Review: ‘Doctor Aphra’ #39 – ‘Above All’ Sees Aphra Make The Ultimate Sacrifice
It seems Doctor Aphra is finally coming to the end of her hero’s journey. Even though the ending for Dark Droids has been spoiled, it doesn’t make Doctor Aphra‘s 39th issue any less dramatic as she and Sana Starros try and rescue Domina Tagge.
Once Aphra and Sana outline their plan and begin their mission, it’s pretty much constant action that wastes no time driving the story forward. As Chelli says herself, she really is “a genius”, and it’s so much fun watching her enact her plan to rescue Domina. I actually cared about Domina herself more than I thought I would; while the future of her corporation isn’t something that interests me, I found myself rooting for her character to survive, which is fuelled by more demonstrations of her badassery as she defends herself from the Droid Scourge.
It all culminates in a heartbreaking ending. It’s clear that Sana can see Chelli is making an effort to change, and its their complicated relationship that provides all the tension by the end of the issue. I was tearing up as Chelli makes a huge decision to save the lives of those she cares about — it makes for a hell of a cliffhanger.
Above All is one of the best issues of Doctor Aphra, leaving fans with their hearts in their mouths after an emotionally dramatic and tense story. This run of Doctor Aphra wraps up with issue #40 and I can’t wait to see if they go through with this cliffhanger.
Spoilers ahead…
The issue kicks off with a great reminder of how fun Domina Tagge can be. I was a bit done with her character going into the Dark Droids crossover, but between her earlier fling with Doctor Aphra and this latest display of her prowess with her plasma whip, I’m having a blast watching her go about her business. While I couldn’t really care less about Tagge Corporation as a whole, I admire her dedication to ensuring its legacy lives on. I’d be interested to see what her character would do without a family business to run.
It turns out Aphra is already on her way to the Acquisitor, though she has to make a pit stop first to drop Just Lucky off on Canto Bight, where the droids are also revolting, in order to protect his brother and Ariole. It’s a brief but important inclusion, as Just Lucky has his own priorities too and it helps show how omnipresent the Droid Scourge is throughout the galaxy.
It’s up to Doctor Aphra and Sana Starros to save Domina then, and Chelli has a plan. She’s developed a counter-virus that works against the Droid Scourge, freeing all cybernetic beings (droids and humans with implants) of the Scourge virus in their bodies. This leads to an extremely touching moment, as Sana reaches out to express her approval and reaffirm Aphra’s actions.
She says they’ll “figure it out together”, and she might not just be talking about the droid problem. Chelli is a little taken aback and lets her mask of confidence slip for a precious moment. Sana also remarks earlier that she’s surprised Aphra is letting her fly her ship, a nice bit of foreshadowing for the cliffhanger.
From there, we get straight into the action. We find out that Domina has been captured by the Droid Scourge, and though I don’t understand why the Scourge would be worried about killing her if it never intended to do so in the first place, it is otherwise a pretty revealing conversation. The Scourge believes that Domina and the Tagge Corporation can stop it from mentally deteriorating and needs her alive in order make it happen.
We get a great splash page as Aphra’s modified disk droid infects other droids and modified humans alike as Aphra and Sana blast their way through the station, a fitting final display of badassery from Doctor Aphra. It’s made even better by the reveal that the Droid Scourge is so thinly spread across the galaxy that it can’t tell which of its legion is being released from its grip. It remains utterly confused as the pair fight their way to Domina.
After a blast from another prototype EMP device, the three of them rush Domina to the Ark Angel IV. She reveals that the Droid Scourge did manage to infect her after all, and orders the pair to kill her if the infection manages to take over her mind fully.
It’s here that Aphra makes her biggest play yet, an entirely altruistic sacrifice. As they reach her ship, she tells Sana she’s going to plant one more EMP to be remotely activated. Sana takes off, believing Aphra boarded her ship, only to receive a call from her over comms. Chelli reveals that she stayed aboard and intends on crashing the Acquisitor into a nearby planet to stop the Droid Scourge from getting its hands on Tagge Corp.
Sana is horrified that she might lose her love and demands she send her hyperspace coordinates to be rescued, but Chelli ignores her and tells her she loves her instead. It’s a beautiful payoff to this journey of self-improvement that Aphra has been on this year, finally declaring her love for Sana at the end of her life, while doing something incredibly unselfish to save the galaxy.
It’s heartbreaking to read knowing the implication that this love will go unrequited, but it makes for a fantastic emotional payoff. Normally I wouldn’t believe that Aphra’s actually dead, but it we know that issue #40 might be the final one of this run, which does plant a seed of doubt. If true, it would be a fantastic climax to her hero’s journey, going from a selfish rogue to a selfless hero.
I really hope Doctor Aphra survives this to go on more adventures — it would be just like her to have a back up plan — but it’s a fantastically heartbreaking ending to her story if not.
Rating: 10/10
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.
