Spoilers Clues on Picard show from Picard Countdown comic (possible spoilers)

Canon vs. not canon doesn't really matter at this point though. The question really should be if it's intended (but non-essential) setup for Season 1. I tend to think it is, even if it will probably later be retconned.

 

Only thing I’m worried about is whether or not we get a good story.

 

It's written by some of the Picard writers and fleshes out the backstory of why Picard leaves Starfleet. As to whether or not it is canon, we must wait for the show. It can be one of those "head canon" things for people who wish to believe it, I suppose.

 

It's in the continuity until it's not.

Any idea how the Vulcans ignored the post atomic horror of 2079?

 

Canon and continuity are two different things. Since TNG premiered, the stance of what’s canon has always been only what’s shown on a tv or movie screen. To my knowledge, CBS has not changed from that stance.

Continuity is how what is shown in canon fits all together. And in that regard, even the shows and films have not been entirely consistent with each other, which is normal for a show that has lasted as long as Star Trek has, with multiple writers and producers, and featuring prequels made after the fact. DSC for example, while canon, is quite loose with continuity.

But ‘continuity’ is irrelevant when it comes to something like a comic book, because it was never canon in the first place.

Not sure what your point is here.

 

The point is that canon events are contradicted by other canon events

 

Well, yes, canon events can be contradicted by other canon events, within the continuity of that canon. But the comic isn’t canon, so it’s not contradicting anything because it has nothing to do with the continuity of that canon.

 

Orci said that the Trek09 comics were canon, at least until contradicted

 

No, he originally said they weren’t, but Anthony Pascale kept browbeating him to give him the answer he wanted to hear, and Orci capitulated during Pascale’s interview with him just to shut Pascale up. After the interview Orci went back to his original stance.

 

It does seem strange that before it was Kurtzman and Orci, now it's just Kurtzman on Trek. Could be wrong, but I get the feeling there was some kind of dramatic falling out.

 

He never said they were canon.

They never said the book was canon, all they said was that 'it was as close as possible'.

 

I did recall as the post above mentioned Anthony Pasquale of Trekmovie browbeat Orci into saying they were canon (can't find the link now), but Orci immediately retracted it afterwards and said he only said as much to appease Anthony.

Overall a non-event, but it technically did happen, too tired to find the link now.

 

https://trekmovie.com/2012/07/17/ex...l-declares-movie-tie-in-comics-game-as-canon/

Roberto Orci: OK, based on that then with you Anthony Pascale as a witness, I hereby declare anything that we oversee to be canon.

 

Which he retracted later. Which doesn’t matter anyway, because Orci is no longer in charge of what’s canon or not in Star Trek.

 

He retracted that statement later.
And you can tell from the way he worded that statement that he was just humouring the interviewer.

 

So I guess that the PICARD Countdown comic is about as Canon as anything can get before being Not-Canon.
Makes sense to me.

 

"Context is for Kings." As already mentioned, and indeed as is very evident if you actually read that interview, Anthony Pascale was goading and manipulating Orci into saying the comics were canon, so Orci just gave up and said they were canon just so Pascale would shut up on the matter and get on with the interview.

It is curious how everyone remembers this interview when it comes to whether or not the comics are canon, but they conveniently forgot it when Karl Urban claimed in an interview Cumberbatch was playing Gary Mitchell in STID. Everyone believed him, despite the fact the allegedly "canon" comics already dealt with Gary Mitchell in their very first issue.

 

I'm confused ...

 

In Star Trek canon, James Kirk’s middle initial was R. Then it changed to T. Both are canon, but the T overwrites the R. But if a Star Trek comic declared that his middle initial was W, it makes no difference because the comic isn’t canon. It doesn’t overwrite T.