Every week I take a look at the Star Wars comic releases and analyze for first appearances and key events that may be worth collecting or keeping an eye on for future development.
First appearances and keys from these weekly articles get added to or sister site and Star Wars comics first appearance and key issue database, Wookywiki.com!
I was able to secure some copies of Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #24 by Alyssa Wong a few days before it’s September 28th release date and not only is it a great read (one of my favorites this year), it’s a potential future key issue with the introduction of some never seen before faces.
Alright… so what has me excited about this issue?
Star Wars Doctor Aphra 24
(W) Alyssa Wong (A) Minkyu Jung (CA) Yagawa, Rickie
“DESCENT”
• Desperate to rescue DOCTOR APHRA at any cost, SANA STARROS and her CREW’s search leads them to an OLD HAUNT…
• …and two FAMILIAR FACES they might not survive!
• Meanwhile, Aphra delves deeper into the secrets of THE ASCENDANT… and the true origin of the SPARK ETERNAL!
RATED T
In Shops: Sep 28, 2022
Variants
The story kicks off with Doctor Aphra doing what she does… running from people trying to kill her. Eventually Miril, the Chadra-fan from Doctor Aphra #22 that was the Spark Eternal’s original host, show’s and Aphra once again realizes that she’s still in her own head, stuck in memories.
Then Miril asks Aphra if she wanted to learn how to fly and does some weird Spark Eternal glow up and they are scooped out of Aphra’s memory and shot into one of Miril’s memories from long ago.
But Miril appears makes a mistake and shows real concern about the memory they were dropped into. They’re afraid and for good reason. Because we then see that they are surrounded by sith warriors. Directly in front of Aphra and Miril stands what looks to be a Togruta sith who sentences to them to death.
First off, this may be the oldest look at the Sith we’ve ever gotten in canon. There are an entire group of them (they’re called the Dark Seekers, more on that soon) so this would be before the Darth Bane instituted the “Rule of Two.” So we’re talking at least 1000 years and probably earlier.
After that scene we get a battle between the League of Aphra’s Ex Girlfriends and the murder droids.
The battle is a fun read but from a comic speculation standpoint will not be the focal point of this issue. And since this post isn’t intended for you to get a free read (still buy the issue and support the artists) I’m going to leave that storyline out of the rest of this review.
Back to the Sith plot… and we find Miril using The Ascendant technology to do a bad ass light saber throw off with the Togruta Sith.
Back to the Sith plot… and we find Miril using The Ascendant technology to do a bad ass light saber throw off with the Togruta Sith.
Then we finally find out who the sith in the issue are… The Darkseekers.
The Dark Seekers are sith warriors that hunt down all enemies of the sith. Think of them like Inquisitors. But instead of hunting down Jedi they hunt down anyone who is a threat to the sith. Since The Ascendant is building technology that allows regular beings to have force like powers, the Dark Seekers are there to kill them.
This also implies that there are more sith. A lot more. Because to have 7 or so sith be a special hunting squad then there have to be even more sith that they are intended to protect.
There’s a bit more fighting before we get a panel with a 2nd sith’s face.
Now this is probably me reaching but that face reminds me a bit of the Sith in the first phase of The High Republic, Darth Krall. But it’s more likely a Trandoshan.
So apparently full connect to the Spark Eternal is only possible through intense calm or passion. This was designed into the technology of The Ascendant as a way to more closely mimic how the force works. The light and the dark.
Eventually Miril goes full Spark Eternal and yells, ” You All Deserve What’s Coming”, before radiating some kind of red energy. I presume this is the Spark Eternal’s version of the force or force lightning.
The sith are defeated but never confirmed dead. I anticipate we’re going to learn more about them soon. But with the threat gone a possessed looking Mirl eventually comes back down from her Spark Eternal PCP high and transports, along with Aphra, into another memory. The Ascendant Sanctum Workshop where they built their force mimicking technology.
In the workshop it’s revealed that the one thing that sets the force apart from their technology is that it’s built into the user and far more intuitive. But that they’re (in memories it appears, its a little confusing) still working on the Spark Eternal technology but are close to making it even more powerful than the force itself.
It’s not revealed what’s needed to make this happen. It’s also unclear if Miril and the other members of The Ascendant are actively working improving the Spark Eternal within memories or if Miril is talking is if the memory was in real time.
Regardless, the final reveal of the issue, Miril mentions something they’ve been building in their spare time. A sith killing weapon. Then we see Aphra, possessed by the Spark Eternal in present time, digging an ancient looking hilt out of a big chunk of what looks like wood, and then pulling out a gnarly looking Final Fantasy sword.
So here’s the deal with this one. We don’t really have that many canon sith. Even less that are in comics before any other media. And we have zero canon sith groups. The first appearance of the Dark Seekers and up close face shots of their leader/captain is significant to me for this reason.
With the Acolyte currently in production it’s clear that Disney and Lucasfilm are interested in pursuing more sith lore content.
Plus we get BT in an amazing vacation hat trying to kill a bunch of Aphra’s ex girlfriends.
This issue had it all and if the Dark Seekers become recurring characters in sith lore or open the door up for more sith appearances this will most certainly be a key issue.
Hope you guys enjoyed.
Until next time.
Grand Admiral Frik
