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An interplanetary peace treaty is threatened when Chief O'Brien
falls under the influence of a devious alien telepath; a skiing
holiday turns deadly when Riker and La Forge are taken captive
by a dangerous band of Ferengi profiteers; a mysterious energy
surge causes some very odd behaviour among the crew and puts
the ship in the line of fire of two Romulan Warbirds; and
one of Wesley Crusher's experiments might just mean the end
of an entire civilisation...
The
Hand of the Assassin!, the first tale in this collection
of stories reprinted from issues 13-18 of DC Comics' second
series of Star Trek: The Next Generation, breaks with
writer Michael Jan Friedman's usual two-part format. This
spotlight on Transporter Chief Miles O'Brien is just one episode
long. It's quite possible that it started out as a two-parter
but was decreed too uneventful by editor Robert Greenberger.
Certainly
this is an exceptionally wordy piece. Two pages at the beginning
of the strip are crammed with log entry text in which Captain
Picard explains the elaborate security procedures he has put
in place for a diplomatic conference. Later on, the would-be
alien assassin spends a couple of pages just gloating to O'Brien
about what he is going to force the Chief to do. It seems
as though Friedman has forgotten that comics are supposed
to be a visual medium.
There's
rather more action in the next story, the two-part Holiday
on Ice, which sees the welcome return of the dastardly
Ferengi. Here Troi seems to have changed her tune since the
first
volume, in which she sensed no emotions from the
android Data. In this story she declares him to be a true
romantic.
But the liveliest tale of the bunch is I have Heard the
Mermaids Singing, a decidedly Naked Time-ish affair
in which various members of the crew act strangely.
The
Romulans put in an appearance during the second instalment,
in which Pablo Marcos shares the art chores with Ken Penders.
The result is rather uneven, with some pages - especially
those featuring the Romulans - looking clumsier than Marcos'
usual work but others looking a lot smoother - of particular
note is the artists' depiction of a very shapely Counselor
Troi! There are some errors on the part of colourist Julianna
Ferriter, who gives us some blue-clad security guards in part
one, and pale blue Romulan Warbirds and a green star field
during part two.
Troi
makes an interesting comment when she starts to go doolally,
stating that the Captain no longer has a proper character
but has become merely a role. This is possibly a reference
to the way in which Picard became rather stiff and stilted
during Season
2, much to the disappointment of actor Patrick
Stewart.
Friedman
is less astute when he has the Romulan Commander stating his
belief that "Federation vessels do not simply break down."
What about the events of the episode Contagion, in
which the Romulans were also involved? And why do only later
pages refer to the Romulan Commander as Tomalak? You can tell
by the handwriting that this name was added at a late stage.
The character doesn't look much like the Tomalak of the TV
series, as played by Andreas Katsulas. In fact, in certain
panels he happens to look rather like Gary Graham, alias Ambassador
Soval from Star Trek: Enterprise.
The
final tale, Forbidden Fruit..., is a one-shot by guest
writers Dave Stern and Mike O'Brien, and guest artists Mike
Manley and Robert Campanella. This is another of those "Wesley's
invention goes wrong" stories. With this spotlight on Wesley
and the first story's focus on Chief O'Brien, one wonders
why Data, who doesn't feature particularly strongly in any
of these comics, is depicted on the front cover. La Forge
gets a more prominent role in a couple of episodes.
This
volume also includes a 2000 interview with La Forge actor
LeVar Burton and a 1995 interview with Michael (Lt Worf) Dorn.
These
are not the best Trek comics ever, but they're still
worth exploring.
Richard
McGinlay
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