Congratulations are in order to the team behind the (inter)stellar Star Wars: Doctor Aphra — the series won the award for the Outstanding Comic Book category in the 31st annual GLAAD Media Award.
“You can root [for her], because she makes really bad life decisions and sort of rolls with them … She doesn’t like killing people. She’s not like a random murderer,” Aphra co-creator Kieron Gillen said of the character in an interview with StarWars.com.
The #GLAADawards for Outstanding Comic Book goes to… Star Wars: Doctor Aphra pic.twitter.com/HQuX7vyA6Z
— GLAAD (@glaad) July 30, 2020
The GLAAD Media Award was accepted by current Star Wars: Doctor Aphra writer Simon Spurrier, who accepted the award via a pre-recorded message thanking all the creative minds behind the Doctor Aphra character thus far. Spurrier specifically thanked Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca, who created and first premiered the character in Darth Vader (2015) #3.
“Love is love, irrespective of the who and the how, so it’s been a great joy to have unfurled a little rainbow flag in everyone’s favorite galaxy far, far away,” said Spurrier.
The full list of winners for the 2020 GLAAD Media Award for the Outstanding Comic Book category included: Simon Spurrier, Emilio Laiso, Andrea Broccardo, Wilton Santos, Caspar Wijngaard, Marc Deering, Don Ho, Walden Wong, Chris Bolson, Scott Hanna, Elsa Charretier, Rachelle Rosenberg, Chris O’Halloran, Stephane Paitreau, Lee Loughridge, Edgar Delgado, Jim Campbell, and Joe Caramagna.
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra follows the misadventures of the eponymous Dr. Chelli Lona Aphra, an underhanded archaeologist with a predilection for weaponry originally recruited by Darth Vader himself. Aphra has become one of the most breakout characters in Star Wars lore in recent years, with her moral ambiguity, expert knowledge of droid and weapon technologies, interest in ancient weapons and Jedi artifacts, impetuous nature and animated romantic relationship with female Imperial officer Magna Tolvan endearing her to Star Wars fans old and new alike.
“She aches for two different women who have claims to her heart—two women whom, inevitably, she must betray to survive,” Gillen said of the character’s love life. When asked to describe Aphra’s sexuality, Gillen continued, “Star Wars doesn’t really have the terminology that we do … homophobia as we know it doesn’t really exist in the Star Wars universe.”
What do you think of Doctor Aphra winning the Outstanding Comic Book category in the 31st annual GLAAD Media Awards? Let us know in the comments.
