Out of all the modern Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine is my favorite. I hadn't been really tempted by IDW's Trek comics up to this point, though I've thought about trying them out, but a DS9 mini-series was enough to get me to finally bite the bullet. And it's not bad... not stellar, but a good stab at capturing the look and feel of the show. I'll try to avoid too many spoilers, but some are bound to creep in.
The story: obviously we're in the introductory chapter here. There's a rundown of what the station is, and a little of its history as two space travellers arrive and dock, and one fills the other in. It's a decent refresher on the basic premise of DS9. Being an opening chapter, the story sets up the problem and poses questions without really giving very many answers, but that's about what I'd expect at this point. This particular story sits between the third and fourth seasons, after Sisko was promoted to captain and Odo killed the Changeling on the Defiant, but before Worf joins the crew.
I'll give the writer credit: he's done his homework. The story hits a lot of the right beats. The station exterior and interiors look like the sets from the show. The characters are recognizable from their actions and dialogue, particularly Odo. We get his rule against phasers on the promenade, his suspicion and rivalry with Quark, Sisko's baseball, Kira's aggressiveness when confronted with a problem, etc. We even get a "Morn talks too much" gag. Sisko and Dax's long time friendship is evident.
The art: servicable, if not as photo-realistic when it comes to the characters as I'd like, but I suppose it's not really fair to expect that level of precision. Not on a monthly book. Some of the characters are drawn more consistently than others. Some of the layouts are slightly busy, but then the artist is trying to replicate the details of the show, so that's good. Kira looks like she was melted down and poured into her uniform, which is a bit over the top. But overall everything seems reasonably authentic when compared to the TV show, and that's the important thing.
Overall: There's one thing that really made me enjoy this issue, and that's because it succeeded in capturing the look and feel of the tv show, even if the likenesses aren't always strong. A good start, and I'm looking forward to reading the second issue.
being the very first DS9 comic in a very long time and deserves the DS9 fans special notice. I think I will pick this up as soon as it is on the shelf over where I live.
