out clear terms and boundaries for a sexual relationship. It’s a bit raunchy but we don’t see anything other than a kiss after Domina shoves Chelli onto the bed, so parents don’t need to worry about their kids seeing any “adult” activities. We see Chelli wake up in Domina’s bed the next morning presumably wearing nothing under the bedsheets, so it definitely skirts the edge of acceptable content for children.
I’ve never particularly needed sex in Star Wars, but this development does to take us to some interesting places. Firstly, as Just Lucky points out the following morning, this makes Chelli’s relationship with Domina a lot messier. It’s not usually a good idea to sleep with your boss and I’m intrigued to see if the dynamics of their relationship do start to change in the future.
Secondly, Chelli is clearly hurt that Domina is not remotely interested in anything emotional between the two of them after the act. Their encounter was purely physical and nothing more. It’s not outright stated but I’m guessing Aphra feels used and is definitely hurt that yet another woman feels that she is not a suitable fit for her.
She takes Just Lucky, her partner for this mission, to a night club on Galator III to blow off some steam and find a partner who doesn’t think they’re better than her. Just Lucky is not on board with this as he is committed to Ariole, at which point Aphra becomes an appalling friend and waves off his new commitment, saying they’ll probably break up anyway and he should just get on the rebound with her early.
Just Lucky rightly walks back to the ship in a huff. I quite like their new dynamic, with him acting like the sensible older brother and her the irresponsible younger sibling. It’s a partnership rife with potential for comedic moments, which we get once they eventually arrive on Havel Prime.
Before that though, we can see Aphra is in a dark place and just wants a night of depravity before getting on with her life. She gets what she desires, only to find out the next morning that she’d been used by the stranger she chose to spend the night with. Aphra’s grief has made her sloppy and it’s starting to affect her professional life. Realizing that she’d been marked and the woman stole her data stick containing all the info about her mission, she and Just Lucky hightail it to Havel Prime to make sure the pirates don’t abscond with Tagge tech.
I’d like to think that Aphra has learnt from this experience but sadly I think she’s going to stay in this dark place for a while. She clearly can’t stop thinking about Sana and needs to go through a few more stages of grief before she can come out a more well-adjusted person.
They gain access to the Havel Prime facility only to find all the lights are off, setting a spooky tone as they investigate. The facility is packed full of Tagge battle droids, and right before they activate we see a mouse droid slide past, a clear indicator that the droid scourge has already infected these old droids. Just Lucky discovers that the pirates have all been killed by the battle droids, and we end the issue with the two of them surrounded.
I have to say I really like the design of these battle droids. They’re understandably different from any other battle droid we’ve seen, though their neck feels reminiscent of a droideka spine and their disk-like heads look similar to a Separatist HMP Droid Gunship. Combined with the glowing purple eyes, they look plenty menacing.
I loved all the character drama we got with Aphra in this issue and I can’t wait to see how they survive these droids. Bring on the next issue.
Rating: 8/10
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.
