I was a little disappointed. First I'll start with the positives, I liked much of the artwork. I liked seeing more of the Verity (though the more I thought about it, a Luna class or a Vesta class for the Verity might have been more appropriate and not caused any continuity issues. It still would've been a nod to the larger Trek fandom out there as well. I also enjoyed seeing another Romulan ship. I liked the 2380 Starfleet and Romulan uniforms (which felt like a mix between TNG and ENT/Nemesis Romulan uniforms).
When it comes to this series being a prequel, we did get an introduction to Musiker and some hints at her rapport/relationship with Picard (not enough), we also got the backstory for Laris and Zhaban, and that's probably the biggest thing this prequel story did.
On to disappointments...
As much as I liked the artwork I felt they drew Picard too young-looking in this issue. And they drew him completely bald as well.
The story was just too short, as were the other issues, for the selling price. This could've, should've, been a four or five-issue miniseries. Further, I think the story was resolved way too easily in the final issue. Would Vinux really have been so on board with saving the non-Romulan natives? Or going along with Zhaban's expanded definition of what a Romulan citizen was? Though some might have considered it too much fanwank I would've been okay with Vinux being replaced by Donatra here to short-hand a trusted relationship with Picard already, and that I can more readily accept her agreeing with Zhaban's views. I don't recall Picard even mentioning Vinux in earlier issues. Also felt that Zhaban's turn and speech, the heart of the issue, felt awkardly executed. But that goes with Picard being so quick to trust either Tal Shiar agent anyway, but the issue wanted to hammer home the idea of trusting regardless of potential betrayal.
I also wish more of a connection had been made between this final chapter and "Children of Mars". Geordi also got short shrift here and I wish this prequel had either been about the Synth attack or the aftermath of it. Granted as the Picard series goes on we might learn that the Tal Shiar did play a role in what the Synth did. Zhaban and Laris were clear about still fearing the Tal Shiar. But as it stands, for just this third issue, or the prequel as a whole, it didn't do enough to tie-into the Picard series for my tastes.
Was hoping for a bit more......but it was enjoyable.
