I highly recommend picking up this issue, as it's the best one in a while from a writing standpoint, and it has the most Aphra moments the series has had, from terrible decisions to double-crossings to gay panic. The revelations of the issue foreshadow the chaotic story to come both in this series and in the wider Marvel Star Wars saga (check out War of the Bounty Hunters and the upcoming Crimson Reign!), and the art from Minkyu Jung, Victor Olazaba, and Rachelle Rosenberg continues to be incredible.

It makes us care about Qort, which is surprising since until now he's mostly just been the quiet comedic relief. And as I said, he now feels almost integral to Star Wars, since he has such a heartfelt connection with Maz Kanata. But of course, the issue can't just be wholesomeness and fun, and the issue does end by blowing some stuff up, setting up a more action-packed #10 that's probably gonna be great. But as good as it is, I think I'll prefer this wholesome, perfect little issue.

Overall, this was a phenomenal first jump into cross-franchise crossovers for Star Wars; they've done crossovers before, but this was the first one on the same scale as Marvel's own Earth-616 crossovers. It wasn't perfect all the time, but it still felt extremely connected in the best ways, and none of the four ongoing series were negatively affected. On top of that, it actually feels like you could read just this series and have all the context you need, which isn't always the case for these crossovers. Combine that with the god-tier writing of Soule and the god-tier art from Luke Ross, and you get one of the best Star Wars comics of recent years!