Doctor Aphra (2020) #35
MAD METHODS
Domina Tagge is the head of the Tagge Corporation, one of the largest companies in the galaxy, which has had a hand in everything from food distribution to mining
and even weapons development and droid production.But something is going wrong with droids throughout the galaxy,
First, it comes for the metal… Then it comes for everything else….
Writer: Alyssa Wong
Artist: Minkyu Jung
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Cover artist: Junggeun Yoon
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Publication date: August 23, 2023
Opening on Nar Shaddaa – a wretched hive if ever there was one – we join a clandestine transaction as a Rodian makes a deal to purchae an old Tagge Corporation droid, stolen from their warehouse on Milvayne. Suddenly, the droid activates much to their surprise, attacking everyone in the nearby vicinity until one of the group manages to take it down. We cut to Domina Tagge aboard her flagship the Acquisitor, assessing the wreckage of the droid and revealing that it was one of her first designs when the Tagge Corporation were bidding to supply droids to the Separatist movement during the Clone Wars. We go sepia and step back decades to Domina’s childhood alongside her brothers as she lays down that first design, her brothers squabbling as her parents Killian and Sanya enter the room as she explains the design to them.
We return to now as Domina is joined by Chelli Aphra, who is surprised at the old droid on the table. Tagge explains where the droid was stolen from and what it is, but the most surprising element is how the droid had its power cells removed – it shouldn’t have had the capacity to do anything, much less kill the buyers and sellers in a Nar Shaddaa backstreet. Tagge wants Aphra to investigate a second warehouse on Havel Prime, to see if that batch is having similar issues. Aphra is less than interested – until she’s offered danger pay.
Domina then makes Aphra another offer, one that quickly sees the two of them intimate with each other, and as Chelli wakes up it’s very clear that there’s no option for any kind of a deeper relationship – Tagge got what she needed; Aphra is simply a booty call. She is dismissed, bumping into Just Lucky who joins her on the Ark Angel as they blast off, Aphra clearly in a foul mood. They arrive on Galator III and the Zoulshaus nightclub, where Aphra tries to get Lucky – who is very much settled with partner Areole – to hook up with a stranger. He has no interest in that and leaves as Aphra drowns herself in cocktails, hooking up with her own stranger and waking up in a rented room only to find that not only has the room been charged to her but the datastick Domina gave her with all the Havel Prime information has been stolen. Chelli knows who took it and gets Lucky to ready the ship and head to Havel Prime where we soon see Lucky and Chelli looking down at an icy canyon where the facility is barely visible.
Lucky fires a cable across, digging into the ice as they swing across the chasm only to find the door very much locked. Aphra makes light work of hacking the code and they enter, the lights off and power systems down. They split up, finding the team that conned them dead, circled by Tagge Battle Droids and we end the issue with the two of them surrounded. Another engaging issue, the story of the Tagge Battle Droids a logical one given the excess of the Clone Wars era and as Aphra begins a descent down another confidence-sapping hole you have to wonder how much longer she can keep dodging bullets. It’s a Dark Droids crossover, but so neatly crafted it’s hardly noticeable and feels very much in keeping with the tone of the title. A page-turner as usual, tinged with sadness as Aphra looks down the barrel of another life-blip as she continues to miss Sana Starros while the droid issue escalates.
