Introduced early on in Marvel‘s Darth Vader comic, Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra has made an impression. To distill an explanation about why she’s popular into a single sentence: she’s a fun-loving archaeologist with two assassin droids and buckets full of smarts and sass. Aphra completed missions for Vader and didn’t run despite realizing she could end up on his wrong side and be eliminated at any time. She even found a way to survive when Vader inevitably decided to get rid of her.
Doctor Aphra, created by writer Kieron Gillen and artist Salvador Larroca, has become what I would call the most popular character created for Star Wars comics for the qualities I mentioned above. She represented an archetype we hadn’t seen in a female Star Wars character to that point. Aphra proved successful enough to split from the Darth Vader ongoing to star in her own series, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra. It debuted in December 2016 and only added fuel to the Aphra fandom. Aphra cosplayers showed up in force at the Marvel Comics panel at Star Wars Celebration:
Wellp, my year is made. #SWCO pic.twitter.com/LCzv0u5x23
— Matt Martin – INACTIVE (@missingwords) April 15, 2017
The reach of Aphra became more evident in Hasbro’s recent Star Wars Fan Figure Vote. The poll was open to fans to select which character would join their 3.75 inch Star Wars Vintage Collection. Doctor Aphra won. She was up against Emperor Palpatine, Sim Aloo, ARC Trooper Fives, Yak-face, and Ahsoka Tano. Yes, Aphra beat Ahsoka Tano. Ahsoka was the runner-up. It was a close race, but Aphra was triumphant.
This variant cover gives us an idea of what the figure could look like:
Darth Vader #25 variant cover by John Tyler Christopher
Aphra’s victory sends a positive message from fans to Lucasfilm and licensees, too–especially about the potential of new characters introduced outside of the Star Wars films and TV series and how we’re willing to open our arms to them.
Did you make a choice in the Hasbro’s Star Wars Fan Figure Vote? Fly to the comments and let me know if you voted for Doctor Aphra.
Images: Lucasfilm, Marvel
