Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Vol. 1

Fun and as it is a beginning to a series it has the background to get through. Once that was done it got going with a decent ending. Enjoyable stuff in the Stars Wars Universe.

Something about Gillen's writing just doesn't flow for me...

Welp, there we go. Even more in the dumpster than ever.

Kieron Gillen gets it.

Somehow, he can make characters that fit in the OT canon but also completely reinvigorate all the tropes that 40 years of Star Wars has mined to death.

Dr. Aphra is quite possibly the best thing to come from the new Disney canon and I say this even after absolutely loving the Gillen's Darth Vader run and Soule's brilliant Lando series.

This was a lot of fun! I hadn't realized the Doctor Aphra character was a spinoff from the Darth Vader comics, which I haven't read, but personally I think I followed it fine. I just had a tiny bit of “ooh is this supposed to be an ~intentionally mysterious backstory~ thing or did this just happen in a comic I haven't read?” problem, but it didn't cramp my enjoyment. She's a really fun character and I like this kind of Star Wars-adjacent heist-y adventure. Plus, bonus, nice to have canonically queer characters in the Star Wars universe!