SWCIC: Hidden Empire Finale & The Spark Eternal: Qi’ra’s Reign Ends & Aphra Gets Stabbed (HE5 & Doctor Aphra 30 & 31) – Ep 129

AS THE HIDDEN EMPIRE ENDS, WHAT ARE QI’RA AND DOCTOR APHRA’S FATES? For ep 129, Mike delves into the final issue of Hidden Empire; ending the Qi’ra trilogy, plus Aphra issues 30 & 31 bring an end to the Spark Eternal story arc! Mike delves into the plot of these final comic issues, while providing connections along the way, to provide the exciting conclusion to these comic issues, with hints of what’s to come!

Hidden Empire 5 was released April 5th 2023, was written by Charles Soule, with Steven Cummings as penciller, Victor Olazaba & Wayne Faucher as inkers and Guru eFX as colour artist. The trade paperback of all 5 Hidden Empire issues is due for release July 4th 2023. Doctor Aphra 30 was released April 12th 2023, DA 31 was released May 3rd 2023, the trade paperback collection for DA is due for release August 1st 2023 and both issues were written by Alyssa Wong with artist Minkyu Jung and colour artist Rachelle Rosenberg.

For Hidden Empire 1, 2, 3 & 4, check episodes 121, 122, 123 & 127. The comic episodes set between Crimson Reign & Hidden Empire are 114 for Bounty Hunters, 115 for Star Wars, 117 for Doctor Aphra, 119 for Darth Vader, and Crimson Reign 5 was tackled in ep 110!

Last episode, 128, was the 40th anniversary of Return Of The Jedi and Mike delves into the first 3 comics (of 8) that tie-in with Return Of The Jedi; Jabba’s Palace, Ewoks & Lando! Jabba’s Palace shows a conspiracy where someone tries to take over from Jabba, Ewoks features 3 stories without dialogue that Ewoks tell each other around the campfire while in Lando, he & Chewie attempt to find full schematics of Jabba’s Palace, so they can plan a break-in to save Han!

More Content:

Mike, Maff & Dave’s new show; Rebels Reviewed is out now (with episode/season 2 coming out soon), listen on any podcast app or watch on YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://pod.fo/e/166659⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://youtu.be/oVXItTYLe68⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Mike spoke with High Republic author George Mann, watch the interview here: ⁠https://youtu.be/IWJBMb9OOT8⁠

To support Mike, you can rate/review the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & other podcast apps, you can share the show or support financially. You can give a one-off payment/donation at ⁠⁠https://ko-fi.com/genuinechitchat  or you can subscribe monthly at ⁠⁠https://Patreon.com/GenuineChitChat⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ – either option will give you access to the exclusive “Afterthoughts” episodes. Patreons get access to weekly episodes plus every past episode (even when paying £1 a month) while Ko-fi tippers will be able to choose some episodes, depending on how much they give – Afterthoughts includes several Star Wars Legends book reviews/plot overviews including Rogue Squadron, Shatterpoint, Revan, Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, the Darth Bane Trilogy and Darth Plagueis!

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Find all of Mike's social media & links at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linktr.ee/GenuineChitChat⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Outro read by BZ The Voice: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.bzthevoice.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Intro theme arranged by Mike Burton, backing music by Eric Matyas at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.soundimage.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:35 What To Expect

02:43 Hidden Empire Personnel & Crawl

03:47 Hidden Empire 5 Plot

14:30 Doctor Aphra Personnel & Crawl

15:26 Doctor Aphra 30 Plot

19:23 Doctor Aphra 31 Plot

26:26 Star Wars Rebels Reviewed

27:13 Coming Up

29:48 George Mann Interview

30:29 Support, Ko-fi & Patreon

32:30 Outro