NEW ONGOING TREK CROSSOVER SERIES BEGINS OCTOBER 2022

I didn't care much for the latest issue. The artwork was so-so.

Spoiler

I really took issue with the characterization of Worf. I don't think he would be so openly emotional in that way, even over Alexander. I get it, but it just didn't "feel" like Worf. Further, I didn't like Worf, even while emotionally distraught, calling Sisko by his first name. I also didn't like Crusher calling Sisko by his first name either. I can't recall anyone outside of the Daxes, Kasidy, Cal Hudson, and admirals calling him by his first name.

It was neat to see Alexander again, but he was very out of character. I think Toral would've made more sense, and while Worf didn't have the same relationship with him-obviously-Worf still had some responsibility for him. I was fine with the guilt that Worf felt over his role in bringing Kahless to power to be his motivation, though admittedly, now saving Alexander too does give him even more motivation. Redeeming/saving/stopping Toral would've been sufficient motivation as well. Or perhaps even better, if it had been Kurn who somehow had gotten his memories back.

Also, the story didn't make much sense to me. If Kahless wanted to destroy the God City, why did Sisko beaming down to it prevent him from doing so? It was like they were changing Kahless's goals or something to set up the Defiant spin off instead of following through on this storyline.

While I do like aspects of this storyline, I hope that Paramount/CBS doesn't consider it canon, or they are very sparing in taking aspects of it to canonize in live-action or animation.

 

There is something not right about this comic - it’s just feels off.

Also some of the artist choices are just weird - this issue one of the security guards is smoking a cigarette whiie they go into battle…

 

I thought that was supposed to be some sort of Barzan breathing apparatus rather than a cigarette.


Re the issue with Kahless -

Spoiler: Kahless

Scotty uses the solar voltaic battery of the Theseus to channel energy to mobile shield emitters which he then deploys to the impact point. They don't even know if Kahless' ship came fire again, and Kahless knows the God City has woken up so he needs to get out of there sharpish, so presumably the weapon does need some time to recharge and Kahless counts on the God City destroying the Theseus

 

Looks solidly like a cig to me.

 

Nothing outside the shows is considered canon.

 

I guess this is also the place to discuss the Star Trek: Defiant spin off series. I liked the cover art a lot, and I felt the interior artwork was better than the latest Star Trek issue, but the characterization of Worf particularly is off, and I don't think I'll be buying another issue. It feels to me like they are diluting the Red Path storyline which might result in dragging it out too long and it whimpering to a close. Is Spock really going to be part of this team?

For both Star Trek and Defiant I would rather they go with more original characters, but also lesser known or underutilized characters from Trek canon, though I get it. The idea of a Star Trek Avengers with the main book and a Star Trek Suicide Squad or X-Force with Defiant is just too strong.

 

I think for me the art on Defiant let it down. I get they were going for more photo realness than the main titles traditional comic book art, which I guess fits the Avengers vs Magnificent Seven vibes they're reportedly channeling, but some of it was just off.

I'm going to keep getting the main title and then I'll pick up the Defiant issues that tie into Day of Blood and maybe go back and pick up the others when the cost drops on Kindle

 

Defiant isn't really very good and when taken in conjunction with the main title all comes across like small universe fan fiction.

 

I’ve read the first three issues of Star Trek, its okay, nothing amazing.

So a match for the current shows!

 

I got to issue three or four of the new ST ongoing and I’m out. There’s so much potential to the premise but the writing is just not there. The dialogue rarely captures the feel of the characters and it’s just too fanficcy for me lumping together all these characters from various iterations and for little real reason. Also just do not understand the logic of a non-binary Vulcan with hipster hair and a fade cut. It’s kind of lost the plot for me. But then I haven’t enjoyed the Trek comic books since back in the 90’s when I was a teenager. I admire the ambition of this IDW stuff but I don’t think it’s for me.

 

Huh? What's logical about expecting all Vulcans to conform to a gender binary or to have the same barber?

 

Well, for almost all of Trek’s existence Vulcans evidently HAVE gone to the same barber. Alter the hair, fine, but making it a style that’s current now, in 21st century earth, along with the gender ideology angle, just smacks of a writer not entirely writing for the Trek universe but imposing our current universe onto it.

 

Gender ideology angle. How dare Trek reflect the world we live in!

Through three issues, I had no idea T’Lir was supposed to be transgender.

 

It can and should reflect the world we live in, it just felt a bit jarring to me to do it with a race like Vulcans. It takes me out of the universe. But it’s the writing in general with the series, it’s just not pulling me in.

 

Trek has always reflected the time when it was made. Look at the women's elaborate beehive hairdos in TOS, contrasted with Tasha Yar's very '80s buzz cut in TNG. Or look at how Uhura had straightened hair in TOS, a natural Afro in TMP, and straightened hair again in the later movies, reflecting changing period tastes in black hairstyles.

And "gender ideology?" Come on. It's not ideological to portray a male or female character, so why the hell should it be ideological just to acknowledge that non-binary people exist too? The ideology comes from the people who want to keep them invisible or force them to conform.

Also, equating acknowledgment of non-binary people with current times implies that you expect them to somehow disappear or be suppressed again in the future. No. They've always been around and they always will be. The only thing that's changed is that we're no longer pretending they don't exist. And presumably that will continue into the future. It certainly should in the optimistic future Trek portrays.

 

Then why even bring up the “gender ideology angle”?

 

Some good and fair points. As a gay 40something I don't need lectures on representation and oppression, but I have a different take on gender issues than some through my own lived experience, but that's the topic of a whole other topic and a whole other board! My problem with the comics is just with the writing and little details that just don't fit in with, say, in this case, what we know of Vulcans. It's fine to have non-traditional Vulcans, of course, and good too--but this one just looked like he'd been beamed in straight from 21st century Earth. Mind you, I also have the same issues with much of the female hairstyling on PICARD season three. Too contemporary; I like Trek just to feel like it IS set centuries ahead of where we are now.

 

I still don't see how that's any different from the '60s hairstyles in TOS, the '70s hairstyles in TMP, or the '80s hairstyles in TNG.

It's always been the norm for regular characters in period TV series, past or future, to have fairly contemporary hairstyles -- for instance, in M*A*S*H, Happy Days, and Laverne and Shirley, the main actors' hairstyles were more in keeping with the 1970s when the shows were filmed than the 1950s when they were set. After all, the actors still had lives outside of work, and wanted to look presentable in everyday life.

Not to mention that no matter when a show is set, it's made for a contemporary audience, and thus the hair, costuming, etc. are geared toward what will look good to a contemporary audience.

 

As a gay forty something myself, I think the representation of a non-binary Vulcan (not trans as BillJ mentioned) is absolutely fantastic.