I was big into reading Dark Horse star wars comics until the end. What do you think are the best stories coming up from marvels line

I like both Dark Vader Comic series

Both Darth Vader comic series are amazing. The "Age of" series has been great so far. The short Lando series was great. And of course, even the main Star Wars comic (which just hit 60 chapters, on top of its annual releases) is a solid read, though a touch less interesting than the Vader series. Honestly, most of the Marvel comics are super solid, and I'd recommend nearly all of them, outside of some of the one-offs.

meh, but a solid one

Vader went from ok to good and then ended when it got interesting again. Aphra is consistently pretty entertaining with how awful a person she is, and the stuff meant to make he sympathetic just makes her seem even more awful. I love it.

As for the main line, it goes from horribly cringe worthy to pretty ok at times. The time they spent on Mon Cala was pretty atrocious, Jedha was pretty bad as well. But Scar squadron shenanigans and some of the side characters are pretty neat. I just wish that they would stop trying to trace photos of the actors. All of the main cast look like dead eyed atrocious attempts at copying a real person. It makes the whole thing really off-putting. Especially when they try to convey any sort of emotions. Eugh, the faces are just terrible. Hopefully they overhaul the art style soon so it doesn't distract from the story. And they can throw CP-3O out into space as well, we wouldn't have to listen to the drivel that is his dialogue out in the vacuum of space.

thanks guys

On 1/31/2019 at 11:03 PM, Darth Revenant said:

I just wish that they would stop trying to trace photos of the actors. All of the main cast look like dead eyed atrocious attempts at copying a real person. It makes the whole thing really off-putting.

Considering how good some of the non-film characters look in comparison the traced characters are terrible!

Doctor Aphra is bad. I think some of the stories are pretty good, but it suffers from a poorly realized main character. She's a bit of Mary Sue, but the author is kind of in love with sociopathy (even imbuing her two droids and wookiee with it) and she never suffers the negative effects of her pathology, only the benefits. At one point her wookiee steals her ship and leaves her for dead, and when she meets up with him again like a true sociopath she forgives him cause he's one too. So stupid.

She also seems to come right out of the bad-RPG-character factory and punches all the points on the list: She's drawn like an underage cosplay vixen, is of polyamorous nature, has malleable loyalty and forbearance apparently determined by the plot (so she acts like a player is puppeting her to always make convenient choices), and she has an Intellect of 7 and starts each game with 5 destiny points flipped to her favor. If that's not enough she seems to have read the script and is always two steps ahead.

If you are going to have a story about a reprehensible character then you have to be able to take the character seriously to some extent. Like how Tony Soprano is able to both be a monster and sympathetic enough to make him fascinating. This character just seems like a dummy who doesn't recognize the true nature of things, but has the writer propping her up.

Also this character is a poster child for the moral relativity cause, and will often engage in commentary designed to tell you how stupid the idea of good and evil is in a setting that has objective good and evil. I will say this for it, it does demonstrate how selfishness of a high enough level can insulate a character from any reasonable arc.

I love her series and think she is worked out very well. The series is just more dark than usual in a Star Wars book or comic.

She has one loyalty and that is to herself. Any other person will get thrown under the bus if nec. to save her own skin.

polyamorous- Why? We met an ex of her and she had a short relationship with someone. To be polyamours she would need to have a relationship for more than a few days or so. Not that she is someone who I see in anything resembling a healthy relationship.

If she was a Mary sue her plans would work better if I remember the definition of that correctly.

And to say that she "never suffers the negative effects of her pathology  " makes me think you read a different comic.

and "underage cosplay vixen  " really?

5 hours ago, lowfyr01 said:

I love her series and think she is worked out very well. The series is just more dark than usual in a Star Wars book or comic.

She has one loyalty and that is to herself. Any other person will get thrown under the bus if nec. to save her own skin.

polyamorous- Why? We met an ex of her and she had a short relationship with someone. To be polyamours she would need to have a relationship for more than a few days or so. Not that she is someone who I see in anything resembling a healthy relationship.

If she was a Mary sue her plans would work better if I remember the definition of that correctly.

And to say that she "never suffers the negative effects of her pathology  " makes me think you read a different comic.

and "underage cosplay vixen  " really?

Yeah I stand by what I wrote as I read a few more issues so I would be more in the know. There's nothing wrong with her sexual preferences but I saw it coming a mile away and that was disappointing. It's probably to keep her waifu status for the male writer. They draw her in her WWI ace outfit a lot and to me I was like ugh. The droids are just plain stupid, almost a caricature of edgelord-ness, which puts them in good company with the rest of the characters. Also the notion of being an admitted selfish villain is horrible. She Is a Mary Sue because she succeeds at anything that she tries unless outside forces overcome her efforts. As far as I have seen she never fails to do anything because of her own shortcomings. That is unless it's very minor and just there to set up a line of dialogue where the insipid heroine says something like, "Oh well, that's cause I don't care about anyone but me." Get it reader, I don't care about anyone but me. If you didn't catch that I will say it again in a page or two, and probably aloud so others will know I am a sociopath.

I do think the stories are pretty good, and some of the characters who aren't main characters are actually done better, like in the auction issue. I am just giving my personal review of the comic here and mean no disrespect to fans. I feel that the art design choices in the comic are excellent and do capture the look of the setting very well. Also I think that some of the ancillary characters of the setting are treated well and are well written.

This comic is about a character who combines adolescent selfishness, edgelord negative worldview, and a writer who adores her enough to enable her constantly. There is a scene where a rather famous hero of the saga tells her to get lost (which I thought was a good scene), and at least preserved his dignity, but I feel like I am reading about meth-head Jubilee without the meth in this series. She is really annoying.

On ‎2‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 12:03 AM, Darth Revenant said:

On ‎2‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 7:41 PM, Archlyte said:

Yeah I stand by what I wrote as I read a few more issues so I would be more in the know. There's nothing wrong with her sexual preferences but I saw it coming a mile away and that was disappointing. It's probably to keep her waifu status for the male writer. They draw her in her WWI ace outfit a lot and to me I was like ugh. The droids are just plain stupid, almost a caricature of edgelord-ness, which puts them in good company with the rest of the characters. Also the notion of being an admitted selfish villain is horrible. She Is a Mary Sue because she succeeds at anything that she tries unless outside forces overcome her efforts. As far as I have seen she never fails to do anything because of her own shortcomings  . That is unless it's very minor and just there to set up a line of dialogue where the insipid heroine says something like, "Oh well, that's cause I don't care about anyone but me." Get it reader, I don't care about anyone but me. If you didn't catch that I will say it again in a page or two, and probably aloud so others will know I am a sociopath.

I do think the stories are pretty good, and some of the characters who aren't main characters are actually done better, like in the auction issue. I am just giving my personal review of the comic here and mean no disrespect to fans. I feel that the art design choices in the comic are excellent and do capture the look of the setting very well. Also I think that some of the ancillary characters of the setting are treated well and are well written.

This comic is about a character who combines adolescent selfishness, edgelord negative worldview, and a writer who adores her enough to enable her constantly. There is a scene where a rather famous hero of the saga tells her to get lost (which I thought was a good scene), and at least preserved his dignity, but I feel like I am reading about meth-head Jubilee without the meth in this series. She is really annoying.

First you still do not understand the term Mary Sue.

I have not a problem with someone saying that he does not like the character. But I think your dislike comes from some misinterpretations of Aphra and the writers. Just for interest how many issues of the comic have you read?

That she was not really herself aware how horrible she is(who would) is one of the ongoing stuff in the series. I mean if even Triple Zero comments on it, you should know that you are not very good to be around.

15 hours ago, lowfyr01 said:

First you still do not understand the term Mary Sue.

I have not a problem with someone saying that he does not like the character. But I think your dislike comes from some misinterpretations of Aphra and the writers. Just for interest how many issues of the comic have you read?

That she was not really herself aware how horrible she is(who would) is one of the ongoing stuff in the series. I mean if even Triple Zero comments on it, you should know that you are not very good to be around.

I have read every issue of every Star Wars comic since the buyout and I stand by most of the things Archlyte says. Ultimately Aphra's arc always consists of her building up to a colossal disaster, and then narrowly averting that disaster. My issue is that watching her avert those disasters is not compelling, because she is not a likable or sympathetic character.

On ‎2‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 12:53 AM, lowfyr01 said:

First you still do not understand the term Mary Sue.

I have not a problem with someone saying that he does not like the character. But I think your dislike comes from some misinterpretations of Aphra and the writers. Just for interest how many issues of the comic have you read?

That she was not really herself aware how horrible she is(who would) is one of the ongoing stuff in the series. I mean if even Triple Zero comments on it, you should know that you are not very good to be around.

I read to issue 14 I think.

CONS: As for the Mary Sue, Yeah she really is. She is very young and stupid-good at things others aren't so that she can impress the other characters. The only thing she ever needs others for is muscle, but anyone would need when at odds. Her "I don't care about anyone" actually does not qualify as a problem as she basically wears a T-shirt proclaiming this character trait. Her abilities are given to her by the universe because while she is an archaeologist apparently she is a computer genius too, and has the streetwise sense of someone who spent a life in crime while also having the cunning of someone who studied Sun Tzu and served as a general. She is Danny Ocean, Thrawn, Harley Quinn, and Laura Croft smushed together in a WWII pilot hat.

I'll cede that maybe in episode 51 she finally realizes how it's not really a great idea to be artificially selfish and that maybe she should actually grow up. If that is the case then that is one problem that would be solved, but it would also run counter to what the author has done in presenting the character and would turn off those who actually like the character as she starts the story. Her dialogue is often terrible and grating. You can almost hear the annoying squeal of her voice as her dialogue is more often than not exposition turned into a joke: "Well if you knew what my many specialties are then you wouldn't underestimate me silly serious characters tee hee." There is a meta play here on expectations that I find irritating. The more reasonably made characters in the background are laughed at by Aphra for taking anything seriously. I think the author really liked Deadpool.

I saw that 000 is apparently some sort of ancient droid AI, which explains him a bit but I still feel like someone said "what if there was an eeevil R2 and 3PO?" Which to me just isn't a great idea. If 000 is a murderous AI then I would imagine it to have better made plans and more efficient tools in its designs for whatever scheme it wants to achieve. Why also is it a psychopath and emulating human mental health disorders? That seems pretty stupid for a machine intelligence. Why not just make a droid that likes to pretend it has polio or herpes? People are always trying to expand the droid thing for some reason so that Star Wars can be more like Terminator or Transformers. Much of the time More is not better.

Also the only reason she is a dark character is for the purpose of edgy posing. Star Wars really isn't a good setting for such a character because in order to explain a sociopath you need to reference the childhood trauma and history of symptoms that produced the end result. Sociopaths are believed to be made as opposed to psychopaths, so Aphra would probably have been the subject of systematic abuse, most often coming from a close family member with the mother being the most potent source in many cases.

But then again, she isn't really a sociopath, she's just playing at sociopathy because the author and some readers think it's cute. 🤨

PROS: I read quite a few issues because I feel like the comic does at times look like it should look and its got some good info in it from time to time that does that great balancing act between the weird and the star warsy. The characters in the book that aren't the four main characters are actually usually pretty ok to read, and so as I read the book after a while I just started ignoring Aphra, the Wookiee, and the Droids. I like how the Imperial military is portrayed, and I also like how the various crime gangs and syndicates are portrayed. The ancient universe theme is also a great idea that I feel had a lot of potential.

On ‎2‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 12:53 AM, Amanda the Panda said:

I have read every issue of every Star Wars comic since the buyout and I stand by most of the things Archlyte says. Ultimately Aphra's arc always consists of her building up to a colossal disaster, and then narrowly averting that disaster. My issue is that watching her avert those disasters is not compelling, because she is not a likable or sympathetic character.

Someone can like a character even if he or she is not sympathetic . My main issue for that is the character interesting. And that is what i like about Aphra. Triple Zero or BT-1 are that too. Sometimes all three are even funny. It is more black than some would like but it is funny.

17 hours ago, Archlyte said:

I saw that 000 is apparently some sort of ancient droid AI, which explains him a bit but I still feel like someone said "what if there was an eeevil R2 and 3PO?" Which to me just isn't a great idea. If 000 is a murderous AI then I would imagine it to have better made plans and more efficient tools in its designs for whatever scheme it wants to achieve. Why also is it a psychopath and emulating human mental health disorders? That seems pretty stupid for a machine intelligence. Why not just make a droid that likes to pretend it has polio or herpes? People are always trying to expand the droid thing for some reason so that Star Wars can be more like Terminator or Transformers. Much of the time More is not better.

Also the only reason she is a dark character is for the purpose of edgy posing. Star Wars really isn't a good setting for such a character because in order to explain a sociopath you need to reference the childhood trauma and history of symptoms that produced the end result. Sociopaths are believed to be made as opposed to psychopaths, so Aphra would probably have been the subject of systematic abuse, most often coming from a close family member with the mother being the most potent source in many cases.

You sound like Triple Zero decided one day to make murder and torture his goal in life. He was programmed to be like that. Someone appearantly thought it was a good idea to give him the personalty of a psychopath. Adding that he seems to never had the usual purging that droids get to avoid getting quirks that explains him very good.

He is what happens if the saying "if you only have a hammer erverything looks like nails" comes to life. Triple Zero gets in serious trouble if something can not be solved with his main progammed features. That is part of what makes him interesting to me.

And "what if there was an eeevil R2 and 3PO?" could have been a disaster but Gillen and the writers after him make it work.

And if that is really what you think, you should read the first issues again . Part of what made her is told there. And no it is not the clichee you are trying to tell here.

8 hours ago, lowfyr01 said:

You sound like Triple Zero decided one day to make murder and torture his goal in life. He was programmed to be like that. Someone appearantly thought it was a good idea to give him the personalty of a psychopath. Adding that he seems to never had the usual purging that droids get to avoid getting quirks that explains him very good.

He is what happens if the saying "if you only have a hammer erverything looks like nails" comes to life. Triple Zero gets in serious trouble if something can not be solved with his main progammed features. That is part of what makes him interesting to me.

And "what if there was an eeevil R2 and 3PO?" could have been a disaster but Gillen and the writers after him make it work.

And if that is really what you think, you should read the first issues again . Part of what made her is told there. And no it is not the clichee you are trying to tell here.

I just don't see what you see, but I encourage anyone to try it cause they may like the comic as much as you do.

When a supporting character transitions to a lead of their own series (be it comics or TV), there are bound to be shifts in how the character is presented. Angel. Neil Gaiman's Death. Denise Huxtable. Harriette Winslow. Why, Frasier Crane's entire backstory as depicted on Cheers was altered, the discrepancy dismissed in Frasier 's second season as his having lied to the Cheers characters. Aphra is no exception.

While she may usually achieve her "high end" goals, she often does so at the expense of more personal desires. And, those losses aren't shrugged off. While she is always "in character" around others, when given a moment to breathe, the toll of those losses is seen.

It's perfectly fine for a character to not appeal to someone. But, please...go on. Continue telling us the results of you reading the creators' minds.

The Darth Vader series are both very good.

Skywalker Strikes is a popcorn style fun Star Wars trade.

I like Aphra as her negative traits, while also played for laughs, are shown to have actual negative, disastrous, consequences. While she could skate by for a while, dodging the fallout and telling herself that while she was bad, there was plenty of people who were worse, as of late things have really come back to bite her in the keister. She's managed to burn pretty much every bridge and betray every ally she's had, and is starting to realize just how much of terrible person she's really become.

Also, while she has managed to beat the odds and (barely) stay alive, her latest adventures have been sending her from bad to worse in a constant downwards spiral with nothing even remotely resembling a win in sight. And it's mostly her own damned fault.

It's pretty brilliant IMO.

The Poe Dameron comics were not really good at first but got interesting with times.

I would recommend them if you like the Sequel times and want to know a little bit more about Black Squadron.

I particularily loved the last 5-6 issues since it fills some of the blanks in Episode 7 and 8 (some of those were already answered in the books, but it’s nice to put some pictures to them).

Other than that, I also liked the Kanan ones where we get to see how he escaped Order 66. A good read for the character or just for the context.

And finally, I would also recommend the Phasma comics, where we get to see the events between Episode 7 and 8. And if you want to know more about her, I would also recommend the book Phasma.

My personal opinion is that the new Marvel Star Wars series has been good and getting better. As I began to read the early stuff, I felt like the OT characters were just being put into situations that didn't matter, that felt somewhat pointless. But, they've done a good job at getting better and tying most everything together. The Darth Vader comics were great, a bit of dark that a lot of people like. Doctor Aphra.... I have to kind of agree with some of the negative stuff that's been said about the comic and the character. When the character was first introduced in Darth Vader, I loved her. She was a character that seemed to be a little darker than the OT characters and had a great idea behind her being an archeologist. But, her comic has gone down hill and she hasn't done the things that I would have expected given the concepts they gave her. She has rarely been an archeologist, or at least it feels like it.

Kanan was great. Perhaps it was because when I read it, I had become a Rebels fan, but I feel like it is one of the best things Marvel has published so far. The Poe series was good, giving us some backstory to The Force Awakens, but I still have not finished reading the series, having about ten issues to go. I've had them since they released, but I got seriously behind on reading my comics. The Marvel app has gone a long way to helping me there.

The "Age of" series they are doing now are fantastic so far, though I have not read the newest one.

Some of the earliest mini-series feel very flat though. Princess Leia and Chewbacca was not good at all.

29 minutes ago, Eric42 said:

Doctor Aphra.... I have to kind of agree with some of the negative stuff that's been said about the comic and the character. When the character was first introduced in Darth Vader, I loved her. She was a character that seemed to be a little darker than the OT characters and had a great idea behind her being an archeologist. But, her comic has gone down hill and she hasn't done the things that I would have expected given the concepts they gave her. She has rarely been an archeologist, or at least it feels like it.

That’s understandable, and I can even somewhat agree. The solo series does lean more into the “rogue” part of her “rogue archaeologist” character description. And I think that circles back to what I mentioned earlier about turning a supporting character into a lead character. It can certainly be done, and done successfully. Personally, I think it’s being done successfully in her solo series, but can definitely see where someone who prefers her presentation in Darth Vader might be disappointed in her series.

The way I see the discrepancy is that, when she was introduced, she was very much under Vader’s thumb, so her primary motivation was not to be crushed by him. With her servitude ended, she’s playing the part of lawless scoundrel...and is bound and determined to not let anyone see beyond that wacky, carefree exterior. Maintaining that facade, though, is leading to some cracks in it, and she’s not having the fun she pretends to be. She’s losing friends, allies, and lovers, while gaining enemies exponentially. Something’s going to break at some point.

From Doctor Aphra 29: The Coalition for Progress ( Imperial PR a sub-agency of COMPNOR) has IGV-55 surveillance vessels armed with Railguns cable of targeting individuals from orbit, and hitting their targets approximate area (the blow up the whole block type of railgun).

Anyone know where to find a definitive list of the ones that have been collected into hardcovers? I found this page , but it seems to be missing some (I have a Doctor Aphra one that is not on that list, for example).